HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Liza Minnelli - "Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas"

Confessions REVIEW

December 23rd, 2010


Liza Minnelli - (Decca Records/Universal)

Confessions

Richard Burnett

American pop icon Liza Minnelli's rollercoaster career enjoys another high with this scaled-down jazzy album of intimate, piano-driven ballads, including her warm takes on standards from the American songbook, such as Peggy Lee's He's a Tramp and Irving Berlin's I Got Lost in His Arms. Working with her long-time accompanist, pianist Billy Stritch, this elegant and sophisticated old-school vocal album shows that while Minnelli - now 64 - isn't the singer she used to be, she's still an original.

LIZA interview CNN ~ LIZA MINNELLI: CONNECTOR OF THE DAY!

Entertainer Liza Minnelli,Stanley Tucci and Actor Patricia Clarkson attend Cairo Time Event

Actor Patricia Clarkson, Entertainer Liza Minnelli and Producer Christine Vachon attend Cairo Time Event at Soho Grand Hotel on December 15, 2010 in New York City.

Actor Stanley Tucci, Entertainer Liza Minnelli and Designer Kenneth Cole attend Cairo Time Event at Soho Grand Hotel on December 15, 2010 in New York City.

Little LIZA fab Ava as Sally Bowles with Patrick at concert!

Liza on Privite Screenings shared from the "Online Liza Community"!

Liza Minnelli Private Screenings TCM from Liza Community on Vimeo.

Liza Minelli's 'Private' look back at career ~ PRIVATE SCREENINGS. SATURDAY NIGHT AT 10, TCM

Daily News David Hinckley

Saturday, December 11th 2010


LIZA MINNELLI: PRIVATE SCREENINGS. SATURDAY NIGHT AT 10, TCM


Robert Osborne's charming "Private Screenings" session with his longtime pal Liza Minnelli doesn't tell us anything new, through no fault of either participant.

Watching this TCM special is more like sitting by a fireplace near a couch where two old friends are reminiscing.

You know they've told the stories before, but even if we've heard most of them, their enthusiasm makes the encore presentation almost as entertaining for us as it is for them.

Much of the conversation focuses on Minnelli's childhood, drawing out her memories of her mother, Judy Garland, and her father, director Vincente Minnelli.

As it happens, she remembers childhood fondly. Like all kids, she assumed the childhood she had was the norm for all.

After school or on vacations, she would visit the set where her father was directing his current film, exploring the prop and costume rooms and generally, like all cute kids, getting the run of the joint.

"MGM was my playground," she says. "I knew the whole operation."

She also met all the stars and she says nothing here that tarnishes their memories.

Fred Astaire was "amazing," she says, even though she does recall that her father had to talk him into doing his now-famous duet with Gene Kelly (from "The Ziegfeld Follies").

While her mother may have a larger popular reputation than her father, "Private Screenings" spends more time on Vincente, walking through some of his finest works and flashing clips from films like "Cabin in the Sky."

Minnelli does admit that the first time she saw her mother's early signature film, "The Wizard of Oz," she didn't like it.

"It frightened me," she says. She also didn't think of the young woman on the screen, Dorothy, as her mother. It wasn't the woman who sat down with her and her father for dinner every night.

In retrospect, she says, those dinners were surprisingly normal.

"They'd talk about everything except movies," she says. "They'd been working on a movie set all day. That was enough."

Minnelli and Osborne feel so comfortable together that at times Minnelli sometimes seems to talk in the kind of personal shorthand developed in such a friendship.

Some of her responses seem simplified, as if she has to say only a little because she knows Osborne understands the rest. Ironically, if she were talking with someone she didn't know, she might be inclined to further explanation.


That's not a big problem, and it doesn't interfere with the glimpses she offers into her own life, like how she wanted to be a dancer, not an actor.

The main reason that little of this seems startling is that Minnelli's whole life has been lived in the spotlight.

"Private Screenings" doesn't feel all that private, either. But it's a pleasant place to eavesdrop for an hour.



dhinckley@nydailynews.com

Liza Minnelli Opens Up About Her Legendary Parents and Her Amazing Longevity

TV Guide Dec 10, 2010 03:55 PM ET

by Ileane Rudolph
Oscar, Emmy, Tony and Grammy Legend Award winner Liza Minnelli finally joins Robert Osborne's illustrious guest list on Saturday's episode of Private Screenings (10/9c, TCM). I watched her film the chat in the New York's West Village back in June, looking remarkably limber just a few months after knee replacement surgery. She was about to head out on tour to support her album Confessions, released this past September. Earlier this week, fresh from a San Francisco concert, the diva talked to me about her new album and her conversation with Osborne about growing up with legendary parents Judy Garland and director Vincente Minnelli and some of their equally famous friends. (AMC is also airing 10 of her parents' films — including An American in Paris and Gigi — plus Liza's Cabaret on Saturday and Tuesday.)


TV Guide Magazine: After watching the interview, I want to watch all of the films TCM is airing this week. Which of your parents' movies is your favorite?

Minnelli: I like Meet Me in St. Louis because it's the reason I'm here!

TV Guide Magazine: Did your parents meet on that film?

Minnelli: Yes, they did.

TV Guide Magazine: Why has it taken so long for you to go on Osborne's Private Screenings?

Minnelli: I don't know! We've been friends for a long time. But I'm always working. When he said, "Why don't we do this?" I said, "Sure." I think it's because he liked the Confessions album so much. You know, Rock Brynner, Yul Brynner's son, wrote the liner notes. I grew up with him and he's a professor now. It's having wonderful success and I'm so glad. I recorded it before I had my knee replacement surgery and right after. I sang the whole thing in my bedroom. [Laughs]

TV Guide Magazine: Why did you call it Confessions?

Minnelli: That's what it is. The song "Confessions" is a great song. I heard it first when I was 13. Listen to the lyrics. [She sings the song.] The last line is, "I always go to bed at 10 — and then go home at 4." [Laughs] So that introduces what this album's about. Which is all the loves one's had in one's life. It's my first real jazz album



TV Guide Magazine: You talk about your parents' movies on Private Screenings. What do you want viewers to know about Vincente Minnelli?

Minnelli: All you have to do is look at his films to know that he changed history in film — certainly changed the spectrum of color. He was just a wonderful director and a great father.

TV Guide Magazine: What's important to say about your mom Judy Garland?

Minnelli: How funny she was. How she never took herself seriously.

TV Guide Magazine: And Liza Minnelli?

Minnelli: That's up to you! But I like to work. I like figuring things out, studying and creating. The joy of performing is what I'm hooked on.

TV Guide Magazine: You practically grew up at the MGM studios in the late '40s and '50s.What was the most fun?

Minnelli: I always loved to hang out in the dance rehearsal hall because dance was my first love. I loved to watch Cyd Charisse and of course Gene Kelly. I learned how to count watching them. That's why I can learn dance steps so fast now. I wanted to dance so much! That was my playground, MGM. But I never thought of going into movies. My goal was to be on Broadway.

TV Guide Magazine: You certainly did that. Plus you won an Oscar for Cabaret.

Minnelli: That's what so exciting I'm so lucky to have this career and have those great songs written for me. God, when you think about them. And all the awards. I'm just so blessed.

TV Guide Magazine: Speaking of the stage, you've done musical tributes to your dad and godmother Kay Thompson [Funny Face]. How about your mom?

Minnelli: I'm sure I will do that one day, but right now I'm doing so many other things. [Laughs]

TV Guide Magazine: Like your appearance on The Apprentice finale.

