Liza has lived life to the full
Apr 18 2008 By Graham Young
LIZA Minnelli has been there and done it all.
She's played the London Palladium as a teenager, won awards on Broadway, bagged a best actress Oscar and survived four husbands.
Along the way she's taken delivery of two new hips and lived enough of a life to fill dozens of books.
And that's before you even mention the fact that both of her parents were Oscar-winners with enough family history to fill a library.
If any one star guest playing Symphony Hall this year has got The X Factor, it's Liza, even though she's now 62.
Ambition, coupled with a strong work ethic drawn from her family's generations of performers, has clearly served her well. And she clearly saw a kindred spirit in dance-loving Bruce Forsyth by agreeing to appear on his 80th birthday celebration TV show in February.
But, while hit formulas like American Idol and The X Factor might be 'fun to watch' in her words, are they going to do the contestants any favours given how hard Bruce and Liza have both had to work to sustain their careers?
"I think they can," Liza tells me. "They can make it, for sure, if you have the back up and if you know what you're doing."
So what can Tamworth's former dinner lady Niki Evans do to bridge the gap?
If it's astonishing that she can sing as well as Celine Dion, how can Niki convince audiences that she, too, deserves to be seen as a star of equal merit?
"You have to make it your job to learn other ideas," says Liza. "Don't waste your time. Find out who the best people are and learn what they are doing."
Last August, Liza lost her long time musical collaborator, drummer Bill Lavorgna. But, as the old saying goes, the show must go on.
In his place is another drummer who was one of Bill's best friends and she's still got her longtime choreographer Ron Lewis.
"He's wonderful," says Liza. "I also have the best singers and dancers. They sing their butts off and dance brilliantly and we have a ball."
Liza's team rehearsed for five months solid before getting the current tour on the road in the US. After several false dawns in the past, let's hope she stays fit and well to play here this time. Then, perhaps, we can all say: "Didn't she do well!"
* Ticket info
Liza Minnelli plays Birmingham Symphony Hall on June 4. Tickets are priced £35 - £95 plus booking / transaction fees. Details: www.theticketfactory.com or 0121 780 3333.
Apr 18 2008 By Graham Young
LIZA Minnelli has been there and done it all.
She's played the London Palladium as a teenager, won awards on Broadway, bagged a best actress Oscar and survived four husbands.
Along the way she's taken delivery of two new hips and lived enough of a life to fill dozens of books.
And that's before you even mention the fact that both of her parents were Oscar-winners with enough family history to fill a library.
If any one star guest playing Symphony Hall this year has got The X Factor, it's Liza, even though she's now 62.
Ambition, coupled with a strong work ethic drawn from her family's generations of performers, has clearly served her well. And she clearly saw a kindred spirit in dance-loving Bruce Forsyth by agreeing to appear on his 80th birthday celebration TV show in February.
But, while hit formulas like American Idol and The X Factor might be 'fun to watch' in her words, are they going to do the contestants any favours given how hard Bruce and Liza have both had to work to sustain their careers?
"I think they can," Liza tells me. "They can make it, for sure, if you have the back up and if you know what you're doing."
So what can Tamworth's former dinner lady Niki Evans do to bridge the gap?
If it's astonishing that she can sing as well as Celine Dion, how can Niki convince audiences that she, too, deserves to be seen as a star of equal merit?
"You have to make it your job to learn other ideas," says Liza. "Don't waste your time. Find out who the best people are and learn what they are doing."
Last August, Liza lost her long time musical collaborator, drummer Bill Lavorgna. But, as the old saying goes, the show must go on.
In his place is another drummer who was one of Bill's best friends and she's still got her longtime choreographer Ron Lewis.
"He's wonderful," says Liza. "I also have the best singers and dancers. They sing their butts off and dance brilliantly and we have a ball."
Liza's team rehearsed for five months solid before getting the current tour on the road in the US. After several false dawns in the past, let's hope she stays fit and well to play here this time. Then, perhaps, we can all say: "Didn't she do well!"
* Ticket info
Liza Minnelli plays Birmingham Symphony Hall on June 4. Tickets are priced £35 - £95 plus booking / transaction fees. Details: www.theticketfactory.com or 0121 780 3333.
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