Liza Follows Her Dream
At 62, she is singing her way back to life -- and health
by Liz Smith
Parade magazine, March 1, 2009
"If you've got one foot in yesterday and one foot in tomorrow, you're missing today!"
That's Liza Minnelli, summing up her amazing resilience. The great star -- the Oscar, Tony, Emmy, and Grammy winner -- is fresh off her appearance on Broadway at the Palace Theatre, where her mother, Judy Garland, also starred.
I've known Liza for many years. I've seen -- and even helped see her through -- some of her well-publicized travails, including the four marriages that ended in divorce and the substance-abuse issues that dogged her for years. What always strikes me is Liza's ability to start all over again. It is not in her nature to look back in anger or sadness, and there seems to be nothing irrational about her optimism. She has a naked need for approval -- and she always receives it.
I'm waiting for Liza at New York's elegant Sherry Netherland Hotel. I am early. You don't keep a star waiting, even if she is an old friend. Suddenly, with a breathless flourish, she appears. She's dressed in black, trim and youthful. We embrace, and the first thing she says is: "I was in something of a panic, because I decided not to wear my lashes."
"Liza, I've seen you without your lashes."
"Yes, but never in public."
Despite her lifetime of success, Liza is probably the most modest legend I know. I tell her how moved -- and astonished -- I was that she sang her mother's famous "Palace Medley" on Broadway. (The CD of the show is out now.)
"Ah, yes," she says. "That didn't initially go over too well with some people. It was like, 'Oh, singing your mother's songs now?' I did it because one of my most vivid early memories of my mother is onstage at The Palace. For the first time, I realized the power of her voice -- the power to move an audience."
Since she seems comfortable with the subject, I ask: "You never worry about the inevitable comparisons? "
Liza rolls her eyes. "No. Look, I'm the child of famous parents," she says. "This is how it goes if you're that child. There's no winning."
"Do you wait with dread for the 'Judy questions'?" I ask.
"Not at all," she replies. "I expect them. Why not? The thing is, they want 'the Judy Garland Story.' I don't have that. I have the story of my mother. The lady who made me do my homework. The lady who asked if I wanted Italian or Chinese after she got offstage." Liza places her hand flat on the tiny table we share. "She raised three children -- and very well. That's my Judy Garland Story."
"But people still see... "
Liza interrupts. "I know, the tragic butterfly. But there was so much laughter. The other side? Well, even when Mama sang happy, it was like, 'Don't worry, folks, we're getting to the sad stuff!'"
"So, you're not nostalgic in a sad way?" I ask.
"No, I look back, but in appreciation. I don't wish I was 'back then.' I was not taught self-pity," Liza continues. "I was not taught to give up. I was taught to do what I think and follow a dream. Nobody in my life -- not my father [director Vincente Minnelli], my mother, my wonderful composers -- ever encouraged me to give in or compromise."
At this point we discuss Liza's terrible bout with encephalitis in 2000, a period in which I saw a good deal of her. She'd already been in and out of rehab and endured hip replacements and struggled with an inherited curvature of the spine, which could cripple her if she didn't exercise daily.
"The doctors came in and said, 'You'll probably never walk again,'" Liza recalls. "'You'll never dance or sing. Accept this.' At first I panicked. How would I go on? How would I make a living? They said, 'You're lucky to be alive,' and I thought, 'Bull--! This is not living.' So I thought, 'Liza, what do you do best?' And the answer came: rehearse! And so, I literally rehearsed my way back. I looked on my recovery as a performance -- the performance of my life, which it literally was."
"You have incredible discipline. You should write a book on how to survive," I suggest.
Liza laughs merrily. "I never give people advice, and I'd never write a book giving advice. But if I did, I'd encourage curiosity -- about everything. Banish fear and shame from your life. Fear and shame -- out!"
"You fear nothing?"
"Yes. Organizing a closet!" she says. "I mean it. I'm hopeless at all that. If you judged me by those skills, you'd say, 'She can't possibly get it together to go onstage!'"
Liza's performances in the past have sometimes been compromised by her issues with drink and perhaps a pill or two. In that vein, I ask, "Do you fear falling off the wagon?"
"No, I don't fear it," she says. "I deal with it. For me and for a lot of people, once you really see that it is a disease, you learn to treat it as a disease, not a moral failure."
"Liza, I don't think we can avoid some probing into your personal life. Darling, brace yourself -- will you ever marry again?"
Liza makes a mock-choking sound and points at the tape recorder. "Turn that off and let me run outside and have a cigarette!" she says. And although it is about 12 degrees, Liza indeed runs out coatless, lights up, has a couple of puffs, and comes back in. "Okay, put it back on," she says. "Are you kidding? Never! Never!"
"So, you regret your marriages?"
She shakes her head vehemently. "Wrong!" she says. "Not at all."
"Ummm... Not even the last one, the circus event?" I ask. (Neither of us utters the name David Gest.)
Liza leans in and whispers huskily, "Darling, I was recovering from brain encephalitis! No. No. I don't regret any of them. I mean, Peter Allen -- Liz, I was with him when he died. He was a great love. Jack Haley was a genius, a wonderful man. And Mark Gero -- well, that was hard. That breakup was hard. We were together 12 years. I really regret we couldn't make it. He wanted children, and I couldn't have them. I just don't think it's fair: It's too hard on any man to be married to a woman like me."
"A woman like you?"
"Yes, a famous woman -- with all that goes with it," Liza says. "No matter how successful the man is, it's hard for him to take. And maybe it's politically incorrect to say, but -- I get it. I'm not going to refuse that autograph. I'm not going to deny that photographer. I certainly won't stop touring. It's too hard on any man."
