*LIZA MINNELLI NEWS 2006/2007*

05/15/06
LIZA TO STAR IN NEW MOVIE, THE OH IN OHIO

A BLONDE Liza will star in the zany new comedy THE OH IN OHIO which will be released in limited theaters in July 2006!
The film stars Parker Posey, Paul Rudd, Mischa Barton, Danny Devito and Liza Minnilli.
The film previewed to some great reviews and recently won best comedy at the Vail International Film Festival!More info at www.ohinohio.com

05/07/06
ELAINE STRITCH HOSTS NY POPS BIRTHDAY CONCERT; LIZA MINNELLI APPEARS
Two legends will take part in Carnegie Hall's New York Pops 23rd Birthday Gala concert on May 8th. Elaine Stritch will host the evening, which begins at 7 PM, while Liza Minnelli will make a guest appearance.

Entitled "88 Keys for Skitch: A Celebration of the Piano" (in reference to Pops founder Skitch Henderson), the concert will also feature performances by the Jersey Boys and by Hairspray's Darlene Love, as well as Chu-Fang Huang, Kid Rock, Bob Lappin, Darlene Love, Paolo Nutini, George Wein, Melissa Grant, Gisele Jackson, Elizabeth Withers, John Giordano, Michael Keller, and Ron Melrose. Marvin Hamlisch will once again conduct the New York Pops. The evening will also honor Ahmet Ertegun and salute Damon Dash.

Tickets range from $35 to $85 and are available by calling (212) 247-7800 or by visiting www.carnegiehall.org.

04/01/06
TONIGHT IS THE NIGHT, LIZA WITH A Z ON SHOWTIME!!!


Tonight, after 34 years, the event of the year is finally here! LIZA WITH A Z on Showtime! Ladies and Gentlemen, start your recorders!

03/18/06
LIZA TO SIGN NEW DVDS AT BORDERS IN CHICAGO

Liza Minnelli is back in Chicago for her birthday. That's Chicago the city, not "Chicago" the musical. Most people still recall how Minnelli, who turned 60 on March 12, stepped into the lead role in Bob Fosse's hit musical in 1975 opposite Chita Rivera after Fosse's ex-wife Gwen Verdon dropped out of the Broadway production.

This time, Minnelli is hitting the Windy City to do a rare personal appearance and autograph session for fans signing only the DVD release of her popular 1972 television special "Liza with a 'Z.'"

The appearance is 2 p.m. April 15 at Borders on Michigan Avenue. There will be no photography or personalization of items. Beginning 8 a.m. earlier that day, 300 wristbands will given out to customers who have purchased a copy of the DVD and have a proof or purchase. There is a limit of 2 DVDs per wristband. The wristbands will be numbered and will ensure the assigned place in line. Additional wristbands will be given out, but depending on time, do not guarantee a chance for an autograph.

For more information, call (312) 573-0564.
-BY PHILIP POTEMPA

03/18/06
LIZA MINNELLI REVIVES HER GREATEST LIVE PERFORMANCE

Liza and Alan Cumming, Photo by © Rex
The comeback phenomenon is nothing new in the world of showbiz, with innumerable stars having resurrected their careers after long spells in hiatus. Silver screen icon Liza Minnelli has now taken the trend to a new level, however, by reviving a specific performance.

Over 30 years have passed since the legendary performer wowed TV audiences and critics alike with her live special Liza With A 'Z'. And the glamorous actress had plenty of reason to smile on Monday night, when she turned out for an exclusive screening of the show, which is now experiencing a full-blown renaissance.

photo by © Rex

Liza picked up an Emmy for her performance in the concert, which was filmed on Broadway in May 1972. At the time she was the toast of Tinseltown thanks to her Oscar-winning turn in Cabaret, so she didn't need to think twice when the film's director Bob Fosse suggested they collaborate on a groundbreaking new production.

"There had been talk about me doing a television special," recalled the enduring star. "Back then, when you did a TV special, they usually teamed you up with someone else, and the whole thing was done on videotape to perfection. But people were really talking about Cabaret at this point, so Fosse said 'We should do this – but we should do it our way'."

The end result was a high-octane extravaganza that would break all the rules of TV production. The director decided to focus only on Liza and film the event with eight cameras, which was a first for network television. By breaking from the norm of drafting in several other stars, the filmmaker also gave his leading lady the chance to showcase the full range of her singing, acting and dancing talents.

Liza With A 'Z' received a rapturous reception when it was screened at the Toronto Film Festival last year, and producers have now decided to give the concert another airing on primetime TV and release a newly-remastered DVD.

"With all the attention Liza With a 'Z' is getting, I feel like I've come home again," said the woman at the centre of everyone's attention. "This is what I love doing - the dancing, the singing. This is the kind of work I always loved doing. This is where I belong."

-Hello Magazine.com

03/15/06
MINNELLI RULES OUT RETURN TO BROADWAY MUSICALS; DEVELOPS KAY THOMPSON SHOW AND ALBUM
The legendary Liza Minnelli, who appeared on "Larry King Live" on March 15th, revealed to the talk show host that a return to Broadway theatre is not likely to be in her future--a show and album devoted to the work of her godmother Kay Thompson, however, is.