Minnelli: Yes, I sang "New York, New York" and "The World Goes Round." I'm open to everything. One minute I'm recording with My Chemical Romance and the next I'm doing a show somewhere in the Balkans!

TV Guide Magazine: So you're nowhere near retirement?

Minnelli: No!

Liza Minnelli: Liza Minnelli - Confessions (VIDEO)

From One Legend to Another: Liza Minnelli Lights Up Donald Trump’s The Apprentice (VIDEO LINK)

http://www.broadway.com/buzz/154567/from-one-legend-to-another-liza-minnelli-lights-up-donald-trumps-the-apprentice/

Michael York on LIZA & making "Cabaret"

LIZA brings little girl on stage at at Davies Symphony Hall on Sunday

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=%2Fc%2Fa%2F2010%2F12%2F09%2FDDCQ1GLOPK.DTL
Leah Garchik


During Liza Minnelli's performance at Davies Symphony Hall on Sunday, she noticed a little girl sitting in the front row with her two daddies, Frank Silletti and Sonny Vukic. Six-year-old Ava Vukic was dressed as Minnelli in "Cabaret," in a costume that Silletti made. At the end of the show, Minnelli brought the little girl onstage, sat her in her lap, and sang "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas" to her. It was a thrill, notes Silletti, who says the three of them visited Minnelli backstage afterward.


Wasn't Ava overwhelmed by being onstage? Silletti did notice that although Ava smiled back when Liza smiled at her, she looked a little nervous. She explained later: " 'Liza said that she just had knee surgery and I was afraid of hurting her knee.' "

P.S.: The night before, Minnelli, her former stepmother, Denise Hale, and Hale's pal designer, Ken Fulk, had dinner at Gary Danko. And after the performance, Minnelli had dinner at Morton's the Steakhouse. Spies said she was in a party of 12 and "even took the time to visit with other diners who approached her."

LIZA ~ The Apprentice Season 10 finale tomorrow at 10 pm!

Written by TVG

Wednesday, 08 December 2010 09:58

The Apprentice


Choosing The Apprentice

Thursday at 10/9c on NBC

The Apprentice is finally down to choosing The Apprentice. Donald Trump will utter the words he only says once per season, "You're Hired." The only question that remains is, who will he hired, Brandy or Clint?
In the conclusion of the Season 10 finale, the final two candidates continue to work on their crowning challenges. One oversees a VIP golf tournament and the other organizes a Liza Minnelli concert.


During the last episode we were left with Clint seemingly in deep trouble because of spelling errors of the Liza Minnelli name on promotional materials. Mahsa had caught the errors but was coming up short on the money to get them fixed. Clint was also headed for problems with the buffet dinner and didn't seem to appreciate Steuart's input.


Brandy seemed to be having an easier time of it except for golf teams, specifically Donald Trump's team. Trump had requested that Lisa play on his team leaving Brandy one person short on her team and then to make things worse trump ends up only having 3 people on his team because Brandy couldn't find him a forth. Trump isn't happy because it is almost impossible for a three-some to win against teams of 4 and 5. The other issue on Brandy's team was the prizes. Brandy felt gift certificates were better than giving someone a set of five hundread dollar golf clubs because they probably owned clubs worth thousands. Lisa had gone out and bought the $500 dollar golf clubs.

Eventually it all comes down to the board room where Trump questions each team on how they feel they did and asks for opinions on who they thought should be the winner. Clint takes some big heat for his country boy style and always using the word "Y'all"


Tune in Thursday night at 10/9c on NBC to see who is finally choose to be The Apprentice.

BWW Review: Liza Lights Up San Francisco

http://sanfrancisco.broadwayworld.com/article/BWW_Review_Liza_Lights_Up_San_Francisco_20101207
Tuesday, December 7, 2010; Posted: 08:12 AM - by Samantha Toy

broadway WORLD.COM
Liza Minnelli admits she was not the most well-spoken person in her younger days. "The songs [I sang] said what I couldn't say," she said during her concert, "An Evening with Liza Minnelli," on December 5 at Davies Symphony Hall in San Francisco.


Backed by a sextet that included her long-time piano accompanist Billy Stritch, Minnelli treated San Francisco to an early Christmas present with an action-packed 90 minute show featuring American standards and tracks from her recently released album "Confessions."

Although Minnelli shared memories of her musical life, the songs ultimately told the stories. With classics including "My Own Best Friend" from Chicago, "Our Love is Here to Stay," and "He's a Tramp," the lineup ran the gamut of her famed career, and lauded her legendary family and friends like Peggy Lee, Frank Sinatra, and John Kander and Frank Ebb. The audience leapt to its feet multiple times during and after show-stopping renditions of "Cabaret" and "New York, New York."

"Confessions" developed while Minnelli was recuperating from a knee replacement surgery, and Stritch suggested creating an album that captured the intimate feel of singing at home with loved ones. It includes "I Hadn't Anyone Till You," the song Minnelli thought of when she met Stritch, who also lent his voice to the concert with his swingin' solo "No Moon At All."

Keeping with the intimacy of the evening, Minnelli closed the show by inviting a little girl from the audience onstage. Sitting on Minnelli's lap, the girl, who was dressed in a Cabaret-inspired flapper outfit, had the best seat in the house while one of America's most legendary performers sang "Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas," the song her mother Judy Garland sang in Meet Me in St. Louis, which her father Vincente Minnelli directed. With a classic near to her heart and appropriate to the season, Liza Minnelli did what she does best - wished San Francisco happy holidays, letting the song speak for itself.

San Francisco Review: Liza Minnelli, what true celebrity is all about

http://www.starkinsider.com/2010/12/san-francisco-review-liza-minnelli-davies-symphony-hall-news-1207201055.html
Liza Minnelli in Concert


Davies Symphony Hall, San Francisco

Dec. 5, 2010 On the Web: http://www.sfsymphony.org/

by Cy Ashley Webb

 
Celebrity is a funny thing. I’m not talking about Britney or Angelina what’s her name, but those figures that command our attention decade after decade: Sinatra, Streisand, Taylor, Barishnikov, Newman,… those folks who for one reason or another have come to represent come kind of cultural high water mark. In return for a few hours entertainment, an incomparable sense of style, we demand an enormous amount from these figures.


The flip side of true celebrity, is we forgive these people almost everything. Drug problem? No big deal. Cancelled a show because of health issues? Not an issue. Alcoholism? Goes with the territory. Another blown marriage? Better luck next time. These are the people whose foibles we have almost infinite patience.

Liza Minnelli is on everybody’s short list of true celebs. However, whereas other celebs, like Mick Jagger, are fixed to a particular time and place, Minnelli exists out of time, not wedded a particular decade. Again and again, we listen to her explain that her father was Vincent Minnelli and her mother was Judy Garland – as if that explains everything. Perhaps it does.

Minnelli’s one night appearance at Davies Symphony Hall last night brought out the oddest collection of characters: packs of elderly tourists poured off the buses from God-knows-where to mix freely with the tony gay men who were out in hordes. This huge cross-over appeal is also part of true celebrity.

People were standing and applauding even before Minelli hit the stage. This was clearly a home-town crowd and for tonight at least, Minelli was in her home town. Her first two songs were fractured as she went in one direction and the band in another. Mixing was off and Minelli gasped for breath at the end of lines. It mattered not one iota to this crowd who yelled down “I love you,” and You’re beautiful.”

