Still Here

The Madcap, Nervy, Singular Life of Elaine Stritch

By: Alexandra Jacobs

Narrated by: Andréa Burns

Length: 11 hrs and 38 mins

Publisher's Summary

"Narrator Andrea Burns is amazing! Her performance of New York Times editor Jacobs's charming, well-researched look at the life of actor Elaine Stritch (1925-2014) is at once intelligent, amusing, and illuminating.... Wonderfully entertaining listening." (AudioFile Magazine, Earphones Award winner) 

The ebullient, troubled life of a Broadway legend who became a heroine to a younger generation.

Still Here is the first full telling of Elaine Stritch’s life. Rollicking but intimate, it tracks one of Broadway’s great personalities from her upbringing in Detroit during the Great Depression to her fateful move to New York City, where she studied alongside Marlon Brando, Bea Arthur, and Harry Belafonte. We accompany Elaine through her jagged rise to fame, to Hollywood and London, and across her later years, when she enjoyed a stunning renaissance, punctuated by a turn on the popular television show 30 Rock. We explore the influential - and often fraught - collaborations she developed with Noël Coward, Tennessee Williams, and above all Stephen Sondheim, as well as her courageous yet flawed attempts to control a serious drinking problem. And we see the entertainer triumphing over personal turmoil with the development of her Tony Award-winning one-woman show, Elaine Stritch at Liberty, which established her as an emblem of spiky independence and Manhattan life for an entirely new generation of admirers.  

In Still Here, Alexandra Jacobs conveys the full force of Stritch’s sardonic wit and brassy charm while acknowledging her many dark complexities. Following years of meticulous research and interviews, this is a portrait of a powerful, vulnerable, honest, and humorous figure who continues to reverberate in the public consciousness.

©2019 Alexandra Jacobs (P)2019 Macmillan Audio

Critic Reviews

"Narrator Andrea Burns is amazing! Her performance of New York Times editor Jacobs's charming, well-researched look at the life of actor Elaine Stritch (1925-2014) is at once intelligent, amusing, and illuminating.... Wonderfully entertaining listening." (AudioFile Magazine)  

Phenomenal account of a Broadway Icon

I can't say enough about this powerhouse biography of a powerhouse of talent. I've been a Stritch fan for years,
but hearing from an 'insider to an outsider,' I am grateful for this. The narrator is stunning: when she quotes Stritch
AS Stritch... she almost brings chills. There are many laugh out loud moments, and many that bring tears.
I wish there was more...

Everybody Rise

As someone who fell in love with Elaine Stritch in her later years, I think this book is a wonderful and moving tribute to an amazing legend of the American Musical Theater. Everything about this book was done right. The narrator truly captured Stritch’s essence.

What a Book!!!

The narrator, Andrea Burns brings this story alive. The way she Impersonates Ms. Striches, I felt that she was still alive & causing hell.
She was the Enoch of all show business & work it to her benefit. I truly enjoy this reading.

One of the worst show business biographies ever

The book is riddled with errors and Stritch is highly misquoted many, many times. Jacobs obviously did a lot of research, but she didn’t do proper fact checking. It’s also irksome to hear Sondheim’s lyrics changed and misquoted. Burns does an interesting version of Stritch’s famous gravely voice, which is the only highlight.

A character for the ages! An amazing woman.

Wonderfully narrated by Andrea Burns, this is a lovely romp with a real life legend.

Great narrator!!

The narrator does a great job of sounding like Elaine Stritch! She really brings her back to life.

If you love Broadway, you’ll live this audio book!

This book is a wonderful biography of the life of Elaine Stritch. It’s well written full of wonderful stories but the narration by Broadway’s Andréa Burns is what makes this audio book truly something special. You can tell by listening to Ms. Burns how much the life of Elaine Stritch meant to her. Ms. Burns’ voice is wonderful to listen to (you should her are sing, too!) and what makes the performance really “pop” is all of the of “Stritch sound bites” throughout the book. Give it a listen!

A Send-up to a True Broadway Legend

This book captures the essence of Elaine, as far as her fans know her to be. Overall there are many personality traits that are brought out that make her incredibly relatable. I have always wanted to have a conversation with her. This book takes care of that.

The performance is wonderful, even when the reader imitates, it is done with sincerity and accuracy.

Legendary Elaine

Send in the Clowns- they’re FINALLY here!
Andrea Burns made an exceptional narrator. I feel privileged to have seen Elaine on Broadway 5 times!

This is a must read!

What a fantastic story! I swear this narrator was the BEST! I just might listen to it again :)