You may or may not know that Stritch was not originally to be the star of the show, but after Coward was unimpressed with the original female lead, Jean Fenn, she was fired and the show rewritten around Stritch's talents. I assume the leading man, James Hurst, was good enough to stay in his role - that certainly would have been the role to get someone more Stritch's equal. (I have a student currently working on "Go Slow, Johnny" - fun song.)