I am a bit flabbergasted. In all my years of knowing Liza, I've never heard this. "But, Liza, it's not like you were Sadie Smith," I say. "When you married, they all knew... "
"Oh, but see, I was Sadie Smith. That's what I tried to be in the beginning, with all my men. What they wanted. But as unfair as it was to them, it was unfair to me. I'm not Sadie Smith. I'm Liza Minnelli. I want to be Liza Minnelli. And I must say, I'm sooooooo happy now."
"Do you think your life would have been different had you had a child?" I ask.
Liza looks both pensive and bemused. "Yes, of course it would have been different," she says. "But maybe that's why it didn't happen."
"What do you mean?"
"I am a wonderful -- I hope! -- godmother and aunt to the children in my life," Liza says. "And I work a lot with brain-damaged children. Would those relationships be what they are now were I raising my own children? The fact is, I wanted children. I couldn't have them. That's how it turned out."
"And you have your audiences. They mean so much to you."
"Yes. But that's part of my work, my job," she says. "You do something you love. You want whom you're working for to love it, too, right?"
"Will you ever stop doing it?"
Liza looks at me like I'm hanging upside down by my ankles. "What? Working?"
"Working at this level. Do you ever see yourself slowing down with a single baby spotlight, a beaded gown, and a lot of ballads -- sort of Dietrich?"
I'm still hanging from the ceiling. "Liz! Nope," she says. "I'm a dancer. I have to move. Also, I don't think I'd look that good standing still in a beaded gown."
"I think your audiences would love you whatever you did."
The star gives a little Cheshire Cat smile. "Hmmm... maybe. But that won't be what I do!" Liza announces she must fly. She stands and gathers her coat and purse.
"You know," she says, "people think I can't see the audience because of the lights -- and also, my eyelashes! But I can. And every once in a while, there'll be somebody I'm not getting to. I can see it. I can feel it. I go backstage, and I'm like, 'Who is that? Why isn't he into it? I'm gonna get him!'"
"And do you?"
"Oh, yes."
Liza May Minnelli
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Terence Lee
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Terence Lee
- Posts: 1095
- Joined: Sat Nov 19, 2005 8:29 pm
- Location: Penang Island, Malaysia
- Contact:
Re: Liza May Minnelli
Liza Minnelli Thrills Fans at Hollywood Bowl
The singer makes up for her limitations with show-biz savvy.
by Paul Hodgins
Orange County Register, August 30, 2009
What becomes a legend most?
An adoring audience. If you've got them on your side, nothing else matters.
Liza Minnelli had us worshipping at her altar Friday night at the Hollywood Bowl. Her two-hour concert was an amazing display of showbiz savvy transforming weaknesses into strengths and flaws into poignant moments.
Minnelli is 63 now, and her wayward life is legend. Fellow diva Barbra Streisand has treated her voice like a pampered poodle and managed her career like a sergeant major. Minnelli marches to her own eccentric drumbeat, sometimes eerily reminiscent of her mother's sad tattoo. Over the years the gossip press has followed Liza's travails like hounds after a hare, feasting on her drug abuse problems, uneven performances, wavering voice and trail of broken romances.
Recently, though, Minnelli has blazed a comeback trail. She won a Tony earlier this year for "Liza's at the Palace," the crowning achievement of a 75-city tour. Her appearance at the Hollywood Bowl is a prelude to an engagement next month at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas.
How did she do it? By embracing and even celebrating her shortcomings, not trying to gloss over them.
Minnelli's instrument is well past its prime. It was never a perfect voice, but at the height of her powers (most famously, her iconic performance as Sally Bowles in Bob Fosse's 1972 film version of "Cabaret") there was a thrilling lustiness and bravura to her delivery -- think of the way she slayed "Mein Herr."
More than three tumultuous decades older, Minnelli's voice sounds fragile and its shortcomings are more apparent. The chief culprit is breath support. She struggles to finish long phrases and seems winded after upbeat songs. That epic vibrato has widened to Grand Canyon proportions.
But it doesn't matter. Minnelli can still sell a song like nobody else alive. Performing Broadway tunes is as much about acting and persona power as vocal technique, and in those departments Minnelli is better than ever.
Backed by a 12-piece orchestra playing lush arrangements, Minnelli didn't give us a string of chestnuts. "Cabaret" was lightly represented by its title song and "Maybe This Time." Kander and Ebb's earlier hit, "Flora the Red Menace" -- the musical that gave 19-year-old Minnelli her breakout role and first Tony -- was ignored on Friday. (We were hoping, at least, for the beautiful "A Quiet Thing"; its lyrics would have been a great opener.)
Nevertheless, the material was well chosen. For longtime Minnelli fans the lyrics in songs such as "I Would Never Leave You," "Cabaret," "My Own Best Friend" and "Maybe This Time" were pregnant with allusions to her life.
Friday evening was hot and nearby fires made the air treacherous for anyone singing or even breathing. Minnelli carefully marshaled her energy, bringing out a chair midway through the first act. She joked that in the old days it remained on the sidelines until after intermission.
That was the first of many occasions when Minnelli made a crack about her age and checkered past. Only a celebrity with this public a life and this rabid a following could possibly get away with it.
"We're all in this together," she said at the top of the evening, referring to the heat and the challenges it presented. Enlisting the audience's sympathy is an old showbiz trick that Minnelli has learned as well as anyone, and it worked like Merlin magic. The crowd's affection bubbled over. "We love you, Liza," someone screamed more than once.
Another sign of Minnelli's confidence: she dared to evoke thoughts of another diva during her Palace Medley, a grab-bag of song snippets sculpted around the thrill of playing at New York's famous venue. She briefly touched on "My Man" from "Funny Girl" -- a property wholly owned and operated by Barbracorp. The audience loved it.
