By Judith Newmark
POST-DISPATCH THEATER CRITIC
09/12/2008Liza Minnelli sure knows how to put on a show.Singing and dancing, telling personal stories and making jokes about her many marriages, she opened the new Lindenwood Center for Fine and Performing Arts in style on Thursday night. She performs there again tonight at 8 p.m. (A few single seats priced from $75 to $200 each are still be available through the Lindenwood Box Office: 636-949-4433.)
First of all, she looks great. She’s lost weight, something she invited the audience to notice as she credited Jenny Craig. (“I am not getting paid for this,” she added.) She wore a succession of stunning, sequined pant outfits − a white one, a black one, a red one − and one monstrosity involving pirate boots and shortie PJs. She also seems determined to revive the sequined sweatband from obscurity. Hmm.But her material is impeccable − not only the hits you expect, like “Cabaret” and “New York, New York,” but lots of smoldering numbers from the musical theater canon. She was really strong on two numbers that didn’t make it into the movie versions of two great Kander and Ebb shows: “So What” from “Cabaret” and “I Am My Own Best Friend” from “Chicago.” If Minnelli ever does a show of musical-theater outtakes, buy tickets fast.Minnelli really knows how to strike a pose and hold the spotlight. She drops a shoulder and gives you a whole Bob Fosse tableau; she cocks her head, puts her hand on her hip, and turns St. Charles into Berlin.She also, of course, exerts plenty of energy − maybe too much. At times, she sounded winded, and she seemed to favor her right leg a little. Minnelli is not about pacing − she’s full-out, all-out, all the time. You could see that she was sweating, and at one point she mentioned that one of her eyelashes had disappeared down her cleavage. But she might slow it down just a little by adding some breaks.There’s a four-man singing chorus for one section of the show, portraying Andy Williams and his singing brothers. The Williams Brothers sang back-up for Kay Thompson, the nightclub entertainer (and author of the “Eloise” books) who was Minnelli’s godmother; part of Minnelli’s show pays tribute to her, a talented, sophisticated woman to whom she always felt close. Maybe Minnelli’s “Williams Brothers” could make a bigger contribution to the show (and not just by running around in circles singing a list of girls’ names, which is what their biggest routine involved). Even if Minnelli doesn’t want a break herself, why should she make her fans worry?She was backed up in style by her own big orchestra. Most of the musicians, she said, have been playing with her for at least 30 years, and their elegant rapport sounded good in the university’s 1,200-seat new theater. It was almost filled for the opening night, which preceded ironing out all the new-theater kinks.The house doors didn’t open until 20 minutes after the show was to have started. There weren’t enough ushers to take tickets. − or to tell people not to take flash photos during the performance, a bizarre practice that went on throughout. (Can you even get a decent photo from a seat in Row J? Probably not. But you can tempt the person near you to grab your little camera and stuff it down your throat.) Worst of all were the lighting glitches. Twice, the house lights came on during Minnelli’s performance − the second time when she was talking about the death of her mother, Judy Garland. Minnelli is too much of a trouper to let that kind of thing get to her; she just told the audience, “You look wonderful.” But the new house manager has his or her hands full. jnewmark@post-dispatch.com 314-340-8243
POST-DISPATCH THEATER CRITIC
09/12/2008Liza Minnelli sure knows how to put on a show.Singing and dancing, telling personal stories and making jokes about her many marriages, she opened the new Lindenwood Center for Fine and Performing Arts in style on Thursday night. She performs there again tonight at 8 p.m. (A few single seats priced from $75 to $200 each are still be available through the Lindenwood Box Office: 636-949-4433.)
First of all, she looks great. She’s lost weight, something she invited the audience to notice as she credited Jenny Craig. (“I am not getting paid for this,” she added.) She wore a succession of stunning, sequined pant outfits − a white one, a black one, a red one − and one monstrosity involving pirate boots and shortie PJs. She also seems determined to revive the sequined sweatband from obscurity. Hmm.But her material is impeccable − not only the hits you expect, like “Cabaret” and “New York, New York,” but lots of smoldering numbers from the musical theater canon. She was really strong on two numbers that didn’t make it into the movie versions of two great Kander and Ebb shows: “So What” from “Cabaret” and “I Am My Own Best Friend” from “Chicago.” If Minnelli ever does a show of musical-theater outtakes, buy tickets fast.Minnelli really knows how to strike a pose and hold the spotlight. She drops a shoulder and gives you a whole Bob Fosse tableau; she cocks her head, puts her hand on her hip, and turns St. Charles into Berlin.She also, of course, exerts plenty of energy − maybe too much. At times, she sounded winded, and she seemed to favor her right leg a little. Minnelli is not about pacing − she’s full-out, all-out, all the time. You could see that she was sweating, and at one point she mentioned that one of her eyelashes had disappeared down her cleavage. But she might slow it down just a little by adding some breaks.There’s a four-man singing chorus for one section of the show, portraying Andy Williams and his singing brothers. The Williams Brothers sang back-up for Kay Thompson, the nightclub entertainer (and author of the “Eloise” books) who was Minnelli’s godmother; part of Minnelli’s show pays tribute to her, a talented, sophisticated woman to whom she always felt close. Maybe Minnelli’s “Williams Brothers” could make a bigger contribution to the show (and not just by running around in circles singing a list of girls’ names, which is what their biggest routine involved). Even if Minnelli doesn’t want a break herself, why should she make her fans worry?She was backed up in style by her own big orchestra. Most of the musicians, she said, have been playing with her for at least 30 years, and their elegant rapport sounded good in the university’s 1,200-seat new theater. It was almost filled for the opening night, which preceded ironing out all the new-theater kinks.The house doors didn’t open until 20 minutes after the show was to have started. There weren’t enough ushers to take tickets. − or to tell people not to take flash photos during the performance, a bizarre practice that went on throughout. (Can you even get a decent photo from a seat in Row J? Probably not. But you can tempt the person near you to grab your little camera and stuff it down your throat.) Worst of all were the lighting glitches. Twice, the house lights came on during Minnelli’s performance − the second time when she was talking about the death of her mother, Judy Garland. Minnelli is too much of a trouper to let that kind of thing get to her; she just told the audience, “You look wonderful.” But the new house manager has his or her hands full. jnewmark@post-dispatch.com 314-340-8243
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