*LIZA MINNELLI NEWS 2004*
**CLICK HERE FOR CURRENT 2005 LIZA MINNELLI NEWS!!**
Minnelli was taken to a Manhattan hospital, according to Sgt. Gerry Falcon, a police department spokesman. A message left for Minnelli's publicist was not immediately returned. Her lawyer could not be reached for comment.
The Oscar-winning actress has had a recent rash of legal difficulties. In November, she was sued by her former bodyguard and driver, who has accused her of assault and battery and claimed she made him have sex with her to keep his job.
Her estranged husband, David Gest, has filed a $10 million lawsuit alleging that she beat him so badly that he suffered extensive head injuries. Minnelli has countersued both Gest and her former bodyguard.
-MSN news
12/28/04
LIZA MINNELLI HOSPITALIZED AFTER FALL
NEW YORK -- Actress Liza Minnelli was hospitalized early Monday after falling out of bed at her residence, police said.
-Sun-Sentinel.com
12/13/04
LIZA'S BACK IN CONCERT!!!
This week, Barton G. announced that LIZA MINNELLI will be in residence Dec. 29-31. Miss M, whose former Café Martorano hangout on Lauderdale Beach is still basking in haute cachet, will take the stage at Barton's for tariffs ranging from $150 cover to $250 dinner-show, to $400 cover/$925 dinner-show (with open bar) for New Year's Eve. Call 305-672-8881 and have your iPod handy while you're on hold.
Fans had the opportunity to send their personal photos with Liza to this ultimate scrapbook! If you didn't get a chance to send yours in, this is still an amazing photo album!!
-WEBMASTER The Hit Television series Arrested Development will be released on DVD October 19th. Many of these episodes feature Liza Minnelli as a reocurring guest role. Check it out, critics gave Liza great reviews, and even say she was Emmy snubbed for not even being nominated as Guest Star in a sitcom! Check out what all the fuss was over!
-WEBMASTER Liza Minnelli's Faerie Tale version of Princess and the Pea is now on DVD EXLUSIVELY at Starmaker2.com!!!
Relive the Magic!
-Webmaster
songs included: Costume change from White Sequin, CABARET MEDLEY -
What Do I Have... (On A Clear Day You Can See Forever)
San Francisco (A first for Liza, it's Judy's song!)
I'll Be Seeing You (Acapella, after standing ovation and begged encore!) Don't miss your chance to see a an intimate night with Liza Minnelli. Here's the remaining schedule!!
HUMPHREY'S BY THE BAY in San Diego, CA on 08/17/04 at 7:30pm
SUMMER NIGHTS AT THE PIER 62/63 in Seattle, WA on 08/20/04 at 7pm
CHASTAIN PARK AMPHITHEATRE in Atlanta, GA on 08/23/04 at 8pm Here are some of the places she will be:
HARRAH'S in Atlantic City, NJ on 07/02/04 and 07/03/04 at 9pm
MONTALVO in Saratoga, CA on 08/15/04 at 7:30pm
HUMPHREY'S BY THE BAY in San Diego, CA on 08/17/04 at 7:30pm
SUMMER NIGHTS AT THE PIER 62/63 in Seattle, WA on 08/20/04 at 7pm
CHASTAIN PARK AMPHITHEATRE in Atlanta, GA on 08/23/04 at 8pm
-WEBMASTER
The evening — which includes a cocktail reception followed by a dinner — is set for April 26 starting at 6 PM at the Mandarin Oriental New York, located at 80 Columbus Circle at 60th Street in New York City.
Kander and Ebb will receive the company's Jason Robards Award for Excellence in Theatre. Honoring the duo's accomplishment will be some of their most famous musical interpreters: Rivera (The Rink, Kiss of the Spider Woman, The Visit, Chicago), Minnelli ("Cabaret," The Rink, The Act, Chicago), Ziemba (Chicago, Steel Pier), Alexander (The Rink), Neuwirth (Chicago), and Gere ("Chicago").
Previous galas have included the Celebration of Roundabout's Great American Musical Series (2003) featuring the Tony-winning revival of Nine, the Inaugural Celebration of Roundabout’s Jason Robards Award for Excellence (2002) honoring Christopher Plummer, the Celebration to Honor Stephen Sondheim (2001) featuring Roundabout's revival of Follies, the Inaugural Celebration of Roundabout's new American Airlines Theatre (2000) featuring Uncle Vanya and the Celebration of Roundabout's Great American Musical Series (1998) with the revival of Little Me.
For tickets ($1,000 and up) contact Elaina Grillo at (212) 719-9393. For more information, visit www.roundabouttheatre.org.