Every diva knows how to finish an act, and Minnelli is an old pro.
The first half ended with a speedy version of "Cabaret." Minnelli delivered it with a touch of world-weariness, characterized by less-than-pinpoint accuracy in the phrasing and intonation. The song contained one of those art-imitating- life lines: "Well, that's what comes from too much pills and liquor." She milked the moment perfectly without saying a word; a knowing look was all it took.
Minnelli also offered a bit of touching revisionism at the song's end, which brought a supportive cheer from the huge house: "When I go, I'm NOT going like Elsie!"
The evening ended with another Kander and Ebb standard, "New York, New York." Minnelli gave it the old razzle dazzle. She even found an opportune moment or two for a display of jazz hands (Minnelli must be the only performer alive who can use that gesture without irony). Predictably, it brought a standing O.
Fragile as she seemed, Minnelli had the energy for a quiet encore with her beloved accompanist, Billy Stritch: Cole Porter's "Every Time We Say Goodbye." It was a melancholy valentine to the audience. Perched like a bird on the edge of Stritch's piano stool, wearing a black T shirt, Minnelli looked eerily like her mother. (The illusion is reinforced by her persona: the tumbled-out words and vulnerability are spookily Judy-like.)
Judy Garland, of course, was dead by 47. Liza is still very much with us -- and the way her career is humming along now, I'd say all the odds are in her favor.
The singer makes up for her limitations with show-biz savvy.
by Paul Hodgins
Orange County Register, August 30, 2009
What becomes a legend most?
An adoring audience. If you've got them on your side, nothing else matters.
Liza Minnelli had us worshipping at her altar Friday night at the Hollywood Bowl. Her two-hour concert was an amazing display of showbiz savvy transforming weaknesses into strengths and flaws into poignant moments.
Minnelli is 63 now, and her wayward life is legend. Fellow diva Barbra Streisand has treated her voice like a pampered poodle and managed her career like a sergeant major. Minnelli marches to her own eccentric drumbeat, sometimes eerily reminiscent of her mother's sad tattoo. Over the years the gossip press has followed Liza's travails like hounds after a hare, feasting on her drug abuse problems, uneven performances, wavering voice and trail of broken romances.
Recently, though, Minnelli has blazed a comeback trail. She won a Tony earlier this year for "Liza's at the Palace," the crowning achievement of a 75-city tour. Her appearance at the Hollywood Bowl is a prelude to an engagement next month at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas.
How did she do it? By embracing and even celebrating her shortcomings, not trying to gloss over them.
Minnelli's instrument is well past its prime. It was never a perfect voice, but at the height of her powers (most famously, her iconic performance as Sally Bowles in Bob Fosse's 1972 film version of "Cabaret") there was a thrilling lustiness and bravura to her delivery -- think of the way she slayed "Mein Herr."
More than three tumultuous decades older, Minnelli's voice sounds fragile and its shortcomings are more apparent. The chief culprit is breath support. She struggles to finish long phrases and seems winded after upbeat songs. That epic vibrato has widened to Grand Canyon proportions.
But it doesn't matter. Minnelli can still sell a song like nobody else alive. Performing Broadway tunes is as much about acting and persona power as vocal technique, and in those departments Minnelli is better than ever.
Backed by a 12-piece orchestra playing lush arrangements, Minnelli didn't give us a string of chestnuts. "Cabaret" was lightly represented by its title song and "Maybe This Time." Kander and Ebb's earlier hit, "Flora the Red Menace" -- the musical that gave 19-year-old Minnelli her breakout role and first Tony -- was ignored on Friday. (We were hoping, at least, for the beautiful "A Quiet Thing"; its lyrics would have been a great opener.)
Nevertheless, the material was well chosen. For longtime Minnelli fans the lyrics in songs such as "I Would Never Leave You," "Cabaret," "My Own Best Friend" and "Maybe This Time" were pregnant with allusions to her life.
Friday evening was hot and nearby fires made the air treacherous for anyone singing or even breathing. Minnelli carefully marshaled her energy, bringing out a chair midway through the first act. She joked that in the old days it remained on the sidelines until after intermission.
That was the first of many occasions when Minnelli made a crack about her age and checkered past. Only a celebrity with this public a life and this rabid a following could possibly get away with it.
"We're all in this together," she said at the top of the evening, referring to the heat and the challenges it presented. Enlisting the audience's sympathy is an old showbiz trick that Minnelli has learned as well as anyone, and it worked like Merlin magic. The crowd's affection bubbled over. "We love you, Liza," someone screamed more than once.
Another sign of Minnelli's confidence: she dared to evoke thoughts of another diva during her Palace Medley, a grab-bag of song snippets sculpted around the thrill of playing at New York's famous venue. She briefly touched on "My Man" from "Funny Girl" -- a property wholly owned and operated by Barbracorp. The audience loved it.
Every diva knows how to finish an act, and Minnelli is an old pro.
The first half ended with a speedy version of "Cabaret." Minnelli delivered it with a touch of world-weariness, characterized by less-than-pinpoint accuracy in the phrasing and intonation. The song contained one of those art-imitating- life lines: "Well, that's what comes from too much pills and liquor." She milked the moment perfectly without saying a word; a knowing look was all it took.
Minnelli also offered a bit of touching revisionism at the song's end, which brought a supportive cheer from the huge house: "When I go, I'm NOT going like Elsie!"
The evening ended with another Kander and Ebb standard, "New York, New York." Minnelli gave it the old razzle dazzle. She even found an opportune moment or two for a display of jazz hands (Minnelli must be the only performer alive who can use that gesture without irony). Predictably, it brought a standing O.
