Liza and Cabaret cast on The Today Show

Cabaret

'Cabaret' celebrates 41st birthday with a party ~ All three actors will be attending an anniversary celebration screening planned Thursday at the Ziegfeld Theatre in NYC!

http://www.nevadaappeal.com/article/20130128/APE/1301280675

By MARK KENNEDY
AP Drama Writer

Willkommen, bienvenue, welcome - to middle age.

The landmark film "Cabaret" - starring Liza Minnelli, Joel Grey and Michael York - has turned 41, but that's not going to stop a party: All three actors will be attending an anniversary celebration screening planned Thursday at the Ziegfeld Theatre, where the movie premiered in 1972.

"I can't wait to see them all again," says Minnelli, 66, who won an Academy Award playing Sally Bowles, the fishnet-and-bowler hat wearing chanteuse. "Everybody who worked on it was just wonderful."

The Bob Fosse-directed film, adapted and reworked from the Broadway musical, has also been painstakingly remastered - a facelift of sorts - by Warner Home Video and will be available on Blu-ray and DVD on Feb. 5.

"Cabaret," which won eight Academy Awards - in a year that also featured competition from a little film called "The Godfather" - hasn't seemed to gather mold over time, remaining a crucial cultural touchstone.

Grey, who won an Oscar as the menacing, white-faced master of ceremony, recalls attending a screening of the new blockbuster "Les Miserables" and immediately being asked questions.

"Some of the people involved in the production were very, very anxious to get my response because of `Cabaret,'" said Grey, 80. "It turned out to be the thing that you compare everything after that."

The film opened Feb. 13, 1972, to strong reviews, with Roger Ebert calling it an "unforgettable cry of despair" and Variety saying it was "literate, bawdy, sophisticated, sensual, cynical, heart-warming, and disturbingly thought-provoking."

The American Film Institute placed it fifth on its list of greatest movie musicals, and "Cabaret" was deemed significant enough to be earmarked for preservation by the Library of Congress.

"Cabaret," both the Broadway show and film, are based on the 1951 Broadway play "I Am a Camera," which, in turn, was based on Christopher Isherwood's book "Goodbye to Berlin."

Set in 1931 Berlin, "Cabaret" centers on the world of the indulgent Kit Kat Klub as it becomes intertwined with the world outside, which gets more precarious on the brink of World War II.

John Kander and Fred Ebb, who wrote the songs for the Broadway show, removed some for the film and added others, including "Mein Herr," "Maybe This Time" and "Money, Money." The soundtrack retains the classic "Willkommen" and "Tomorrow Belongs to Me."

"Cabaret" hasn't been shown in a decade because one of the film reels had a vertical scratch. Restorers recently went frame by frame through the entire film - all 1.4 million of them.

The work was so time-consuming that the 40th anniversary last year was missed. But fans will now get a high-def print six times as clear and sharp as the previous DVD release, as well as plenty of goodies, including new photos and a new documentary, "Cabaret: The Musical That Changed Musicals."

Fosse got the job directing the film because Hal Prince, the stage director, was too busy. Fosse, raised in the theater, was a risk since his only other film, "Sweet Charity," had bombed.

"He still managed to be phenomenal and make a groundbreaking, historic movie musical by rethinking it and changing musical movies forever," said Grey, who reprised the role he played onstage. "It was oddly much darker on-screen than it was onstage."

Dark is an understatement. Musical movies on the whole were saccharine in the late 1960s and early 1970s, and Fosse's film was a stab of something more realistic - all but one song was sung in the confines of the cabaret itself - and also more frightening.

The film dealt with Nazism, anti-Semitism and homosexuality. In one song, a German folk dance is juxtaposed with another scene of someone being beaten by Nazis. The movie also reinserted the often-omitted final line in "If You Could See Her," a love song between the MC and a woman in a gorilla suit: "If you could see her through my eyes/She wouldn't look Jewish at all!"

Filming took place in Munich in the spring with Minnelli as Sally, a role she had lost out on for Broadway because the part had been written originally for an Englishwoman. Minnelli created the look - bowl-cut hair and huge eyelashes that would become iconic.