And then a funny thing started to happen. The cavernous Davies Symphony started to shrink. It happened so slowly and imperceptibly that you might not have noticed it until the end of the show. Every eye was on this infinitely frail woman, hoping that her broken knee wouldn’t give way as she strutted the stage, almost willing her to sit down when her energy lagged. Minnelli fed off the crowd as much as they fed off of her as she responded “This is my favorite sight in the whole world—I wish you could see how you look.”

I won’t pretend that this is the Liza of ten years ago – but then Liza of ten years ago wasn’t the same Liza. However, she delivered a grueling 90-minute set without a break (other than one in which Billy Strtich sang). As Davies became more and more of a small caberet, Minnelli got better and better and better. If her voice can no longer linger on those last notes, she can still belt it out more powerfully than anyone else. She brought the crowd to their feet three times before the show’s end. The “New York, New York” she closed with was every bit as strong as the decades old live recordings. She remains the entertainer’s entertainer.

One vision — maybe an impossibly hopeful one — is that this is what true celebrity is all about. Not the Britney hoopla or all the crap that only cheapens us, but something that transforms performer and audience alike by bringing out our better impulses. This is what Minnelli brought to all of us last night – which made it a very magic evening.

Liza Minnelli in Concert
Davies Symphony Hall, San Francisco
4 out of 5 stars

www.sfsymphony.org

LIZA ~ Meet the parents

http://www.nypost.com/p/entertainment/tv/meet_the_parents_jY9MPuFDxT7WufFapfu8oN
New York Post
Meet the parents


Liza talks (at last) about Mom and Dad

By LOU LUMENICK

Last Updated: 8:31 AM, December 5, 2010

Robert Osborne has known Liza Minnelli since the 1960s, but the Turner Classic Movies host says he never considered asking his longtime friend to sit down with him on “Private Screenings.”


“We don’t have that many of her films in our library and I would have never asked her to appear,” he says. “But we were at a party one night and she said, ‘I’d like to come on with you sometime and talk about growing up at MGM and about my mom and my dad.’ ”

And so Minnelli will be talking not only about her own film career but those of her famous parents, Judy Garland and director Vincente Minnelli.

While she’s talked about her father in the past (“she felt he never got the attention he deserved”) she “never wanted to cash in on her mother.”


Osborne says what comes across in the 50-minute interview — culled from more than two hours he taped — “is the delightful, funny lady I know but not a lot of people know.”

The interview is a nice comeback after Minnelli’s recent bizarre appearance on the Home Shopping Network where she was selling a line of clothing, including a velvet halter jumpsuit and jewelry (“I just started working with clay!”).

Osborne delights in having Minnelli, a remaining symbol of Hollywood royalty, on the show. “She grew up with Lana Turner living on one side and Humphrey Bogart on the other,” he says. “She has a perspective on Hollywood that nobody else has. There are other children of stars, but nobody has has a pair of parents who won Oscars.’ ”

Minnelli, who made her film debut as a two-year-old in her mother’s film “In The Good Old Summertime,” says that “they didn’t put any panties on me. All I remember is Van Johnson’s hand on my bottom. . .it was vaguely uncomfortable.”

She recalls sitting with her father on camera booms at MGM and visiting her mother’s sets. But at home, she says “it wasn’t glamorous. The last thing they wanted to talk about was show business.”

“I love the part when she’s asked about her reaction to seeing her mother as Dorothy in ‘The Wizard of Oz’ for the first time,’” Osborne says. “She says, ‘She was someone who tucked me in at night.’ ”

Her parents didn’t encourage her to go into acting, but she caught the bug after seeing “Bye Bye Birdie” on Broadway.

“The best piece of advice I got about acting was from my mother,” says Minnelli. “She said, ‘You have to listen to the other actor and try to figure out why they’re saying something.’ ”

Her favorite films of her mother’s, “The Clock” and “The Pirate,” were both directed by her father. After her mother died in 1969, her father remained a supportive presence and was with her the night she won the Best Actress Oscar for “Cabaret.”

He later directed her in his last film, “A Matter of Time” (1976).

“It was interesting, but it was also difficult because he was starting to get a form of dementia,” she recalls duirng the interview. “I did the best I could.”


‘Private Screenings’

Schedule:

Saturday, December 11

8 p.m. Meet Me in St. Louis (1944)

10 p.m. Private Screenings

11 p.m. The Clock (1945)

2:30 a.m. Private Screeings (Encore)

12:45 a.m. The Pirate (1948)

3:30 a.m. An American in Paris (1951)

5:30 a.m. Gigi (1958)
Tuesday, December 14

9 p.m. Cabaret (1972)

11:15 p.m. A Matter of Time (1976)

1 a.m. Stepping Out (1991)

4 a.m. Madame Bovary (1949)

6 a.m. The Bad and the Beautiful (1952)

8 a.m. Home From The Hill (1960)

Don't sit alone - come hear Liza sing ~ Minnelli's debut in Tucson was delayed 38 years

http://azstarnet.com/entertainment/arts-and-theatre/article_0107af77-e948-565b-9f03-d4d16d2dcc40.html
Arizona Daily Star
Cathalena E. Burch Arizona Daily Star Arizona Daily Star

Posted: Friday, December 3, 2010 12:00 am
she had been able to make her Tucson debut back in April 1972 - as was planned - we would have seen Liza Minnelli as she was about to blossom.


She was only a handful of years removed from her 1965 Broadway debut and was making a splash nationally for her singing chops. Her mom, Judy Garland, launched that side of Minnelli's career when she invited the then-teenager to perform with Garland at the London Palladium.

We would have caught Minnelli a little less than a year before she won her Oscar for her portrayal of Sally Bowles in "Cabaret," and a few months before she divorced Hubby No. 1 in July 1972 and married No. 2 that September. (To date, she's had four husbands; all of her marriages ended in divorce.)

Mostly, though, we would have been able to get in on the ground floor of a career that turned out to be pretty remarkable: movies, Broadway, TV, recordings.

Minnelli has endured public scrutiny, health scares, tabloid trashing and the strains of age - she's 64 - in a Hollywood and Broadway that celebrate youth. Yet she has persevered and is held up by critics and fans worldwide as the ultimate entertainer.

Alas, that April Tucson concert was canceled just days before she was to perform here.

Tonight, however, Minnelli finally will make up that lost date from half a lifetime passed. She will perform in a UApresents concert at 8 at Centennial Hall, 1020 E. University Blvd. Tickets are $54 to $84 through www.uapresents. org; all the discounted student, senior and military tickets are sold out.

Information: 621-3341.