Fragile as she seemed, Minnelli had the energy for a quiet encore with her beloved accompanist, Billy Stritch: Cole Porter's "Every Time We Say Goodbye." It was a melancholy valentine to the audience. Perched like a bird on the edge of Stritch's piano stool, wearing a black T shirt, Minnelli looked eerily like her mother. (The illusion is reinforced by her persona: the tumbled-out words and vulnerability are spookily Judy-like.)
Judy Garland, of course, was dead by 47. Liza is still very much with us -- and the way her career is humming along now, I'd say all the odds are in her favor.
Re: Liza May Minnelli
Brand new EMI 2CD collection of three Capitol back-catalogue albums-
'Liza!Liza!','It Amazes Me','there Is A Time'.Sleeve notes by Will Friedwald&rare photos.
'Liza!Liza!','It Amazes Me','there Is A Time'.Sleeve notes by Will Friedwald&rare photos.
-
Terence Lee
- Posts: 1095
- Joined: Sat Nov 19, 2005 8:29 pm
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Re: Liza May Minnelli
Life's Still a Cabaret
Liza Minnelli brings her Tony-winning show to MGM Grand
by Steve Bornfeld
Las Vegas Review-Journal, September 25, 2009
Crack open your dictionaries. Define these words:
"Talent" (Noun): Liza Minnelli
"Star" (Noun): Liza Minnelli
"Tabloid" (Noun) "Target" (Noun): Liza Minnelli
"Survivor" (Noun): Liza Minnelli
Also a Las Vegas headliner as Minnelli, arguably one of the toughest survivors in the annals of showbiz, brings her concert-style show -- winner of a 2009 Tony for best special theatrical event, billed as "Liza at the Palace...!" -- to the MGM Grand's Hollywood Theatre through Thursday, the performances to be filmed for a PBS special.
A first act packed with selected standards and peppered with signature hits -- including "Cabaret," "Maybe This Time" and the theme from "New York, New York" -- is followed by a dance-tastic second act saluting the late-'40s nightclub routine of her godmother, Kay Thompson.
Fresh from a rehearsal, the bubbly and gracious Minnelli got on the phone to discuss the show, her mom and dad, Bono and a (theoretical) movie of her life:
Q: So how did rehearsal go?
A: It's great. It's great every day!
Q: How's your health these days?
A: Sennnnnnsational!
Q: Tell us a little about what we'll see at the MGM Grand.
A: The whole first act is all character songs, which I love. Most of my songs are character songs. Different kinds of women, different situations, different experiences. I do a complete study on each song on a separate piece of paper. I have things like, "What color hair does this lady have that I'm singing about? Where does she live? Does she have decals on her refrigerator? " And what led to them right to this second, to this show.
Q: Do you enjoy performing in Las Vegas?
A: Oh yes. I remember coming here, I was just a kid, and people would just disappear from the pool at 5 o'clock sharp and at 7:30, that lobby, people were in tuxes and ties and the women had on their best jewelry and their best black-sheath dress, and it was very exciting and kind of mysterious. I think everybody thought they were in kind of a danger zone. It was wonderful. But I love it now, too.
Q: Recently, your seminal 1972 TV special, "Liza with a Z," has been making the rounds on cable. Has that brought you new fans?
A: I know! It's just great because we cleaned it up. We (originally) did it on 16-millimeter film, and it didn't come out the way that Bob (the late director Bob Fosse) wanted it to come out or I did. So I cleaned it up slowly, it took around six years. When I saw it, I thought, "This is wonderful!" When I showed it to (producers), they said, "Oh, people have to see this."
Q: Has the kind of variety performing you do -- singing, dancing, storytelling, improvising -- become something of a lost art?
A: I'm a modern vaudevillian. I was backstage during a Michael Jackson concert one time and this guy in a top hat and sunglasses comes up to me and says, "Miss Minnelli, I think you're the ultimate performer. When you perform, there's just you and the mic and the lights." And I said, "'Gee, thanks." He walked away, and I said, "That was a very nice guy." And the person next to me said, "Are you nuts? That was Bono!" I said, "Oh, Jesus, I didn't recognize him in that hat." But I'm close to a lot of the current stars.
Q: Your fans have been loyal to you for decades. How do you explain such devotion?
A: I'm so grateful. They're like my friends. The audience is my friend. I never treat an audience like an audience. We're all locked in this box, and maybe for an hour and a half I can remove a little bit of the confusion or the pain they're going through or the joy they're celebrating and celebrate with them. That's my job.
Q: You've lived such an interesting life that it seems like it would make a great movie. What should the title be?
A: "Ho-Hum"! (laughs). I wouldn't be seeing it anyway. I'll probably have joined the choir by then anyhow.
Q: Who could play you?
A: Wow, I've never thought about that. I think Meryl Streep could do a good job.
Q: Speaking of movies, what are the ones fans always mention when they meet you?
A: "Arthur," "Cabaret," "The Sterile Cuckoo." And I did a couple for television that they really like. One of them was called "Parallel Lives" (from 1994). It was a bunch of us (James Belushi, James Brolin, Helen Slater) improvising through the whole movie, a very interesting experience. You can probably find it somewhere.
Q: What's next, after your Las Vegas performances?
A: I'm going to Australia three days after I leave you and doing a different show there. It will be the same first act, but there are so many requests and things that they really want to see that I've put in a new second act. I'm also working on singing a song in the new "Sex and the City" movie.
Q: With all the ups and downs in your life, how do you explain how you've survived it all?
A: Well, you find what's wrong and then you fix it, or you find somebody who can fix it. I never give up.
Q: What do you think your mom (Judy Garland) would say to you now if she were here?
