She made it in New York. And true to the lyrics in her fan favorite song at The Long Center Thursday night, Liza Minnelli can make it anywhere. Minnelli ambushed the stage and immediately added her iconic voice to the fast paced cacophony already being produced by an able entourage on strings, ivories, horns, and drums.
After the opener, the famously breathless chanteuse was panting hard. I wondered how she would make it through an entire show. But as the next song gave way to the next and the next, interspersed with anecdotes that can only come from someone who has occupied a lifelong spot in the bright lights, it was clear that the initial huffing and puffing must’ve been excitement.
I never considered that. I mistakenly assumed this woman who has lived most of her years on stages and screens would by now be numb to the butterflies and adrenaline rushes that come with the territory. But at one point, Minnelli even commented she was nervous. Normally, an audience might look down on a performer who would utter such a thing…but the admission actually endeared me to this performer more. It struck me that after all these years…after all those gigs…in all those cities…this woman still gets a buzz off what she’s doing. And she’s not alone in that. The crowd adored her high and low notes, her moves, her innuendo, her wit, even those giggly-hiccupy noises she made as her mouth struggled to keep up with her thoughts while she delivered her asides between songs. Over and again Minnelli was interrupted by people in the peanut gallery screaming out WE LOVE YOU LIZA!
Admittedly, I haven’t closely followed the career of Liza Minnelli, and I don’t have any of her songs on my i-Pod, but seeing her perform was amazing. In this age when we’re all YouTube famous, here before me was this storied specimen…this dynamo…this famous-for-life talent who made it long ago and is still making it. By the time she was done with the 90 minute set, Minnelli had turned the tables. She looked like she still had some show left in her. But there were plenty of people who had been sitting and watching who looked as though their breath had been taken away.
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