Some of the money Gest wants back includes money he fronted for Minnelli to perform at Post columnist Liz Smith's gala 80th birthday bash last year, where the Oscar winner sang a duet with the gossip great.
Gest's counterclaims represent just the latest round in the ugly legal battle between the once-publicly loving couple.
It started last year when Gest filed a $10 million assault suit against his bride, claiming she beat him during booze-fueled rampages.
They both filed for divorce, and the "Cabaret" star punched back at Gest with a countersuit, claiming he'd cheated her out of more than $2 million.
Before he represented her, the filing says, "Minnelli's career was stagnant, due in part to past cancelled concert dates and health reasons making her performances uninsurable."
"Under Mr. Gest's auspices, her career had a resurgence," said his lawyer, Stewart Levy. Gest has said Minnelli was nearly broke when they got together, and a millionaire by the time they split last fall.
Gest's filing maintains Minnelli owes him at least $250,000 for money he's loaned her, including cash for "certain costs associated with the 80th birthday party of a local New York gossip columnist, Liz Smith; Minnelli's publicists; [and] medication necessary for her to perform on stage before each concert" - which a source said was energy-boosting vitamin B-12 shots.
A source said Gest flew Minnelli's band to New York to perform at the bash, put them up in a hotel, and took care of the lighting and sound for their performance for the Feb. 2, 2003 blowout. In addition to Minnelli, Bette Midler and Tommy Tune sang.
Smith said she "never heard anything about what anything cost" at the spectacular, "but I'm sure it was plenty. It was a big gift."
"I was just told to dress up and be at Le Cirque," she said, and was "stunned" when she got to the star-studded event, which had a guest list that included Mayor Bloomberg, Barbara Walters, Peter Jennings and director Mike Nichols.
"It was a wonderful night," she said, recalling her longtime friend Minnelli had flown in with Gest from London for the event, and had sat at a table with Walter Cronkite.
A source close to the case said Gest spent $15,000 of his own money setting up the performance, but fronted several thousand more for Minnelli, which he now wants back.
The suit also seeks an undisclosed amount for commissions for Gest from several of Minnelli's personal appearances, and seeks to force the diminutive diva to repay over $100,000 in tax money for the British government that Gest paid for her.
Minnelli's lawyer, Dorothy Weber, didn't return a call for comment.
It's not the only tax problem Minnelli has had recently. Records at the Los Angeles County Treasurer and Tax Collector's office obtained by The Post show she owes $18,317.78 in back taxes for her Beverly Hills home.
The taxes on the property, which is next to the famed Beverly Hills Hotel, went through the roof when Lee transferred ownership to Liza in 2002, the records show.
A California arbitrator has ordered Liza to sell the house to a California couple for $2.7 million - less than half the property's estimated worth - after she'd reneged on a deal to sell the house to the couple.
Lee, who's 95, will continue to live there until she dies - and Liza will have to pay rent for the stepmom, the arbitrator ruled.
Gossip columnist Liz Smith writes that casting rumors indicate that Minnelli is the top choice to portray the faded silent-screen star Norma Desmond in the film of the Andrew Lloyd Webber-Don Black-Christopher Hampton musical. Hugh Jackman, Smith adds, is being sought to portray Joe Gillis, and Martin Scorsese, who directed Minnelli in "New York, New York," would like to direct. Jackman, currently wowing Broadway audiences in The Boy From Oz, portrayed down-and-out screenwriter Gillis opposite the Norma of Debra Byrne in the musical's Australian debut.
Tony and Olivier Award winner Patti LuPone created the role of Norma Desmond for the musical's world-premiere production in London. Glenn Close played the role in Los Angeles and later in New York, where she won a Tony Award for her performance as the aging, deluded actress. Other musical Normas include Elaine Paige (London and New York), Betty Buckley (London and New York), Diahann Carroll (Canada), Petula Clark (London and U.S. tour), Debra Byrne (Australia), Helen Schneider (Germany) and Linda Balgord (U.S. tour).
Lloyd Webber's Sunset Boulevard is based on the 1950 movie of the same name, which featured Gloria Swanson as the reclusive Norma Desmond who falls in love with an unlucky writer — Joe Gillis — who happens upon her home by accident. William Holden played Gillis in the film, which was directed by the late Billy Wilder. Swanson, Holden and Wilder all received Academy Award nominations for their work.