A: I think she'd be saying, "That's the way to do it, kid." And my father (the late film director Vincente Minnelli) would say, "You keep going, my Liza."
Liza Minnelli brings her Tony-winning show to MGM Grand
by Steve Bornfeld
Las Vegas Review-Journal, September 25, 2009
Crack open your dictionaries. Define these words:
"Talent" (Noun): Liza Minnelli
"Star" (Noun): Liza Minnelli
"Tabloid" (Noun) "Target" (Noun): Liza Minnelli
"Survivor" (Noun): Liza Minnelli
Also a Las Vegas headliner as Minnelli, arguably one of the toughest survivors in the annals of showbiz, brings her concert-style show -- winner of a 2009 Tony for best special theatrical event, billed as "Liza at the Palace...!" -- to the MGM Grand's Hollywood Theatre through Thursday, the performances to be filmed for a PBS special.
A first act packed with selected standards and peppered with signature hits -- including "Cabaret," "Maybe This Time" and the theme from "New York, New York" -- is followed by a dance-tastic second act saluting the late-'40s nightclub routine of her godmother, Kay Thompson.
Fresh from a rehearsal, the bubbly and gracious Minnelli got on the phone to discuss the show, her mom and dad, Bono and a (theoretical) movie of her life:
Q: So how did rehearsal go?
A: It's great. It's great every day!
Q: How's your health these days?
A: Sennnnnnsational!
Q: Tell us a little about what we'll see at the MGM Grand.
A: The whole first act is all character songs, which I love. Most of my songs are character songs. Different kinds of women, different situations, different experiences. I do a complete study on each song on a separate piece of paper. I have things like, "What color hair does this lady have that I'm singing about? Where does she live? Does she have decals on her refrigerator? " And what led to them right to this second, to this show.
Q: Do you enjoy performing in Las Vegas?
A: Oh yes. I remember coming here, I was just a kid, and people would just disappear from the pool at 5 o'clock sharp and at 7:30, that lobby, people were in tuxes and ties and the women had on their best jewelry and their best black-sheath dress, and it was very exciting and kind of mysterious. I think everybody thought they were in kind of a danger zone. It was wonderful. But I love it now, too.
Q: Recently, your seminal 1972 TV special, "Liza with a Z," has been making the rounds on cable. Has that brought you new fans?
A: I know! It's just great because we cleaned it up. We (originally) did it on 16-millimeter film, and it didn't come out the way that Bob (the late director Bob Fosse) wanted it to come out or I did. So I cleaned it up slowly, it took around six years. When I saw it, I thought, "This is wonderful!" When I showed it to (producers), they said, "Oh, people have to see this."
Q: Has the kind of variety performing you do -- singing, dancing, storytelling, improvising -- become something of a lost art?
A: I'm a modern vaudevillian. I was backstage during a Michael Jackson concert one time and this guy in a top hat and sunglasses comes up to me and says, "Miss Minnelli, I think you're the ultimate performer. When you perform, there's just you and the mic and the lights." And I said, "'Gee, thanks." He walked away, and I said, "That was a very nice guy." And the person next to me said, "Are you nuts? That was Bono!" I said, "Oh, Jesus, I didn't recognize him in that hat." But I'm close to a lot of the current stars.
Q: Your fans have been loyal to you for decades. How do you explain such devotion?
A: I'm so grateful. They're like my friends. The audience is my friend. I never treat an audience like an audience. We're all locked in this box, and maybe for an hour and a half I can remove a little bit of the confusion or the pain they're going through or the joy they're celebrating and celebrate with them. That's my job.
Q: You've lived such an interesting life that it seems like it would make a great movie. What should the title be?
A: "Ho-Hum"! (laughs). I wouldn't be seeing it anyway. I'll probably have joined the choir by then anyhow.
Q: Who could play you?
A: Wow, I've never thought about that. I think Meryl Streep could do a good job.
Q: Speaking of movies, what are the ones fans always mention when they meet you?
A: "Arthur," "Cabaret," "The Sterile Cuckoo." And I did a couple for television that they really like. One of them was called "Parallel Lives" (from 1994). It was a bunch of us (James Belushi, James Brolin, Helen Slater) improvising through the whole movie, a very interesting experience. You can probably find it somewhere.
Q: What's next, after your Las Vegas performances?
A: I'm going to Australia three days after I leave you and doing a different show there. It will be the same first act, but there are so many requests and things that they really want to see that I've put in a new second act. I'm also working on singing a song in the new "Sex and the City" movie.
Q: With all the ups and downs in your life, how do you explain how you've survived it all?
A: Well, you find what's wrong and then you fix it, or you find somebody who can fix it. I never give up.
Q: What do you think your mom (Judy Garland) would say to you now if she were here?
A: I think she'd be saying, "That's the way to do it, kid." And my father (the late film director Vincente Minnelli) would say, "You keep going, my Liza."
Re: Liza May Minnelli
BBC TV FOUR Tuesday 20 October 9pm'THE REAL CABARET includes interviewswith Liza and Ute Lemper(among others).
PLUS at 10:30pm-the film 'CABARET' and an article in BBC RADIO TIMES on the film by Barry Norman.
PLUS at 10:30pm-the film 'CABARET' and an article in BBC RADIO TIMES on the film by Barry Norman.
-
Terence Lee
- Posts: 1095
- Joined: Sat Nov 19, 2005 8:29 pm
- Location: Penang Island, Malaysia
- Contact:
Re: Liza May Minnelli
Liza Minnelli brings The House down
Article from: AAP
By Alyssa Braithwaite And Katherine Field
October 17, 2009 12:00pm
LIZA MINNELLI ROCKS SYDNEY OPERA
LIZA Minnelli received her first standing ovation before she'd even sung a note.
