Local musical tributes planned for legendary Elaine Stritch

The late, great actress and musical theater star Elaine Stritch will be remembered with a special concert tribute at Davenport’s in Wicker Park at 7:30 p.m. Feb. 2, in honor of what would have been her 90th birthday. Organized and directed by Chicago cabaret star Daryl Nitz, it will be followed by a second show at the Skokie Theatre at 8 p.m. March 20, in the North Shore suburb where Stritch is buried.

Among the performers Nitz has assembled for the show, which he will emcee, are well-known Chicago talents, including Joan Curto, Suzanne Petri, KT McCammond, Ann McGregor, Judy Rossignuolo-Rice, Laura Freeman and Cynthia Clarey. The show’s music director will be Johnny Rodgers, who used to work for Liza Minnelli in New York.

As Nitz describes the program, it will be “a 90-minute chronological career concert covering every show from her first musical, ‘Angel in the Wings’ (1947), to her last, ‘A Little Night Music’ (2010). … Music from ‘Call Me Madam,’ ‘Pal Joey,’ ‘On Your Toes,’ ‘Goldilocks,’ ‘Sail Away,’ ‘Mame,’ ‘Gypsy,’ ‘Company,’ ‘Showboat’ and her solo tour-de-force ‘At Liberty,’ plus cabaret and concert favorites, will be performed.”

For ticket information go to reservations.davenportspianobar.com/events/tribute-elaine-stritch for the Davenport’s show. Call (847) 677-7761 for tickets to the Skokie Theatre program.