Photo Coverage: 2010 World AIDS Day Light For Rights

http://broadwayworld.com/article/Photo_Coverage_2010_World_AIDS_Day_Light_For_Rights_20000101
Wednesday, December 1, 2010; Posted: 09:12 PM - by

broadwayWORLD.COM

NEW YORK, NY - DECEMBER 01: Singer Liza Minnelli attends the World AIDS Day Light for Rights at Washington Square Park on December 1, 2010 in New York City. (Photo by Andrew H. Walker/Getty Images)

NEW YORK, NY - DECEMBER 01: (L-R) Kenneth Cole, Carson Kressley, Stockard Channing, Tyson Beckford and NYC Council Speaker Christine C. Quinn attend the World AIDS Day Light for Rights at Washington Square Park on December 1, 2010 in New York City. (Photo by Andrew H. Walker/Getty Images)

NEW YORK, NY - DECEMBER 01: Liza Minnelli and Kenneth Cole attend the World AIDS Day Light for Rights at Washington Square Park on December 1, 2010 in New York City. (Photo by Andrew H. Walker/Getty Images)

NEW YORK, NY - DECEMBER 01: mTyson Beckford and Liza Minnelli attend the World AIDS Day Light for Rights at Washington Square Park on December 1, 2010 in New York City. (Photo by Andrew H. Walker/Getty Images)

NEW YORK, NY - DECEMBER 01: Singer Liza Minnelli attends World AIDS Day Light for Rights at Washington Square Park on December 1, 2010 in New York City. (Photo by Andrew H. Walker/Getty Images)




NEW YORK, NY - DECEMBER 01: (L-R) Tyson Beckford, Liza Minnelli and Kenneth Cole attend the World AIDS Day Light for Rights at Washington Square Park on December 1, 2010 in New York City. (Photo by Andrew H. Walker/Getty Images)

NEW YORK, NY - DECEMBER 01: Actress Stockard Channing attends the World AIDS Day Light for Rights at Washington Square Park on December 1, 2010 in New York City. (Photo by Andrew H. Walker/Getty Images)

Liza in Washington Square Park for World Aids Day ((VIDEO)...

Liza Fist Pumps At New York Stock Exchange

Liza Minnelli Rings the NYSE Bell for World AIDS Day from Sam Miro on Vimeo.

Mondo Guerra, Cheyenne Jackson (obscured), Liza Minnelli and Kenneth Cole at the NYSE this morning
gothamist http://gothamist.com/2010/11/30/liza_fist_pumps_at_new_york_stock_e.php

To raise awareness for World AIDS Day, which is tomorrow, December 1, 2010, amfAR ambassadors Liza Minnelli and Cheyenne Jackson, amfAR chairman Kenneth Cole and fashion designer and Project Runway runner-up Mondo Guerra rang the opening bell this morning at the New York Stock Exchange. You can see video here, but we're a little disappointed she didn't wear a fabulous Lucille Austero jacket.

As part of World AIDS Day, the NYSE building facade will be dimmed between 6:15 p.m. and 6:20 p.m. tomorrow, long with other NYC buildings and structures (like Broadway theaters, the Brooklyn Bridge, Madison Square Garden, Carnegie Hall, the Museum of Modern Art, Radio City Music Hall and the Apollo Theater). Music Hall and the Apollo Theater. And Minnelli, Cole, and others including City Council Speaker Christine Quinn and actress Stockard Channing will be at Washington Square Park for a World AIDS Day event at 5:30 p.m (tomorrow, 12/1); the park's arch will be "turned off and then re-illuminated as the speakers discuss the importance of emphasizing human rights when confronting the AIDS pandemic," according to Broadway World.

Contact the author of this article or email tips@gothamist.com with further questions, comments or tips.

By Jen Chung in Arts and Events on November 30, 2010 3:20 PM 0 Comments 0 Likes Likes

LIZA ~ " Song of Hope" (THE DAY AFTER THAT) "World Aids Day" December 1st...

LIZA ~ amfAR Visits the NYSE to Recognize World AIDS Day

http://www.nyse.com/events/1290510057641.html
Liza (VIDEO LINK above)
11/30/2010


A day prior to World AIDS Day (WAD), amfAR, The Foundation for AIDS Research—one of the leading nonprofit organizations dedicated to the support of AIDS research—visits the NYSE to raise awareness for World AIDS Day, December 1. In honor of the occasion, amfAR Chairman Kenneth Cole and amfAR Ambassadors Liza Minnelli and Cheyenne Jackson ring The Opening BellSM.

-- Global Bell Ringing Across NYSE Euronext Markets in Honor of World AIDS Day --


As part of the World AIDS Day tribute, lights on the facade of the New York Stock Exchange will be dimmed on Wednesday, December 1, from 6:15-6:20 pm. Additionally, in New York City, there will be a ceremony in Washington Square Park and a dimming of the lights on monuments and buildings around New York City to include all of the Broadway theaters, the Brooklyn Bridge, Madison Square Garden, Carnegie Hall, the Museum of Modern Art, Radio City Music Hall and the Apollo Theater.

Additionally, on December 1 (World AIDS Day), NYSE Euronext is partnering with Product (RED) and with our issuer community to further bring awareness to the day.

NYSE Euronext markets in Amsterdam, Brussels, Lisbon and Paris will also open or close the trading day on November 30 with executives from various world AIDS organizations in recognition of World AIDS Day.

About amfAR

amfAR, The Foundation for AIDS Research, is one of the world’s leading nonprofit organizations dedicated to the support of AIDS research, HIV prevention, treatment education, and the advocacy of sound AIDS-related public policy. Since 1985, amfAR has invested more than $307 million in its programs and has awarded grants to more than 2,000 research teams worldwide.

About World AIDS Day

World AIDS Day is celebrated on December 1 each year around the world. It has become one of the most recognised international health days and a key opportunity to raise awareness, commemorate those who have passed on, and celebrate victories such as increased access to treatment and prevention services. (http://www.worldaidscampaign.org)

Liza Minnelli, Jackson to Ring Opening Bell, 11/30

Monday, November 29, 2010; Posted: 07:11 PM - by BWW News Desk

A day prior to World AIDS Day (WAD), amfAR, The Foundation for AIDS Research-one of the leading nonprofit organizations dedicated to the support of AIDS research-visits the NYSE to raise awareness for World AIDS Day, December 1. In honor of the occasion, amfAR Chairman Kenneth Cole and amfAR Ambassadors Liza Minnelli and Cheyenne Jackson ring The Opening BellSM.


Watch a live webcast of The Opening Bell at 9:29 a.m. ET on November 30, 2010. The archive will be available shortly after the event.

As part of the World AIDS Day tribute, lights on the facade of the New York Stock Exchange will be dimmed on Wednesday, December 1, from 6:15-6:20 pm. Additionally, in New York City, there will be a ceremony in Washington Square Park and a dimming of the lights on monuments and buildings around New York City to include all of the Broadway theaters, the Brooklyn Bridge, Madison Square Garden, Carnegie Hall, the Museum of Modern Art, Radio City Music Hall and the Apollo Theater.

Additionally, on December 1 (World AIDS Day), NYSE Euronext is partnering with Product (RED) and with our issuer community to further bring awareness to the day.

NYSE Euronext markets in Amsterdam, Brussels, Lisbon and Paris will also open or close the trading day on November 30 with executives from various world AIDS organizations in recognition of World AIDS Day.

amfAR, The Foundation for AIDS Research, is one of the world's leading nonprofit organizations dedicated to the support of AIDS research, HIV prevention, treatment education, and the advocacy of sound AIDS-related public policy. Since 1985, amfAR has invested more than $307 million in its programs and has awarded grants to more than 2,000 research teams worldwide.