On the opening night of her Australian tour, Minnelli performed to a full house at the Sydney Opera House concert hall.
As she made her entrance, dressed all in white, to several minutes of thunderous applause and calls of ``we love you Liza!'' it was clear she was playing to the faithful.
It has been 20 years since Minnelli last performed in Australia, and at 63 she was the first to admit that time has taken its toll in some ways.
``If any of you ever saw me before, then you will remember I used to sit down in the second act,'' Minnelli said.
``Now I sit down in the first act.''
While not without its slight wavers, her voice was still powerful and resonant, and her energy amazing.
She belted out some of her best-loved hits, including Cabaret, Liza With a Z and Maybe This Time.
``As you know, over the years I have been particularly drawn to songs about falling in love.
However, at this time in my life I find I'm particularly drawn to songs about falling out of love,'' she laughed, introducing If You Hadn't, But You Did.
When she launched into New York, New York she brought the house down.
Over the course of the evening, Minnelli was the ultimate showbiz professional - funny and entertaining. She didn't miss a beat.
Minnelli made the expansive concert hall feel intimate, and when she revealed she was having slight wardrobe difficulties - ``my knickers keep riding up!'' - she received cries of ``take it off!''
The concert ended on an emotional note, with an encore tribute to Minnelli's first husband, Boy from Oz Peter Allen.
Returning to the stage in an oversized Chet Baker t-shirt with a towel none around her neck, Minnelli dramatically pulled off her fake eyelashes, rubbed the make-up from her face, and messed up her hair.
She then closed the show with the moving All The Lives of Me and a special ``thank you Peter'', and received yet another standing ovation.
After all these years it's still Liza with a zing
October 18, 2009
Regal yet humble, the Cabaret star still has energy and talent to enthral her fans, writes Nicholas Pickard.
FIRST REVIEW
It's the eyes and the giggle that do it for you - that innocent glare that Liza Minnelli flashes at you to give you a window into the career of a musical star who has been honing her talent for more than 50 years.
The voice has become shaky and the body isn't as agile as it once was but this is Liza - with a Z - and no one in the packed 2000-seat auditorium at the Sydney Opera House was complaining.
When she appeared dressed in her white sequins it felt like the roof of the Opera House was about to lift off. Everyone rose to their feet for the star who first came to Australia with her then husband, Peter Allen, 42 years ago.
But that was then and this is now and, despite her 63 years, it's Minnelli's eyes and her charming giggle that are timeless.
With pianist Billy Stritch and her 11-piece band she pumped out a show full of raw and breathless energy with all the Bob Fosse movements you'd expect. Based on a Tony award-winning show she has performed in New York's Palace Theatre this year, Minnelli was almost giddy as she went from crowd-pleasing show tune to heart-felt love serenade.
New York, New York had parts of the crowd barely able to contain their exhilaration, and Al Jolson's Mammy had people swooning. At one stage a call went out for her to sing Somewhere over the Rainbow - made famous by her mother, Judy Garland, in The Wizard of Oz - but with elegance Minnelli politely declined, saying that ''other people have sung that song''.
Her high notes were often lost and some of the words drowned by the band but not many performers can fill the difficult Concert Hall space like Minnelli can with her raw pizazz and fountain of generosity.
With the audience demanding her return she came back for a second encore dressed in a loose Chet Baker T-shirt with make-up removed and her hair wet from sweat.
She paid tribute to Allen by looking skywards and saying thank you. She then turned to the audience and thanked them. It was a genuine thank you because Minnelli has a humility that is nothing but magically endearing.
But Sydney Opera House management desperately needs to spend a bit of money to properly dress the on-stage entrances and exits in the Concert Hall.
The faded and dusty black cloths, not far removed from ones used by cash-strapped university theatre clubs, were opened manually by backstage crew and looked amateurish beside Minnelli's brilliance.
A performer of her stature deserves much better. After all, she is musical royalty.
Liza stuns Sydney
Sunday telegraph 18 October 2009
by Claire Harvey
Legendary singer Liza Minnelli is charming Sydney with her world-famous blend of star power, chutzpah and vulnerability.
"Wow, the Sydney Opera House" Minnelli kept repeating in her famous throaty drawl.
Love affair with Liza
by Claire Harvey
Liza has crowned herself Queen of all Queens over two nights of sold-out shows in which her own energy was matched by the crowd's enthusiasm. "I Love you Liza" bellowed a baritone voice from the crowd. And Liza returned the love with a series of show tunes, Vegas standards and her own greatest hits including Liza with a Z and Cabaret.
Nowadays Minnelli shemmies in her chair, rather than doing the splits on top of it and delivers a compelling exhotation to embrace the world - life is a cabaret old chum.
"Thank you my friends my family" she said during one of the many ovations. "If any of you ever saw me before, you'll remember I used to sit down in the second act. Now I sit down in the first act, she said dragging her chair to centre stage.
The shows 14 numbers included a smokey version of Every Time We Say Goodbye, a showstopping New York New York and a breathy My Own Best Friend from the musical Chicago.
Liza's empathy for the power struggles of gay people rings through in the song What Makes a Man a Man by Charles Aznavour, underlaid by a smooth clarinet from her fault-free orchestra of 12.
For her encore, Minnelli returned in baggy T-shirt, slippers and a towel, scrubbed her face of make-up and delivered All the Lives of ME, a song by her ex-husband Peter Allen.
"Thank you Peter" she said and sliuthered off in her slippers, a hoofer to the last.
Article from: AAP
By Alyssa Braithwaite And Katherine Field
October 17, 2009 12:00pm
LIZA MINNELLI ROCKS SYDNEY OPERA
LIZA Minnelli received her first standing ovation before she'd even sung a note.
