A Little Night Landsbury

I will never say anything against Angela Landsbury. One of my clearest memories of my grandmother, who died when I was in fifth grade, is of us watching Murder, She Wrote together. I wasn't even aware of Landsbury's stage work until college (my parents are non-theatregoing scientists, what do you want from me) and I'm lukewarm about her performance in Sweeney Todd (sorry guys), but I completely respect her as an actress and don't begrudge her any of her well-earned awards and acclaim. But seriously...why is she in the Little Night Music revival? I saw her in Deuce and heard firsthand accounts of her in Blithe Spirit, and I just feel sorry for the woman. Good for her for wanting to act at her age, but she just seemed so tired and out of it in those plays, it was sad. I'm not advocating a retirement age for theatre--there are plenty of older performers, writers, directors, and whatever who are going strong, like Arthur Laurents and Chita Rivera (both of them could easily destroy me in a cagematch)--but when you consistently can't remember your lines, maybe you should take a break. I realize she'll only have to sing one very slow song, but still. It's hard to recover from going up on your lyrics. I just hope she makes it through her run okay.