Liza Minnelli performs her invited dress rehearsal for "Liza's at the Palace...", a Broadway engagement scheduled to run through December 28th. Palace Theatre, Broadway at W. 47 St., NYC. (Ari Mintz, Newsday / December 3, 2008)
Britney who? Liza Minnelli is not having a comeback as much as an actual resurrection on Broadway in "Liza's at the PalaceÂ…!," a slick and exuberant time-capsule that opened last night in the theater where both she and her late mother, Judy Garland, have famously lived their ups and downs in public.
Call this one an up. In the last decade, Minnelli has had two hip surgeries, one knee surgery, encephalitis, lots of addictions and a tabloid-awful marriage and divorce.
At 62, she suddenly looks eerily like the eager-to-please young trouper with the big eyes and the sad-celebrity family story from her gamine heyday in "Cabaret."
Forget all the photos of the bloat and the rumors of emotional catastrophe. She is back to wearing skinny pants and sparkling smock tops and, in the second act, lets us all admire how her legs still start around her arm pits.
Call this one an up. In the last decade, Minnelli has had two hip surgeries, one knee surgery, encephalitis, lots of addictions and a tabloid-awful marriage and divorce.
At 62, she suddenly looks eerily like the eager-to-please young trouper with the big eyes and the sad-celebrity family story from her gamine heyday in "Cabaret."
Forget all the photos of the bloat and the rumors of emotional catastrophe. She is back to wearing skinny pants and sparkling smock tops and, in the second act, lets us all admire how her legs still start around her arm pits.
She doesn't hit all the pitches these days, though she didn't always in the old days, and that wobble is now wide enough to drive a limo through it.But her phrasing is terrific and her enthusiasm, thoroughly endearing. The show, which runs through the month, has a generous onstage orchestra (in tuxedos, no less) and an almost quaint quartet of mature male dancers.She sings her standards, a medley of her mother's songs, and a fascinating tribute to the music of her godmother - and "Eloise" author - Kay Thompson.When I had to leave, she was still singing and still dancing and about to launch into her " New York, New York" theme song and a few lines of "I'll Be Seeing You." After so much upheaval, it seems she actually will.
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