York, Minnelli and Grey recall a tough working environment. The perfectionist Fosse, who died in 1987, made the actors do take after take after take. They recall enormous amounts of smoke and harsh lighting - but also the lifelong bonds that were created.

"It looks great and it was worth it," said York, 70. "For me, it was one of the most enjoyable film shoots I ever experienced. I'm not just saying that because it's the appropriate thing to say. But it really was."

The three will be reunited at the Ziegfeld Theatre, where they sat 41 years ago and were stunned to hear people applauding after every song.

"I can only hope that happens again," said Grey.

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Online:

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Follow Mark Kennedy on Twitter at <a href="http://twitter.com/KennedyTwits">http://twitter.com/KennedyTwits</a>

Judy Garland & Liza Minnelli - The Battle Hymn of the Republic (Live at...

Liza poses with fan Anthony Martucci

just to write a few things now about my picture with Liza and of meeting the wonderful Liza May in person, because after this morning I will probably not be back online until next week..I travelled to Las Vegas to see Liza May on May 12th of last year..the hotel/casino theatre offered "meet and greet" tickets for this show..as far as I know none of the other shows I attended of Liza May offered a meet and greet option, otherwise I would have surely bought meet and greet tickets for every show if available..I must have ordered right as tickets went on sale because I got the first row as well..in fact so close I actually sat on the stage in these fold up seats they had set up on the left side of the stage and right side of the stage..after the show we were given lanyards and were walked to a room called "the green room"..we waited while lined up along the sides of the walls..the concert hall manager told us Liza would be in shortly, but that she was tired and we should keep our time short with her..basically they told us we should just have our picture taken with her and keep conversation at a minimum..Liza came in after about five minutes..everyone clapped and Liza took a seat in a director's chair at the front of the room..I had probably about thrity people in line in front of me..people were filing up to Liza and getting there picture with her..I had a flashback in my mind of times meeting Santa Claus when I was a kid and to me this seemed like that..when it was almost my turn, I realized I was extremely nervous..my heart was beating like crazy..I walked up to Liza and she recognized me from being at her shows..she said "oh look at you, you look great"..I asked her "you mean you recognize me?"..she said "of course"..I seemed to forget all about the picture and I just stood there wanting to talk with her awhile, even though I was very nervous and I felt quite tense..she said "co me in close" so that we could get a picture..I told her my name was Anthony..and to my complete surprise she said "I know"..how did Liza know my name already? well I'll tell you..I am friends with a woman named Betsey who knows Liza..Betsey is the woman I mentioned in previous posts that I had seen going at most of the Liza concerts I went to..I struck up a frienship with Betsey from seeing her at all of these shows and we exchanged phone numbers..me and Betsey have sometimes gotten together in the cities we have travelled to for dinner and a movie..well betsey knew I wanted to meet Liza at some point..so in a conversation between Betsey and Liza, Betsey told her, there is a man from Texas who has been travelling around to see you shows and if you ever meet him he is really nice and his name is Anthony..and so Liza remembered my name..Liza obviously knew who Betsey was talking about, i usually sit somehwere in the first few rows when I go to see Liza and s urely she would have know who I was after Betsey told her what I looked like..after she said she knew my name..I asked her "do you know because I'm friends with Betsey?"..and she said "uh-huh"..by this time I was being hurried along..to make room for the next fan..I am a bit dissapointed that I was not able to talk with her more..I wanted to talk with her quite a bit..well at least I did get to meet her..I am going to wrap this up..Love, Anthony..

__._,_.___

LIZA FLASHBACK ~ 1963

Judy Garland and Mark Herron are greeted at JFK by Liza Minnelli. Peter Allen

NYC's Ziegfeld Theatre Will Offer Free Screening of "Cabaret"; Liza Minnelli, Joel Grey Will Be On Hand

http://www.playbill.com/news/article/174095-NYCs-Ziegfeld-Theatre-Will-Offer-Free-Screening-of-Cabaret-Liza-Minnelli-Joel-Grey-Will-Be-On-Hand

By Andrew Gans

Turner Classic Movies (TCM) will continue its latest Road to Hollywood tour around the country with a stop in New York City, where TCM, Warner Bros. Home Entertainment and Verizon FiOS will present a free public screening of the Academy Award-winning film "Cabaret."