On the opening night of her Australian tour, Minnelli performed to a full house at the Sydney Opera House concert hall.
As she made her entrance, dressed all in white, to several minutes of thunderous applause and calls of ``we love you Liza!'' it was clear she was playing to the faithful.
It has been 20 years since Minnelli last performed in Australia, and at 63 she was the first to admit that time has taken its toll in some ways.
``If any of you ever saw me before, then you will remember I used to sit down in the second act,'' Minnelli said.
``Now I sit down in the first act.''
While not without its slight wavers, her voice was still powerful and resonant, and her energy amazing.
She belted out some of her best-loved hits, including Cabaret, Liza With a Z and Maybe This Time.
``As you know, over the years I have been particularly drawn to songs about falling in love.
However, at this time in my life I find I'm particularly drawn to songs about falling out of love,'' she laughed, introducing If You Hadn't, But You Did.
When she launched into New York, New York she brought the house down.
Over the course of the evening, Minnelli was the ultimate showbiz professional - funny and entertaining. She didn't miss a beat.
Minnelli made the expansive concert hall feel intimate, and when she revealed she was having slight wardrobe difficulties - ``my knickers keep riding up!'' - she received cries of ``take it off!''
The concert ended on an emotional note, with an encore tribute to Minnelli's first husband, Boy from Oz Peter Allen.
Returning to the stage in an oversized Chet Baker t-shirt with a towel none around her neck, Minnelli dramatically pulled off her fake eyelashes, rubbed the make-up from her face, and messed up her hair.
She then closed the show with the moving All The Lives of Me and a special ``thank you Peter'', and received yet another standing ovation.
After all these years it's still Liza with a zing
October 18, 2009
Regal yet humble, the Cabaret star still has energy and talent to enthral her fans, writes Nicholas Pickard.
FIRST REVIEW
It's the eyes and the giggle that do it for you - that innocent glare that Liza Minnelli flashes at you to give you a window into the career of a musical star who has been honing her talent for more than 50 years.
The voice has become shaky and the body isn't as agile as it once was but this is Liza - with a Z - and no one in the packed 2000-seat auditorium at the Sydney Opera House was complaining.
When she appeared dressed in her white sequins it felt like the roof of the Opera House was about to lift off. Everyone rose to their feet for the star who first came to Australia with her then husband, Peter Allen, 42 years ago.
But that was then and this is now and, despite her 63 years, it's Minnelli's eyes and her charming giggle that are timeless.
With pianist Billy Stritch and her 11-piece band she pumped out a show full of raw and breathless energy with all the Bob Fosse movements you'd expect. Based on a Tony award-winning show she has performed in New York's Palace Theatre this year, Minnelli was almost giddy as she went from crowd-pleasing show tune to heart-felt love serenade.
New York, New York had parts of the crowd barely able to contain their exhilaration, and Al Jolson's Mammy had people swooning. At one stage a call went out for her to sing Somewhere over the Rainbow - made famous by her mother, Judy Garland, in The Wizard of Oz - but with elegance Minnelli politely declined, saying that ''other people have sung that song''.
Her high notes were often lost and some of the words drowned by the band but not many performers can fill the difficult Concert Hall space like Minnelli can with her raw pizazz and fountain of generosity.
With the audience demanding her return she came back for a second encore dressed in a loose Chet Baker T-shirt with make-up removed and her hair wet from sweat.
She paid tribute to Allen by looking skywards and saying thank you. She then turned to the audience and thanked them. It was a genuine thank you because Minnelli has a humility that is nothing but magically endearing.
But Sydney Opera House management desperately needs to spend a bit of money to properly dress the on-stage entrances and exits in the Concert Hall.
The faded and dusty black cloths, not far removed from ones used by cash-strapped university theatre clubs, were opened manually by backstage crew and looked amateurish beside Minnelli's brilliance.
A performer of her stature deserves much better. After all, she is musical royalty.
Liza stuns Sydney
Sunday telegraph 18 October 2009
by Claire Harvey
Legendary singer Liza Minnelli is charming Sydney with her world-famous blend of star power, chutzpah and vulnerability.
"Wow, the Sydney Opera House" Minnelli kept repeating in her famous throaty drawl.
Love affair with Liza
by Claire Harvey
Liza has crowned herself Queen of all Queens over two nights of sold-out shows in which her own energy was matched by the crowd's enthusiasm. "I Love you Liza" bellowed a baritone voice from the crowd. And Liza returned the love with a series of show tunes, Vegas standards and her own greatest hits including Liza with a Z and Cabaret.
Nowadays Minnelli shemmies in her chair, rather than doing the splits on top of it and delivers a compelling exhotation to embrace the world - life is a cabaret old chum.
"Thank you my friends my family" she said during one of the many ovations. "If any of you ever saw me before, you'll remember I used to sit down in the second act. Now I sit down in the first act, she said dragging her chair to centre stage.
The shows 14 numbers included a smokey version of Every Time We Say Goodbye, a showstopping New York New York and a breathy My Own Best Friend from the musical Chicago.
Liza's empathy for the power struggles of gay people rings through in the song What Makes a Man a Man by Charles Aznavour, underlaid by a smooth clarinet from her fault-free orchestra of 12.
For her encore, Minnelli returned in baggy T-shirt, slippers and a towel, scrubbed her face of make-up and delivered All the Lives of ME, a song by her ex-husband Peter Allen.
"Thank you Peter" she said and sliuthered off in her slippers, a hoofer to the last.