World AIDS Day is celebrated on December 1 each year around the world. It has become one of the most recognised international health days and a key opportunity to raise awareness, commemorate those who have passed on, and celebrate victories such as increased access to treatment and prevention services. (http://www.worldaidscampaign.org)

Read more: http://broadwayworld.com/article/Minnelli_Jackson_to_Ring_Opening_BellSM_1130_20010101#ixzz16jP1SO7Q

Liza, - World AIDS day...December 1 · 5:30pm - 6:30pm, Washington Square Park - A Free Event

Kenneth Cole, Liza Minnelli, Stockard Channing and Tyson Beckford Among Celebrities to Commemorate World AIDS Day 2010 as Part of Light for Rights Campaign



A FREE, public event to turn off the lights in Washington Square Park from 5:30-6:30 pm

Lights to be extinguished throughout New York City: participating landmarks across the city include the Brooklyn Bridge; the New York Stock Exchange;the Plaza Hotel; Madison Square Garden; ...Carnegie Hall; Museum of Modern Art; Washington Square Park Arch; the Beacon Theatre; Madison Square Park’s art installation Scattered Light; Radio City Music Hall; the Apollo Theater; the Clock Tower Building; the Metropolitan Museum of Art; and 35 Broadway theaters

Commemorating World AIDS Day 2010, Liza Minnelli, Stockard Channing, Tyson Beckford, the Broadway Inspirational Voices choir, and others will lead an event to extinguish the lights on the historic Washington Square Park Memorial Arch to remember those lost to AIDS. Elsewhere in the city, lights will be turned off on other major landmarks. The event is free and open to the public.

The event is part of the Light for Rights campaign, a global initiative organized by UNAIDS; amfAR; Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS; and the World AIDS Campaign. The campaign, in its second year, showcases the importance of fundamental human rights in the worldwide fight against AIDS.

The New York event will be from 5:30 pm-6:30 pm in Washington Square Park in Greenwich Village. Minnelli, Channing, Beckford, and 30 Rock’s Keith Powell will lead the proceedings and will be joined by the Broadway Inspirational Voices choir.

During the event, the lights on the Washington Square Park Memorial Arch will be turned off and then re-illuminated as the speakers discuss the importance of emphasizing human rights when confronting the AIDS pandemic.

Elsewhere in New York, the marquee lights on many New York City landmarks will be extinguished as part of the campaign. Participating venues include the Brooklyn Bridge; the New York Stock Exchange; the Plaza Hotel; Madison Square Garden; Carnegie Hall; Museum of Modern Art; the Beacon Theatre; Jim Campbell’s Madison Square Park’s art installation Scattered Light; Radio City Music Hall; the Apollo Theater; and 35 Broadway theaters.See More

Liza performs "I Got To Have That Man" Staten Island, Nov. 20, 2010

Liza Minnelli performs "I Got To Have That Man" Staten Island, Nov. 20, 2010 from Sam Miro on Vimeo.

LIZA VIDEO ~ "but the world goes round... St George Theater, Staten Island

Liza Minnelli ~ but he the world goes round... St George Theater Staten Island from Sam Miro on Vimeo.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Liza Minnelli, Stockard Channing, Broadway Inspirational Voices to Commemorate World AIDS Day

By Thomas Peter


23 Nov 2010
PLAYBILL.COM

Liza Minnelli, Stockard Channing, designer Kenneth Cole, model Tyson Beckford and "30 Rock" star Keith Powell will be joined by the Broadway Inspirational Voices choir for a special commemoration of World AIDS Day in Washington Square Park, Dec. 1 from 5:30-6:30 PM.


The event is part of the Light for Rights campaign, a global initiative organized by UNAIDS; amfAR; Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS; and the World AIDS Campaign. The campaign, in its second year, showcases the importance of fundamental human rights in the worldwide fight against AIDS.

The lights of the park will be turned off to remember those who have died of AIDS, as part of a similar ceremony that will take place at other landmarks throughout the city. The park lights will be extinguished and then re-lighted, after which the speakers will discuss the importance of fundamental human rights in the fight against AIDS.

Other New York landmarks that will participate include the Brooklyn Bridge; the New York Stock Exchange; the Plaza Hotel; Madison Square Garden; Carnegie Hall; Museum of Modern Art; Washington Square Park Arch; the Beacon Theatre; Madison Square Park’s art installation Scattered Light; Radio City Music Hall; the Apollo Theater; and 35 Broadway theatres.

Dominican Government honors Liza Minnelli

DominicanToday
People - 23 November 2010, 11:35 AM
SD. - President Leonel Fernandez Decree 647-10 bestowed the Heraldic Order of Cristóbal Columbus on the American actress and singer Liza Minnelli, in a brief National Palace ceremony on Monday.


The first lady Margarita Cedeño and other senior officials accompanied Fernandez in the ceremony for Minnelli, who thanked the President for the honor.
After receiving the Dominican Government’s recognition, the American entertainer said “it is far better than having received the Oscar.”

Liza Finale video at St George in Staten Island...

Liza Minnelli finale "Everytime We Say Good-bye" at the St George Theater in Staten Island from Sam Miro on Vimeo.

Liza's show stopping "My Own Best Friend" from St George Theater!

Liza singing "Maybe This Time" from The St George theater in Staten Island...Review by Gary Smiler

Maybe  This Time

In a magnificent venue tucked away in a corner of Staten island NY at the St george Theatre old but very beautifully preserved Palace, Liza returned last night. The audience went wild and welcomed her back with shouts of bravos and loud applause. Liza looks great and admitted she was happy to be back perfoming instead of recuperating from what she called Walking Pneumonia. She wowed the audience from the opening Alexanders Ragtime Band to the quiet and touching finale of Eveytime we Say Goodbye(I die a little). Its amazing that her 8 piece group sounds as big as a 40 piece orchestra. With the always wondrous Billy Stritch leading the way the intermissionless 90 minutes had no dull spots to say the least!! The first part of her act was some of her best numbers such as He's Funny That Way, My Own Best Friend, So What from the original Cabaret, Here I'll Stay/Our Love Is Here to stay, and of course Cabaret. Liza then devoted much time to the many beautiful songs from the new CD Confessions, including, He's Fascinating, I Must Have That Man, This Heart Of Mine,  He's a tramp, and I Hadn't Anyone Till You. A special moment was when Liza and Billy Stritch did a duet on I Cant Give You Anything But Love Baby. How wonderful this sounded and how well Billy and Liza blended voices with his beautiful accompaniment backing them up. A priceless memorable moment of perfection. Liza seemed happy, at ease, in great voice and full of energy. Naturally the show included an incredible and intense performance of And The World Goes Round and a double ending whammy of NY NY. Ya know last night there was almost a full moon out about 98%. But for Liza it was more like 110%. Welcome back darling Liza and long may she stay healthy and keep entertaining us for years to come. By the way if you havent bought the new Confessions CD what the heck are you waiting for its simply grand and a wonderful listen with Liza  sure to be Grammy nominated for this marvelous piece of work. Did i say I like the show, hell I loved it!! Gary S from TBA =

Liza Minnelli performs at the St. George Theatre with an all-out, non-stop, razz-ma-tazz, feel-good show!

Kiawana Rich

 http://www.silive.com/news/index.ssf/2010/11/liza_minnelli_performs_at_the.html
Published: Sunday, November 21, 2010, 12:07 AM
Those eyes. That face. That voice.


The inimitable, unmistakable Liza Minnelli took the stage last night with an all-out, non-stop, razz-ma-tazz, feel-good show that marked the living legend's debut performance inside Staten Island's majestic St. George Theatre.

"I thank you so much! Yes, I am here! Staten Island -- yeah! And at the beautiful St. George Theatre!" an awed Ms. Minnelli said. "I heard about it my whole life."

Last night's show was Ms. Minnelli's comeback performance after being sidelined by bronchial pneumonia so badly that she had to cancel several shows nationwide last month.

At one point, looking out at the sold-out audience, which gave her a standing ovation even before she sang her first note, she remarked: "What a way to come back from pneumonia ... They locked me up in my room for 5-and-a-half weeks ... but this is my first time out," she said to almost unstoppable applause.

And last night, the 64-year-old entertainer showed no signs of slowing down as she opened the evening with "Alexander's Ragtime Band."