The free screening will be held Jan. 31 at the famed Ziegfeld Theatre, where "Cabaret" premiered.
Four of the film's stars – Liza Minnelli, Joel Grey, Michael York and Marisa Berenson – will join TCM host Robert Osborne on stage to introduce the 40th anniversary restoration of the film.
The 1972 film version of "Cabaret," directed by Bob Fosse, was awarded eight Academy Awards. In addition to Liza Minnelli and Joel Grey, who both won Oscars for their performances, the movie also featured Michael York, Marisa Berenson and Fritz Wepper. "Cabaret" is based on the Tony Award winning musical of the same name about a nightclub singer (Sally Bowles) in pre-World War II Berlin and her relationship with a visiting writer (Clifford Bradshaw). The musical features a book by Joe Masteroff, music by John Kander and lyrics by Fred Ebb. The original Broadway production was directed by Harold Prince. The 1998 revival starred Natasha Richardson and Alan Cumming, who won Tony Awards for their performances as, respectively, Sally Bowles and the Emcee.
Although the screening is free, tickets are required for entry. Free tickets may be obtained online by clicking here.

 

Liza Minnelli Portrait by Ken Fallin

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/music/9808016/Liza-Minnelli-interview-Each-song-is-a-movie-to-me.html

Liza Minnelli interview: 'Each song is a movie to me'

Ahead of her show at the Royal Festival Hall, Liza Minnelli takes a break from rehearsals in New York to serenade Adam Sweeting.

By Adam Sweeting

So great is the legend of Liza Minnelli that it’s difficult to know where to begin a conversation with her. Her forthcoming appearance at the Royal Festival Hall, her first visit there in 40 years, wouldn’t be a bad place to start. Then there’s her Broadway work, her movie roles in Cabaret and New York, New York, her TV appearances, her nightclub act, her parents (Judy Garland and film director Vincente Minnelli), her four marriages and divorces, her illnesses, broken limbs, bouts of rehab…You could write a book. Indeed, several people already have.

However, before we can get to any of that, we have to get Liza to the phone. She’s rehearsing in New York, and has to be prised away from the music to talk to the Telegraph. Several minutes of silence elapse before a breathless-sounding Minnelli picks up the phone, apparently after a Spinal Tap-esque voyage through the bowels of the building.

“I had to run all the way from the back, where the piano was, round to the front where I could talk to you!” she gasps.

Well, you’re here now, Miss Minnelli, and that’s the important thing.

“Abso-lulu!” hoots the indomitable doyenne of stage and screen. She’s in the midst of preparations for a show at New York’s Town Hall in a few weeks’ time, where she’ll co-star with Alan Cumming, himself an eminent all-rounder who has (among other things) played the Cabaret Emcee in both London and New York.

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“We did some shows together on Fire Island last summer, so who knows what it’s gonna be this time?” she cackles. “But Alan is grand, he could do anything. To take Joel Grey’s role in Cabaret and make it new and different was astounding [Cumming won a Tony Award for his role in the 1998 Broadway revival]. Just really, really good, concentrated, generous acting. He didn’t steal anything but he knew where to land, and that was wonderful to watch.”
Songs from Cabaret will form part of Minnelli’s Festival Hall performance on March 1, which falls under the umbrella of the South Bank’s The Rest is Noise festival. One of its themes is Twenties Berlin.

