Elaine Stritch and Her Inspirations

EVERY two weeks, I speak to a performer coming to town and ask them about their influences, figures who drove them into a life in the arts or helped shape what they do. But my latest subject -- Broadway's tough dame Elaine Stritch -- was having none of it.

Here is my latest Influences column, which I nearly had to rename.

She was also surprised to note that despite the success of her Elaine Stritch at Liberty in LA in 2002, Saturday night's Sondheim program at Disney Hall marks her first appearance there. Somebody, she said, must have it out for her. "Maybe Mickey Mouse."