Reno-Tahoe This Week: Cabaret star Minnelli returns after a three-year absence

By Mel Shields
Bee Correspondent

Published: Sunday, Oct. 2, 2011 - 12:00 am

It's such a busy week in Northern Nevada entertainment that it seems like summer even as the autumn colors make the Lake Tahoe basin and the Truckee River corridor particularly beautiful.
The biggest news is that one of the masters is back in town. Liza Minnelli returns, this time to the Grand Sierra on Wednesday.
In the three years since Minnelli last played the Northern Nevada area, she's won another Tony (her fourth), this one for "Liza's at the Palace," a concert that was really about two entertainers, Liza herself and her godmother, the late Kay Thompson.
Thompson was one of the pioneers of the nightclub scene Minnelli inherited, having performed for years with the Williams Brothers, including Andy. She also mentored many of the great performers, including Judy Garland, and had a major screen success in "Funny Face."
Minnelli played the Grand Sierra back in 1990 when the hotel was Bally's. Few talents could handle that full-acre stage as easily as she did.

One of the few entertainers ever to win the Tony, the Grammy, the Emmy and the Oscar, Minnelli has a big repertoire. Still, most audiences will have to be educated about Thompson and may find unexpected pleasures ("I Love a Piano") if Minnelli decides to pay tribute to her. The treasures of "Cabaret" and "New York, New York," however, will be fully expected (8 p.m.; $75, $105; www.grandsierra resort.com).