Ms. Minnelli sparkled in a sequined black top that caught every glint of light as she moved, black pants and a flowing red scarf that kept the spotlight on her.

No one could take their eyes of this powerhouse performer as Ms. Minnelli moved, shimmied and danced, accompanied by a six-piece band that included longtime pianist and friend Billy Strich as her wingman on stage.

The 5-foot, 4-inch entertainment icon has compiled an impressive list of accolades: An Oscar, an Emmy, three Tony Awards, two-time Golden Globe winner
and Grammy awardee.

She is, of course, the consummate performer -- to the audience's sheer delight. And in a lavish theater built in 1929 and noted for its history as a Vaudeville playhouse, Ms. Minnelli, in her own special way, paid tribute to her family's theatrical roots; both her maternal grandparents as well as her mother, the beloved Judy Garland, performed in Vaudeville.

Ms. Minnelli told jokes, had fun, danced and sang throughout the evening. She clearly enjoys entertaining, but even more, loves being in an intimate setting and connecting with her audience. Even while on stage, she makes one feel as if she is a good friend sitting right next to you in the living room.

And she's at her best telling stories. At one point, Ms. Minnelli recalled how she stepped in to fill the shoes of Gwen Verdon to play Roxie Hart in "Chicago" on Broadway in 1975.

She said he reached out to friend Bob Fosse; Fosse said he was concerned, because an actress had never done this before (the role was usually filled by the understudy). Ms. Minnelli said she told Fosse: "Let's not tell anyone."

Audiences attending the shows didn't know Liza had taken over until they were in their seats, she said. "I loved it," she said of the opportunity, for which she received rave reviews and critical acclaim. "And I love this song," she said, before launching into "My Own Best Friend."

She didn't skimp on the jokes either. While introducing the song, Ms. Minnelli talked about why her character was in jail.

"Roxie Hart murders her husband." Alluding to her four failed marriages, she deadpanned: "I know exactly how she feels," garnering heavy laughter.

Before she even belted a note, "Cabaret" had the audience on its feet, applauding; she even threw in a few of the famed dance moves she featured while playing the role that won her an Oscar in 1972.

Island fans couldn't have been happier.

"My mom is a big fan," said Georgena Russo, 62, of Great Kills, who came with her husband, John, 63. They brought along her mother, Georgina Ulrich, 80, as a birthday gift.

"I love her. I love everything about her," Mrs. Ulrich said.

"I love Liza -- and that's Liza with a Z," chimed a smitten Louis Campanella, 63, accompanied by his wife, Anna, 59, of Brooklyn. "Her voice is great."

And it wasn't just run-of-the-mill fans in the theater. Newly retired Alberta Brescia and her friend, Dr. Anne Merlino, of Silver Lake said they are both Minnelli fans.

"She's an amazing headliner and it doesn't get any better than this," said Fred Cerullo, president and chief executive officer of the Grand Central Partnership.

While Dr. Larry Arann, chairman of the theater's board of trustees, added that Ms. Minnelli's presence proves how much the theater is becoming a legitimate venue for top-notch performers.

Sisters Doreen Cugno and Luanne Sorrentino, the theater's executive director and CFO/director of operations, respectively, spent their day smitten, talking to Ms. Minnelli and watching her during the pre-show sound check.
"She was great," Mrs. Cugno said.

Liza Minnelli Plays 'One Night Only' Concert at St. George Theatre, 11/20

Saturday, November 20, 2010; Posted: 12:11 AM - by BWW News Desk broadway WORLD.COM

Liza Minnelli will perform 'Liza Minnelli In Concert' for one night only on November 20, at the St. George Theatre in Staten Island, the singer has announced on her official website.


'Liza Minnelli In Concert' features American standards with accompaniment by Minnelli's quartet.

The daughter of actress/singer Judy Garland and film director Vincente Minnelli, Liza Minnelli was destined for stardom, beginning her professional career at age 16 in an off-Broadway revival of the musical Best Foot Forward. In 1965, Minnelli became the youngest woman ever to win a leading actress Tony Award for Flora the Red Menace at the age of 19. Since her early stage performances, Minnelli has continued to appear on Broadway in musicals such as Chicago, Victor/Victoria and The Act. In 1999, she paid tribute to her father in a show called Minnelli on Minnelli. Her most recent stint on Broadway in 2008's Liza's at the Palace... garnered her fourth Tony Award.

Minnelli's concert performances have electrified audiences around the world including London's Palladium, Sydney's Opera House, Paris' Olympia Theatre and New York's Carnegie Hall. In 1991, Minnelli's Radio City Music Hall concert engagement broke box office records playing to sold-out audiences for three weeks. She is noted as having starred in the first concert ever filmed for television in 1972. The resulting album "Liza with a Z" was a Top 20 album and won the Emmy for Outstanding Single Program and the prestigious Peabody Award. It has been released in recent years on DVD and aired on Showtime. This year, she will release a new CD, "Confessions" with her longtime collaborator pianist Billy Stritch.

Minnelli has also lit up the big screen in films such as "Charlie Bubbles," "The Sterile Cuckoo," "New York, New York" opposite Robert DeNiro, "Arthur," "Arthur 2" and, most famously, the 1972 film "Cabaret." In 2010, Minnelli will make a much talked about cameo appearance in "Sex and the City 2."



To learn more about Liza Minnelli, visit www.officiallizaminnelli.com.



Ticket for 'Liza Minnelli In Concert' are $50 to $200 and are available through Ticketmaster.

Read more: http://broadwayworld.com/article/_Liza_Minnelli_Plays_One_Night_Only_Concert_at_St_George_Theatre_1120_20101120##ixzz15pqJ

LIZA interview ~ "The Insider"...

Liza Minnelli returning to stage

Liza Minnelli returning to stage

Stacey Doyle

NY City Buzz Examiner
Legendary Liza Minnelli will be returning to the stage after a short absence. A bout with bronchial pneumonia took Liza Minnelli away from her fans but it seems she has made a full recovery. She will start performing again on Saturday, November 20 in Staten Island at the St. George Theater.


Liza Minnelli appeared on Today to discuss her recovery and return to stage. Her CD Confessions was universally acclaimed after its release in September. Much of Minelli's program will include material from Confessions.


According to Broadway World, Liza Minnelli will make further appearances in the Dominican Republic on November 22 then Tucson, Arizona on December 3 and San Francisco, California on December 5 before continuing to Indiana. New Yorkers look forward to Liza Minnelli's returning performance in Staten Island.


Recently Liza Minnelli was spotted in New York attending a ribbon cutting ceremony. She was there for the grand re-opening of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Science Theater at the Lighthouse Cinema. Liza arrived with fellow Hollywood star Arlene Dahl to support the opening of the East 59th Street cinema.


According to the Daily Mail, property developer and film Fan Charle Cohen paid to rebuild the theater. It is now official open again to the public. Cohen stated about the theater founded in 1905, “After four months of construction, it's now the best-looking, best-sounding screening venue in the city.”


Liza Minnelli is a singer and actress known for performances in film and on stage. Dramatic performances include New York, New York, The Sterile Cuckoo and Cabaret, for which she won an Academy Award for Best Actress. Minnelli toured internationally in shows such as Liza Live from Radio City Music Hall. Minnelli won three Tony Awards, an Oscar, an Emmy Award, two Golden Globes and a Grammy Legend Award with many other honors and philanthropic contributions.