-
Terence Lee
- Posts: 1095
- Joined: Sat Nov 19, 2005 8:29 pm
- Location: Penang Island, Malaysia
- Contact:
Re: Liza May Minnelli
International phenomenon and living legend Liza Minnelli has made her long-awaited return to the studio on her latest release "Confessions, " and its result is a glorious full length album of new material that transposes the iconic songstress into a sultry and captivating vocalist all over again as if it were the very first time we heard her limitless vocal prowess.
Produced by Bruce Roberts, the album features exceptionally flawless performances on the piano by the incomparable Billy Stritch. His delicate musicianship embodies class, elegance and mystery. The harmonious blend of Liza's smooth approach to the songs and Billy's dedicated involvement on the piano creates absolute musical ecstasy to the senses.
Music aficionados of all types will discover a common thread that will ensure a liking to this record, for it contains a pure yet honest definition of love, life and tradition. There are a handful of sensual ballads; relaxing to the mind and soothing to the body and spirit.
Liza provides pure bliss on her astonishing tribute to the late great Frank Sinatra on "All The Way" and places a sensationally bluesy take on the Etta James classic "At Last." Romantic endeavors of excitement, heartbreak and innocence are found on "Confession, " "I Hadn't Anyone Till You," and "I Got Lost In His Arms."
Showing off her signature sass and a whole lot of sparkle, Liza turns the tables on the cabaret infused "He's A Tramp" and brings the essence of serenity on the beautifully crafted "On Such A Night As This."
Confessions can be pre-ordered here:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Confessions-Liz ... 884&sr=8-1
Produced by Bruce Roberts, the album features exceptionally flawless performances on the piano by the incomparable Billy Stritch. His delicate musicianship embodies class, elegance and mystery. The harmonious blend of Liza's smooth approach to the songs and Billy's dedicated involvement on the piano creates absolute musical ecstasy to the senses.
Music aficionados of all types will discover a common thread that will ensure a liking to this record, for it contains a pure yet honest definition of love, life and tradition. There are a handful of sensual ballads; relaxing to the mind and soothing to the body and spirit.
Liza provides pure bliss on her astonishing tribute to the late great Frank Sinatra on "All The Way" and places a sensationally bluesy take on the Etta James classic "At Last." Romantic endeavors of excitement, heartbreak and innocence are found on "Confession, " "I Hadn't Anyone Till You," and "I Got Lost In His Arms."
Showing off her signature sass and a whole lot of sparkle, Liza turns the tables on the cabaret infused "He's A Tramp" and brings the essence of serenity on the beautifully crafted "On Such A Night As This."
Confessions can be pre-ordered here:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Confessions-Liz ... 884&sr=8-1
-
Terence Lee
- Posts: 1095
- Joined: Sat Nov 19, 2005 8:29 pm
- Location: Penang Island, Malaysia
- Contact:
Re: Liza May Minnelli
Liza Minnelli - Confessions (Decca)
This splendid new CD reveals the legendary singer in a subdued, jazzy light. Indeed, the overall tone brings to mind not the Halston sequined ensembles which have long been her signature for her concerts where she's entertained thousands, but rather a smartly tailored black cocktail dress which might be worn for a small gathering at an intimate cabaret venue or in someone's home.
The delicious subtlety of her work becomes evident as soon as one starts listening. The disc's title track finds Minnelli deftly delivering Howard Dietz's cunning lyrics with perfect phrasing and a shrewd sense of understatement; she never overemphasizes either their comic or bittersweet meaning. And even when she moves to a more uptempo number such as Cy Coleman and Carolyn Leigh's "You Fascinate Me So," the singer resists the temptation to oversell the song.
Other highlights include a wistfully languorous take on Irving Berlin's "I Got Lost in His Arms;" a bluesy and richly earthy version of Dorothy Fields and Jimmy McHugh's "I Must Have That Man;" and the disc's final track, in which Minnelli takes Harry Warren and Mack Gordon's "At Last" and turns it into a new anthem for herself.
Throughout, Bruce Roberts, Billy Stritch and David Tobocman's arrangements beautifully support Minnelli's vocals and Stritch's efforts at the piano consistently complements the singer's work. Other highlights include a deeply felt rendition of Sammy Cahn and Jimmy Van Heusen's "All the Way" and a gloriously playful delivery of Peggy Lee and Francis J. Burke's "He's a Tramp."
This splendid new CD reveals the legendary singer in a subdued, jazzy light. Indeed, the overall tone brings to mind not the Halston sequined ensembles which have long been her signature for her concerts where she's entertained thousands, but rather a smartly tailored black cocktail dress which might be worn for a small gathering at an intimate cabaret venue or in someone's home.
The delicious subtlety of her work becomes evident as soon as one starts listening. The disc's title track finds Minnelli deftly delivering Howard Dietz's cunning lyrics with perfect phrasing and a shrewd sense of understatement; she never overemphasizes either their comic or bittersweet meaning. And even when she moves to a more uptempo number such as Cy Coleman and Carolyn Leigh's "You Fascinate Me So," the singer resists the temptation to oversell the song.
Other highlights include a wistfully languorous take on Irving Berlin's "I Got Lost in His Arms;" a bluesy and richly earthy version of Dorothy Fields and Jimmy McHugh's "I Must Have That Man;" and the disc's final track, in which Minnelli takes Harry Warren and Mack Gordon's "At Last" and turns it into a new anthem for herself.
Throughout, Bruce Roberts, Billy Stritch and David Tobocman's arrangements beautifully support Minnelli's vocals and Stritch's efforts at the piano consistently complements the singer's work. Other highlights include a deeply felt rendition of Sammy Cahn and Jimmy Van Heusen's "All the Way" and a gloriously playful delivery of Peggy Lee and Francis J. Burke's "He's a Tramp."
Re: Liza May Minnelli
I am really looking forward to my cd arriving--it just sounds so good.
Mariana