“I don’t know music from Berlin, I only know the stuff from Cabaret,” she declares, after a few moments’ pause in which she seems to be consulting an assistant. “I’m going to try to keep it interesting and entertaining, and then we’ll give it the big ending!” Down the phone at least, it’s not easy to keep Liza on track. Long silences make you think she must have hung up and left the room. However, we press on. Could she spill any more details about what she’ll be singing?
“No, because I’m rewriting the show now. I don’t think there’ll be anything too earth-shatteringly new. I just think it’ll be a good show.”
For her performance with Cumming, she’s planning a different emphasis. “I want to do some of the good acting songs that maybe people haven’t heard. Because my biggest influence was Charles Aznavour. I went to him when I was 20, and I said, 'Will you be my sponsor?’ He said…” – she adopts a Looney Tunes French accent – “'Alrrrright.’ I thought OK, here we go! And he taught me about concentration and becoming the character when you’re singing the song.”
Aznavour’s songs about love and sexuality were considered sufficiently outrageous to be banned from French radio in the Forties and Fifties. “He wasn’t afraid of anything,” says Minnelli, “but he had extraordinarily good taste. He also had the kind of chic humour that would sound slutty from other people, but when he did it, it was chic and funnier.”
Aznavour’s close personal and professional relationship with the star-crossed Edith Piaf perhaps also struck a chord with Liza, daughter of the ill-fated Garland.
“Aznavour started by being Piaf’s road manager, carrying the bags, doing all sorts of jobs, lighting her on stage. Writing songs for her. All that kinda stuff. Then he came into his own. Everybody looked at him and they thought, 'This small guy is going to make us believe that there is such a thing as love?’ Well, he made you not only believe it, he made you absolutely certain. He showed how you should believe in your audience and the song and the fact that people will get moved.”
One of Minnelli’s favourite Aznavour songs is What Makes a Man a Man, the story of a lonely gay man who works in bars as a female impersonator. “I called Aznavour,” Minnelli recalls, “and I said, 'I’d like to sing What Makes a Man a Man.’ He said…” – she lapses into incomprehensible gurgling noises – “'Oh, no, ugh, urgh, it’s about, arrrghh…’ A lot of those kind of words. Noises that come from somebody who’s thinking, 'I never thought of it that way.’ Then when he saw me do it, he said, 'You wairrre rrright! You wairrre rrright!’”
Minnelli has been so steeped in showbusiness and the stage since she was born that it must sometimes be difficult to separate performance from real life. She was three when she appeared in the 1949 MGM musical In the Good Old Summertime. Her solo shows are the stuff that Broadway myth is made of, she toured with Frank Sinatra and Sammy Davis Junior, and she dramatically stepped in to play Roxie Hart in the original Broadway production of Chicago in 1975, to replace an indisposed Gwen Verdon. She is one of an elite number of performers who have won an Oscar, an Emmy, a Tony and a Grammy.
She has no end of anecdotes, such as how she sang New York, New York with Luciano Pavarotti at his charity concert in Modena in 1996.
“If they didn’t play the beats hard enough for him he’d get lost,” she recalls. “After the first 16 bars I said to the band, 'Smash this out for him, OK?’ So they played really loudly and it worked. You know Pavarotti, he just used to guess. He was wonderful, though.”
She says that “each song is a movie to me. I write down a description of where the character in the song came from. What happened to her to get her to this moment. You want to sing the song as though it’s addressed to a particular person.”
Liza demonstrates with some musical illustrations, which resound powerfully down the phone. “I don’t know why I love you like I do… I don’t know…” She sighs. “Why. Right?”
Abso-lulu. I may have to make bootlegs of this phone call.
“Or you can do it this way – 'You never seem to want my romancing, the only time you hold me is when we’re [sighs] daaaan-ciiing…’ Are you coming to my show? You’d better, or I’ll knock you flat.”
In that case, I will. Now, though, our time is up.
“OK, I’m coming, one minute!” she yells at somebody. “They’re bugging me to come back to rehearsal. OK honey, I love you. Thank you!”
And with that, she’s gone, leaving sparkly wisps of showbusiness hanging in the air.

Liza Minnelli will perform at Royal Festival Hall on March 1. Tickets: 020 7960 4200; southbankcentre.co.uk

RARE Liza Minnelli (1967) song and dance b&w footage.