Liza Minnelli, an Oscar winner for her performance in Cabaret, was last on Broadway in a tribute to her late father entitled Minnelli on Minnelli; she returned to New York City's Beacon Theatre with her acclaimed concert Liza's Back! In addition to her Tonys for Flora, the Red Menace and The Act, Minnelli was awarded a special Tony in 1974 for "adding lustre to the Broadway season." Her film credits include "The Sterile Cuckoo," "Arthur," "New York, New York" and "Stepping Out." The singer is also a Golden Globe and Emmy Award-winning actress. Her newest album, "Liza's Back!," is available on the J Records label. On Saturdays, Feb. 7, 14, 21 and 28 Femia (as Garland) and Pedi (as Minnelli) will offer Judy Garland & Liza Minnelli Live! at the intimate Manhattan cabaret. Show time is 11 PM. The duo won a 2003 MAC Award for Outstanding Musical Comedy Duo. Their cabaret evening will include Judy and Liza's greatest hits as well as several contemporary songs the two never had the chance to perform.
Don't Tell Mama is located in Manhattan at 343 West 46th Street. There is a $20 cover and a two-drink minimum; call (212) 757-0788 for reservations.
11/27/04
LIZA'S SCRAPBOOK NOW ON SALE!!
09/30/04
LIZA IN ARRESTED DEVELOPMENT DVD RELEASE OCT 19TH!!
09/27/04
LIZA'S FAIRY TALE PRINCESS AND THE PEA ON DVD EXCLUSIVE!!
CLICK HERE TO ORDER!!!
08/15/04
LIZA'S INTIMATE VENUE IN SARATOGA, NEXT HEADED FOR SAN DIEGO!
Tonight I had the great honor of seeing Liza's new intimate performance. The theatre was outdoors, and extremely small venue. We were sitting so close, Liza seemed only about a hundred feet away. The show only lasted 60 minutes but Liza still dazzled, and was in GREAT Voice!!
I Can See Clearly Now / I Can See It (Fantasticks)
Old Friends
My Ship
Sara Lee
Wilkommen
Money Money
Maybe This Time
Cabaret
05/17/04
LIZA MINNELLI is back in concert but only in a selected areas!! This is news to me! This wasn't really announced and there isn't any whoopla over it, so get tickets right away! No word on what the venue will be and what she will sing, as of yet!
CLICK HERE FOR DETAILS ON THE CONCERT!
CLICK HERE FOR TICKETMASTER.COM
03/24/04
LIZA VISITS OLD PAL JOEL GREY AT WICKED PERFORMANCE!
Liza Minnelli headed on down to the Gershwin to see her old frienf and co-star Joel Gray in his performance in WICKED
CLICK HERE FOR PHOTOS!
03/07/04
KANDER & EBB MUSICAL ALUMNI MINNELLI, RIVERA, GERE, MORE HONOR DUO AT ROUNDABOUT GALA, APRIL 26
Liza Minnelli, Chita Rivera, Richard Gere, Jason Alexander, Bebe Neuwirth, Natasha Richardson, Victor Garber, Marin Mazzie, Debra Monk and Karen Ziemba will appear in the Roundabout Theatre Company's spring gala celebration honoring the musical team of John Kander and Fred Ebb, April 26.
-By Ernio Hernandez of playbill.com
03/06/04
LIZA'S DOUGH BOY
March 6, 2004 -- David Gest was mugged - not only did estranged wife Liza Minnelli beat him up, she took his money, too, he says in court papers.
In papers filed yesterday in Manhattan Supreme Court, Gest's company, David Gest Productions, charged that Minnelli has stiffed the eccentric promoter on several big-buck commissions and refused to pay back hundreds of thousands of dollars she owes him.
Additional reporting by David K. Li in L.A.
-By DAREH GREGORIAN
02/09/04
ARE MINNELLI AND JACKMAN READY FOR THEIR CLOSE UPS?
Will Liza Minnelli and Hugh Jackman star in the film version of Andrew Lloyd Webber's Sunset Boulevard?
01/27/04
GARLAND AND MINNELLI ARE TOGETHER AGAIN IN FEBRUARY
It's a busy season for Liza Minnelli and the late Judy Garland. Not only are the mother-and-daughter songstresses featured in the new Hugh Jackman musical The Boy From Oz, but acclaimed celebrity impersonators Tommy Femia and Christine Pedi will bring the famous mother-daughter act back to life next month at Don't Tell Mama.
Andrew Gans of playbill.com
01/26/04
START SPREADIN THE NEWS - LIZA AT WONDERFUL TOWN!
Liza attended a performance of Wonderful Town and Broadway.com was there for the Photo Ops!
BROADWAY.COM LIZA PHOTO-OPS
CLICK HERE FOR LIZA MINNELLI NEWS IN 2003!
CLICK HERE TO RETURN TO THE MAIN PAGE