Tra La, It's May

Before going back to Nichols & May together, we're going to stick with Elaine May alone.  And while this isn't very long, or overly funny, it is surprising and wonderful. 

Elaine May was famous for her comedy work Mike Nichols, and then on her own for things like directing The Heartbreak Kid (which starred Charles Grodin and her daughter Jeannie Berlin) and writing The Birdcage, that reteamed her with Nichols who directed.  She did star in the 1971 movie A New Leaf opposite Walter Matthau, which she also wrote and directed (which isn't a shabby trifecta), but she did very little "ensemble" acting.  A very few small things here and there over 50 years.  The only notable work was when she wonderfully starred in 2016 as Woody Allen's wife in his 6-episode series for Amazon Prime, Crisis in Six Scenes.  (It was just fair, but the scenes between the two of them made it all worth it.)

But then, in 2019, starred on Broadway in The Waverly Collection by acclaimed playwright Kenneth Loneregan, who won an Oscar for writing Manchester by the Sea.  And...she won the Tony Award for Best Performance by a Leading Actress in a Play.

This is her acceptance speech.  It is SO gracious, short and sweetly funny.