Liza on "The Today Show"

STAGE TUBE: Liza on TODAY Video Content (BroadwayWorld.com)

STAGE TUBE: Liza on TODAY Video Content (BroadwayWorld.com)

LIZA ~ attending the ribbon cutting ceremony for the grand re-opening of Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Science Theatre at The Lighthouse Cinema.

LIZA "STEPPING OUT" LAST NIGHT!...last night!

with Arlene Dahl.

Liza Minnelli To Appear On TODAY Before Resuming Tour

broadwayWORLD.COM
Monday, November 15, 2010; Posted: 09:11 AM - by BWW News Desk


The legendary Liza Minnelli, whose latest CD Confessions was released to universal acclaim, will soon return to the stage after a short absence. Minnelli, who had been sidelined with bronchial pneumonia, has made a compete recovery and will appear on TODAY on Wednesday, November 17 before she resumes her tour.


Minnelli has been touring throughout the year in a new show. An early stop in the tour had Howard Reich of the Chicago Tribune say, "To see Minnelli standing stage center and plunging into 'The World Goes 'Round' - an anthem of survival if ever there were one - was to appreciate anew the clenched-fist defiance of both the singer and the song. If any vocalists today approach the ferocity and drive of Minnelli's version of 'Maybe This Time,' they have yet to make themselves known."
The centerpiece of the program is Liza's spotlight on the material found on Confessions which was released by Decca in September.

A collection of American classics, Confessions features some of Minnelli's favorite songs of all time, arranged simply and elegantly, with accompaniment by her long-time pianist Billy Stritch. The Los Angeles Times summed up the recording, "Liza Minnelli could finally become the 11th artist to complete the awards grand slam if she wins a Grammy Award for Confessions, her first studio album in almost 15 years. The disc dropped Tuesday to good reviews and Dan Acquilante of The New York Post pegs it as a potential contender in the traditional pop album category: 'Liza is more Algonquin than Kit Kat Club on this record of cabaret standards and torch burners. Minnelli, in strong voice, sings as if she's lived every world-weary lyric.'"

Most recently Minnnelli performed in Dallas and the Dallas Morning News said, "To see her in relish mode again is an accomplishment and a joy. She was in total control hitting the notes on "New York, New York," another timeless Minnelli staple, as the stage lights brightened for a dramatic crescendo. That was another deserved standing ovation."

Minnelli will resume performing on Saturday, November 20 at the St. George Theatre in Staten Island, NY.

Additional appearances include:

November 22 - Dominican Republic- Santo Domingo National Theater

December 3 - Tucson, AZ - CentenniAl Hall

December 5 - San Francisco, CA - Davies Symphony Hall

January 12 - Indianapolis, IN - Hilbert Circle Theatre

Liza Minnelli to bounce back from illness at Staten Island concert

 LIZA MINNELLI PERFORMING "I GOT TO HAVE THAT MAN" from the new cd "CONFESSIONS"

silive.com
Published: Thursday, November 11, 2010, 9:15 AM


Ben Johnson

STATEN ISLAND, NY -- Do you know of the fake E.G.O.T. necklace that Tracy Morgan wears on NBC’s “30 Rock,” which represents the winning of every major award in the entertainment world? Well, Liza Minnelli is one of the few entertainers who should actually own one: She counts an Emmy, Grammy, Oscar, and three Tonys among the many accolades she’s received in her lifetime.


With three Golden Globes under her sequined sash as well, this irrepressible five-foot, four-inch living legend long ago proved she is a must-see performer on the stage. Maybe that’s why tickets for her Nov. 20 performance at the historic St. George Theatre are nearly sold out.

Staten Island is lucky, too, considering Minnelli had to cancel seven shows in October while she battled bronchial pneumonia.

“I do not want to let down my fans as my loyalty to them has always been of prime importance in my life,” the 64-year-old said in a statement Oct. 15. “Performing live is my passion and I’m greatly disappointed that I will not be able to continue my tour.”

The St. George show will be Minnelli’s first gig back on the road. Her recent tour is in support of a new album, “Confessions” (Decca Records), which strips away her usual propensity for big-arrangements in favor of 14 intimate takes on American standards with the help of longtime accompanist Billy Stritch (whom Islanders might recall from his sterling solo gig at Bloomfield’s Lorenzo’s Cabaret, circa 2006).

The raven-haired wraps her unmistakable vibrato around classics made famous by everyone from Peggy Lee to to Ella Fitzgerald.

“I listen to Ella Fitzgerald records and I think ‘that’s how I feel,’” said Minnelli, in a new promo video for “Confessions” featured below.

“That’s why I learned them, because they explained things to me so much better than I could.”


The daughter of legendary singer/actress Judy Garland and filmmaker Vincente Minnelli, Liza came into her own as a singular night club performer and recording artist as a teen in the 1960s. She scored her first best actress Tony at 19 (for Kander and Ebb’s “Flora the Red Menace”), and her first Oscar nod at 23, as eccentric Pookie Adams in “The Sterile Cuckoo.”

Of course, she she achieved bona fide international superstardom with her Academy Award-winning performance as Sally Bowles in Bob Fosse’s 1972 film adaptation of “Cabaret.”


Live tours, Broadway bows, TV specials, Studio 54, more films and much tabloid coverage followed. While not all were received well, Minnelli’s natural and honed abilities for comedy and drama — her raw vulnerabilty and steely perseverance in the harsh spotlight — has kept fans coming back.


In 2000, Minnelli was nearly sentenced to a mute life in a wheelchair by a bad case of viral encephalitis, but miraculously survived. By 2001, she was already back performing for longtime friend Michael Jackson’s 30th Anniversary Special Concert. A high-profile marriage/divorce, two more Broadway smashes and multiple hip and knee-replacements followed for the self-proclaimed “old hoofer.”

But the last decade has seen the veteran performer — and survivor — continue to broaden her horizons.

“You have to have the instinct,” said Minnelli to Larry King in October, while describing younger trail-blazer Lady Gaga, “and you also have to have the courage to do something that’s not quite like everybody else does.”

Anyone who performed Mary J. Blige’s “Family Affair,” as Minnelli did on stage in 2002, or cover Beyonce’s “Single Ladies (Put A Ring On It),” as she did in 2010’s “Sex and The City 2,” has a sense of humor about her place in the world. But the actress was also introduced to a whole new set of potential fans with her raucous turn as balance-challenged retiree Lucille Austero, in TV’s critically-championed-but-short-lived-cult-hit “Arrested Development.” (A big screen version has been confirmed for 2012).

At the St. George Theatre, Minnelli will surely bring some laughs, some tears — and her unique voice — to the stage. At 64, it’s what she still does best.

“I’ll never write a book,” Minnelli said on “The View” last month, just before falling ill. “I’m just not that kind of person. But this album, I think it’s all the loves I’ve ever had in my life.”

Related topics: liza-minnelli, st.-george-theatre



LIZA MINELLI LIVE!


Performing original songs from the new CD "Confessions" & much more

When: 8 p.m. Nov. 20

Where: St. George Theatre, 35 Hyatt St., St. George; 718-442-2900; StGeorgeTheatre.com.

How much: $50, $75, $125 at the box office and Ticketmaster.com ($200 VIP ticket includes prime seating and complimentary champagne reception at 6:30 p.m.)

More info: OfficialLizaMinnelli.com

Judy & Liza...

Review: Judy & Liza at Hope Theatre, Liverpool

by Philip Coppell. Published Fri 05 Nov 2010 15:22, Last updated: 2010-11-05


You know when two of the West End's finest musical talents get together that you are not going to experience your average night in the theatre and so it proved with the opening of “Judy & Liza” in the surprisingly intimate surrounding of the Hope Theatre.