Rare Early Liza Minnelli song and dance (VIDEO)

RARE LIZA MINNELLI photo's by Harry Langdon

My own Best Friend/Me and my baby -Liza Minnelli :Chicago : Studio Rec.

MY LIFE WITH LIZA MINNELLI _ 1968 - 2009 by DUSTIN PITTMAN

http://dianepernet.typepad.com/diane/2009/10/poparchives-by-dustin-pittman-4.html

POPARCHIVES BY DUSTIN PITTMAN

FROM THE JOURNALS OF PHOTOGRAPHER  _ DUSTIN PITTMAN

MY LIFE WITH LIZA MINNELLI _ 1968 - 2009 by DUSTIN PITTMAN

I can't believe that I have known and photographed Liza Minnelli for over 40 years. We met in Upstate New York on the set of "The Sterile Cuckoo", a film that scored her a nomination for an Oscar. She played the part of Pookie Adams, an oddball, quirky teenager who falls in love despite major differences. This role scored her an Oscar nomination at the age of 23. During the film, Liza was married to the great Australian songwriter and entertainer, Peter Allen. I would see them in between takes holding hands and laughing like little children. Later in New York, at Halston's townhouse, Studio 54 or Regine's, we would talk about special moments from the past. Liza's non-stop shows have had audiences coming back for more for decades. It is the ultimate experience. She is truly one of the great performers of all time.     

We love Liza..........

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Liza Minnelli, Joel Grey, and More Set for NYC CABARET Screening, 1/31

http://broadwayworld.com/article/Liza-Minnelli-Joel-Grey-and-More-Set-for-NYC-CABARET-Screening-131-20130107?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+broadwayworld%2FpWRb+%28BroadwayWorld.com+Featured+Content%29

Monday, January 7, 2013; 02:01 PM - by BWW News Desk

Turner Classic Movies (TCM) will continue its latest Road to Hollywood tour around the country with a stop in New York City, where TCM, Warner Bros. Home Entertainment and Verizon FiOS will present a free public screening of the groundbreaking musical Cabaret (1972). Four of the film's stars - Liza Minnelli, Joel Grey, Michael York and Marisa Berenson - will join TCM host Robert Osborne on stage to introduce the 40th anniversary restoration of the film. The event is set to take place Thursday, Jan. 31, 2013, at Manhattan's famous Ziegfeld Theatre, where Cabaret first premiered.
One of the most acclaimed films of its era, Cabaret features Liza Minnelli in her OscarÒ-winning performance as an American singer looking for love and success in pre-World War II Berlin. Joel Grey earned an Academy AwardÒ as the ubiquitous Master of Ceremonies. Michael York plays a young English teacher whose eyes are opened by what he experiences. And Berenson is a Jewish department store heiress whose love life is affected by the rise of anti-Semitism in the country.
Cabaret provides a perfect showcase for the unique choreography and imaginative visual style of Bob Fosse, who won the OscarÒ for Best Director. The film also earned Academy Awards for Best Cinematography, Best Art Direction-Set Decoration, Best Film Editing, Best Adapted Score and Best Sound.
The original Cabaret film print hadn't been shown in a decade because one of the film's original reels suffered damage in the form of a vertical scratch that ran throughout the entire reel. After computer technology to repair the damage failed Warner Bros. corrected more than 1 million frames by hand. The negative was then scanned to significantly improve resolution, and the sound was upgraded, all with dazzling results.
The newly restored edition of Cabaret served as the opening film at the 2012 TCM Classic Film Festival in Hollywood last April. On February 5, Warner Home Video will continue Cabaret's 40th Anniversary celebration with the debut of its 40th anniversary Blu-ray presented in a premium Blu-ray Book format which contains 40 pages of rarely seen l photos and revealing text. Featured also is a new documentary, "Cabaret: The Musical That Changed Musicals," an enlightening look at how Fosse and Cabaret brought movie musicals back from the brink of extinction. A DVD version will also be available.
Although the screening is free, tickets are required for entry. Free tickets may be obtained online at http://www.tcm.com/roadtohollywood, beginning Monday, Jan. 17, 2013.
As part of the buildup to the 2013 edition to the star-studded TCM Classic Film Festival, set to take place April 25-28, 2013, in Hollywood, TCM is traveling around the country for a series of 10 free screenings and live appearances by legendary stars and special guests. The tour began with a screening of Forbidden Planet (1956) at the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex in Orlando as well as transmitted to the International Space Station, followed by On the Waterfront (1954) in Pittsburgh and the Jan. 31 screening of Cabaret (1972) in New York. Additional cities and films on the Road to Hollywood tour will be announced soon.
The TCM Classic Film Festival launched in spring 2010 and has established itself as a destination event. Each year, the festival welcomes 25,000 movie fans from around the globe to enjoy more than a hundred screenings and events.
TCM host and film historian Robert Osborne serves as official host of the 2013 TCM Classic Film Festival, with TCM's Ben Mankiewicz also introducing various events during the festival. The Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel, which has a longstanding role in movie history and was the site of the first Oscars ceremony, will once again serve as the official hotel for the festival, as well as a central gathering point for attendees. Screenings and events will also be held at Grauman's Chinese Theatre, the Chinese 6 Theatres and the Egyptian Theatre. The Hollywood Roosevelt will also offer special rates for festival attendees.
Cinematic Journeys: Travel in the Movies, the theme for the 2013 TCM Classic Film Festival, will explore how movies can carry viewers beyond their hometowns to distant or imaginary locales, where they can be transformed by great storytelling. Often, the mode of travel provides the filmic inspiration, whether it's planes, trains, or automobiles. At other times, the trip itself serves as the central narrative, as in the case of many "road movies." With Hollywood as the starting point, TCM's excursion will take festival attendees on a fascinating journey to worlds both familiar and new.

