Liza Minnelli STEPPING OUT...: Liza Minnelli Coming Back To Broadway? Aznavour Pens Solo Show

Thursday, May 16, 2013

Liza Minnelli Coming Back To Broadway? Aznavour Pens Solo Show

http://broadwayworld.com/article/Liza-Minnelli-Coming-Back-To-Broadway-Aznavour-Pens-Solo-Show-20130515

by Pat Cerasaro

According to French newsmagazine Le Figaro, Broadway and Hollywood legend Liza Minnelli has inspired a new solo stage musical project and is firmly intending on taking it to the Great White Way in the next year.
Accoring to the newest issue of Le Figaro, acclaimed French songwriter and performer Charles Aznavour - a frequent past and current onstage collaborator with Miss Minnelli - has penned a new musical monologue for the versatile star, featuring fifteen new tunes and a dramatically compelling original story that contains them all.
The as-yet-untitled solo musical depicts a single day in the life of a woman as she recalls her past and looks back at her various experiences, obstensibly contemplating "the meaning of existence" all the while.
Reportedly, Minnelli has already agreed to star in the piece and proceeds to do so on Broadway in 2014. Nonetheless, no official confirmation on the project has been expressed at this time when reached for comment.
Aznavour and Minnelli previously co-starred most famously in AZNAVOUR & MINNELLI AU PALAIS DES CONGRES DE PARIS in 1992, while the triple-threat talent has performed countless Aznavour songs in recordings and in concert over the years.
In our most recent InDepth InterView, Miss Minnelli generously expounded upon her relationship with Aznavour and discussed their unmistakable rapport, onstage and off:

PC: "What Makes A Man A Man" is one of your finest concert pieces - a song penned by Charles Aznavour, who is well represented on the new Winter Garden album. How did you discover that song and Aznavour's music in general?

LM: Well, I have been singing his songs for so long. You know, Fred and John influenced me first and then I saw Aznavour and I said, "Oh, that's what I want to do - I want to make each song a movie." It's like each song is an acting piece - it has a world of its own, you know?

PC: Specific.

LM: Yes. So, I went to him and I asked him, "Excuse me, Mr. Aznavour, may I be your protégé?" And he said, [French Accent.] "Yes." He had seen me and he knew who I was. So, off I went to Paris and he got me a job at this great place - this small little theater.

PC: Do you happen to remember which one it might have been?

LM: [Pauses. Thinks.] The Olympia - Piaf had played there.

PC: You performed Piaf's famous "The Circle" at the Winter Garden, so were you familiar with her at that point?

LM: Yes - I mean, I had heard of her, but I did not know her. Aznavour said to me, "Oh, you're nothing like Piaf - you're just a good actress and you sing." [Laughs.]

PC: Talk about cutting to the chase! Leave it to the French.

LM: Yeah - and I love that! Really, who could compare anybody to her? For him to say that to me was just fantastic.

PC: Was "And I In My Chair" one of the songs he performed the first time you saw him? What do you remember about that night?

LM: I went to a concert - I think I was 17 - and when he walked out onstage I stopped breathing... because of the power he had! [Pause.] Ugh, I just can't explain it.

PC: Magnetism.

LM: Yeah - that's right. It was like that - wherever he went, he took you with him.

PC: What do you remember him performing most vividly?

LM: He sang his whole show at that point - I remember "Les Comedians". You know, [Sings.] "Les comedians." He taught me something great - he taught me, [French Accent.] "One gesture per song." [Laughs.]

PC: Fantastic advice.

LM: He was just so terrific with stuff like that.
View the entire InDepth InterView: Liza Minnelli here.
Check out the original Le Figaro article on the matter here.

So, would you like to see Liza Minnelli back on Broadway in an original solo musical penned especially for her by one of her most celebrated career collaborators?