Liverpool born Emma Dears had long cherished the idea of bringing a musical based on the lives of Judy Garland and her daughter Liza Minnelli to the stage. People had often commented, not only on Emma’s resemblance to Liza Minnelli, but also that she sounded like Liza.

It was not until two years ago, when Emma met fellow singer Lucy Williamson, that she could finally bring the story to the stage. “It is alright to have an idea found until I found the perfect Judy there was not a lot I could do.

Lucy Williamson is the perfect Judy Garland; Lucy gives a very powerful and emotional performance. Lucy has the great songs to sing, her vocal range really does bring that something extra to these songs and you realise why Emma knew that Lucy Williamson was The One to play Judy Garland, her performance is a triumph.

Judy Garland was born into a theatrical family and was on the stage literally from birth. She sang on stage with her two elder sisters as The Gumm Sisters, her name being Francis Gumm, not very successfully until Mother Gumm changed the name to The Garland Sisters and Francis took the opportunity to change her name to Judy Garland, success rapidly followed. Hollywood beckoned and at the age of 13 Judy was a contract player at MGM Studios, were MGM Studio boss Louis Mayer took a special interest in her career, Mayer introduced her to the pills, which were to blight her life.

It was “The Wizard of Oz” that made Judy Garland an international star at the tender age of 16. The film cost $3 million dollars to make, a staggering amount of money in 1939. Strange now to think that Louis Mayer wanted to drop the song “Somewhere Over the Rainbow” from the film because he did not think it was an appropriate song for Judy to sing, shows what he knew.

Judy’s troubled life is well covered; it does have to be asked if some of the great songs associated with her would have become standards had she not sung them.

Judy Garland played The Empire in the 1950s and after one show went to Alan Williams Blue Angel Club, Alan asked her to pay for her drink, Judy told him that she never paid for drinks, to which Alan said, “You do here love” Alan maintains that he did not throw Judy out of the club, she flounced out when she was asked to pay.

“Judy & Liza” runs chronologically, first with Judy and then uses the famous 1964 concert Judy and 19 year old Liza gave at the London Palladium to bring on Liza’s story. Liza is the daughter of Judy and her second husband Vincent Minnelli.

The Michael England Orchestra makes the musical changes through the decades from the sound of the thirties to Emma’s show stopping rendition of “Cabaret” Their musical contribution is a highlight.

This is a two-woman show that benefits from the intimate staging and very effective lighting. Judy does have the better costumes, from that Golden Age of Hollywood, Emma Dears must have felt that some of Liza’s fashion choices were of the time, but have not stood the test of time, apart from that famous white suit, she does loose out in the costume stakes.

As a person who knows the pain name mispronunciation, not the Philip part, I sympathise with Liza and loved Emma’s “Liza with a Z” or Zee as the Americans pronounce it, very funny.

A beautiful and entertaining evening that you will really enjoy, a theatrical masterpiece or should that be Mistresspiece. “Judy & Liza” runs the emotions from A to Zee.


Judy & Liza will be showing at Theatre Royal St Helens on Saturday 6th November.

The Floral Pavilion New Brighton on Saturday 13th November when there will be two performances.

CD: Liza Minnelli - Confessions review...

samesame.com
Reviews, By aurengzebe, 3rd November, 2010

For me, one of the great moments in cinema comes near the end of Cabaret and it’s not Liza Minnelli’s luciferous rendition of the title song. No, the moment that really gets me is the instant before.



Minnelli’s character, Sally Bowles, has aborted a child in order to break with the probable father. Germany is crumpling into Hitler’s grasp all around her. Harassed, exhausted, she assumes her place onstage as her number is announced.


Then, the lights of the fleabitten nightclub dawn on Minnelli’s face, lifting from folorn apathy into a gracious smile of welcome. The cabaret is her home.

The moment passes. Liza saunters downstage and sings. She’s the daughter of Judy Garland all right: same lung power, same lush sonority. But Minnelli’s consonants are just a little sharper, the vowels a slightly darker hue – a legacy, most likely, of time spent in England during her early years. The voice tags her as belonging to the postwar generation of interational stars, independent of the Hollywood studio system that made then all but broke her mother.

But can you be a film star on a single great performance? Although thoroughly deserving her acting Oscar for Cabaret – she runs an impressive gamut from dirty high comedy to pricking-the-back-of-your-eyes drama – never again would there come a role that seemed worthy of Minnelli’s distinctive bourgignon of abilities.

What followed, then, seemed not so much a career as a sporadic series of firebursts, like the 1989 single of Sondheim’s ‘Losing My Mind’ in collaboration with the Pet Shop Boys, or her winding up of the Freddie Mercury AIDS benefit concert with a roof-raising ‘We are the Champions’. Most recently she cameoed in Sex in the City 2 taking on Beyoncé’s ‘Single Ladies’.

Throughout these years Liza Minelli has remained a favourite of many LGBT people. It seems to have started way back with the androgynous pageboy haircut she sported in Cabaret. This, coupled with her characteristic gangly movements, has reminded many a gay man of his own adolescence, while some of our sisters have found her combination of commanding vocals and black suspenders in the number ‘Mein Herr’ giving them plenty to think about.

Perhaps, though, our strongest connection with Liza comes from the way that her ‘too much is never enough’ performance style somehow seems to embody gay pride at its most exuberant. It’s no surprise that Minnelli’s stage persona has inspired drag queens the world over, a compliment she repaid in 2005 by singing Aznavour’s ‘What Makes a Man a Man’ when accepting her Vanguard Award from the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation.

Now, having reached 60, Minnelli offers us Confessions, a bouquet of rarer jazz standards, released simultaneously with the DVD of her Broadway return Liza’s at the Palace.


The backing is minimal, mainly the elegant piano of Billy Stritch plus the odd touch of keyboard and drum brushes. It exposes her completely, and the recording engineers have done an excellent job of presenting in an optimal acoustic Minnelli’s voice as it now is. There’s still the trademark dark lower register, and some admirable rich sustaining at top. It remains a voice worth listening to, despite the increased huskiness and even occasional rasping.

It may even be that Liza remains compelling because of her very imperfections; they suggest survival in the face of suffering. I know next to nothing about Minnelli’s sufferings (having only the media coverage to go on) but it’s probably enough to say that if you’re human, you’ve suffered – and Liza has always been one of the most vulnerably human of performers.

Not that she betrays any sense of self-pity, that was never her style. On the contrary, a somewhat dry, chuckling quality is sometimes present, as in the opening track:

I always go to bed at ten,

Now isn’t that a bore?

I always go to bed at ten

Then I go home at four…

But there is also plenty of room on this disc for the things Liza always does so well. There’s devotion in ‘All the Way’; seduction (yes, seduction!) in ‘Close Your Eyes’; and it would take a truly deadhearted critic not to respond to her wide-eyed account of ‘I Got Lost in His Arms’. Personally, though, I like her best in the one-eyebrow-raised mood of such bluesy numbers as ‘He’s a Tramp’ and ‘I Must Have That Man’.

This album is definitely a keeper, there’s much that you want to keep coming back to. What it captures above all is the Minnelli presence, her total commitment to the performing moment, that moment captured, all those years ago, in Cabaret. Paradoxically, then, this uncharacteristic Liza Minnelli offering gives us the performer as she has always been: happily, completely, uniquely – herself.

Tim Passmore