Warner Bros. Home Entertainment (WBHE) brings together Warner Bros. Entertainment's home video, digital distribution, interactive entertainment, technical operations and anti-piracy businesses in order to maximize current and next-generation distribution scenarios. An industry leader since its inception, WBHE oversees the global distribution of content through packaged goods (Blu-ray Disc and DVD) and digital media in the form of electronic sell-through and video-on-demand via cable, satellite, online and mobile channels, and is a significant developer and publisher for console and online video game titles worldwide. WBHE distributes its product through third party retail partners and licensees, as well as directly to consumers through WBShop.com.
Turner Classic Movies is a Peabody Award-winning network that presents great films, uncut and commercial-free, from the largest film libraries in the world. Currently seen in more than 85 million homes, TCM features the insights of hosts Robert Osborne and Ben Mankiewicz, plus interviews with a wide range of special guests. As the foremost authority in classic films, TCM offers critically acclaimed original documentaries and specials, along with regular programming events that include The Essentials, hosted by Robert Osborne and Drew Barrymore, and the month-long 31 Days of Oscar in February and Summer Under the Stars in August. TCM also stages special events and screenings, such as the TCM Classic Film Festival in Hollywood and the TCM Classic Cruise; produces a wide range of media about classic film, including books and DVDs; and hosts a wealth of online through the TCM homepage, which includes the TCM Movie Database, message boards, blogs and more.
TCM is part of Turner Broadcasting System, Inc., a Time Warner company. Turner Broadcasting creates and programs branded news; entertainment; animation and young adult; and sports media environments on television and other platforms for consumers around the world.


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Photo Flash: First Look - Liza Minnelli on SMASH Season 2

Entertainment Weekly has unveiled the first images of legendary entertainer Liza Minnelli, who will play herself in the tenth episode of the NBC musical drama series SMASH. In the episode, the actress will perform an original song, written by Smash producers Marc Shaiman and Scott Whittman, along with Christian Borle, who portrays Tom.

Liza Minnelli, Buenos Aires, " I'll be seeing you ", 24/09/2012

80's Encore LIZA August 1989!

Hello Dolly- Liza Minnelli & Judy Garland

Liza It Was A Good Time