Responding to King's question on the possibility of doing a Broadway show again, Minnelli stated, "Oh. Theater again? No. Larry, no...Eight shows a week? No. I just turned 60, what am I, crazy?"

The star is willing to return to the New York stage for concerts and one-woman shows. "In fact, the show I'm working on now, I'm doing about my godmother Kay Thompson, who was a brilliant musician," she stated. Minnelli--the daughter of Judy Garland and director Vincente Minnelli--also responded to a live caller's question with news that she is working on a Thompson album.

A collaboration with the cabaret world's Billy Stritch and Michael Feinstein, the album will pay tribute to Thompson, who "wrote all the great arrangements for MGM. And she was a spectacular woman. You know, after she did all of this marvelous musical stuff, she then went ahead and wrote a little thing called Eloise," stated Minnelli.

In addition to her work as an arranger for several classic MGM musicals, Thompson gained fame as a nightclub singer and as an actress. She appeared as fashion editrix Maggie Prescott--singing "Think Pink!"--in Funny Face, a film for which she provided vocal arrangements. She also contributed song lyrics to The Harvey Girls, Ziegfeld Follies (both featuring Garland), and Good News. Thompson's beloved series of children's books about Eloise--a little girl living at the Plaza Hotel--have inspired two TV movies, as well.

Minnelli became the youngest performer (to that date) to win a Tony Award; at 19, she won for her Broadway debut in Flora The Red Menace. She is the winner of three Tony Awards, an Oscar, a Golden Globe, two Golden Globes and an Emmy (for "Liza with a Z"). Minnelli also won a Theatre World Award for Best Foot Forward, a Tony Award for The Act, and a Special Tony Award in 1974. She was nominated for an Oscar for The Sterile Cuckoo, and won the Oscar and Golden Globe Awards for the film version of Cabaret, directed by Bob Fosse. Her other Broadway credits include Minnelli on Minnelli, The Rink, Chicago and Victor/Victoria, and she has also been seen on film in New York, New York, Arthur and others.

An eagerly anticipated re-airing--fully restored and digitally remastered--of her multi-Emmy-winning 1972 concert "Liza with a 'Z'" will premiere on Showtime on April 1st.

To read the full transcript of Minnelli's interview with Larry King, visit the following link.
-by BWW News Desk

03/10/06
LIZA MINNELLI HOPING FOR A SHOWTIME 'ARRESTED DEVELOPMENT'
You'd better believe Liza Minnelli is keeping an eye on the reports swirling around that Showtime is making a deal to pick up Fox's acclaimed "Arrested Development" for 26 new episodes.

"Oh, I hope they do. Everyone on it is so good!" cries Minnelli, who's demonstrated just how hilarious she can be in her recurring role as Lucille Two, the society woman rival of Lucille (Jessica Walters) on the Emmy-winning, yet ratings-deprived show.

"Of course I'd love to go back on. It was so funny. I love doing comedy. It was Ron Howard who knew I could do it," she adds, speaking of the filmmaker/mogul who is one of "Arrested's" producers as well as its narrator. "We've known each other since my father (Vincente Minnelli) directed (the 1963) 'The Courtship of Eddie's Father,' and he was, you know, Eddie. So we've known each other for a long time, and he knows I'm funny. He called and said, 'How would you like to do something really wacky?'"

In fact, right now Minnelli's having a great time with comedy, having recently made the independent feature "The Oh in Ohio," which is premiering Monday (3/13) at the South by Southwest Film Festival in Austin, Texas. "My friend Parker Posey is in it, and she called and said, 'Hey, do you want to play a sex therapist in this movie?'" Liza relates.

Of course, whether or not Showtime becomes the new home for "Arrested Development," viewers will be seeing the legendary performer on the cable channel come April 1. That's when they're premiering the fully restored and remastered "Liza With a Z" -- her landmark 1973 special, which won a slew of awards and boasted creative giants at the top of their games: Minnelli, Bob Fosse as director/choreographer, music by John Kander and Fred Ebb, and costumes by Halston.
-By Marilyn Beck and Stacy Jenel Smith Mar 8, 2006

03/08/06
LA ACTORS' FUND HONORS LIZA MINNELLI AT 10TH ANNUAL TONY AWARDS PARTY
Undisputedly, one of the most accomplished performers in the mediums of television, film and stage - the legendary LIZA MINNELLI will receive the “Julie Harris Award” for Lifetime Achievement from The Actors' Fund of America on June 11, 2006 at the 10th Annual Tony Awards Party.

A veteran of over numerous Broadway hits, Miss Minnelli has been nominated for Broadway's highest honor, the Tony Award three times - winning as Best Actress in a Musical for FLORA THE RED MENACE, and THE ACT, as well as receiving a special Tony in 1974.

The daughter of Judy Garland and movie director Vincente Minnelli, she made her film debut at three years of age in the movie "In the Good Old Summertime." Her first recognition came for the play "Best Foot Forward" in 1963 and Miss Minnelli won a Tony Award at age nineteen and was nominated for her first Academy Award at age twenty-three for the role of Pookie Adams in "The Sterile Cuckoo". Other dramatic roles followed, and in 1972 she won the Oscar for her performance as Sally Bowles in the movie "Cabaret." Over the past years, her career has included a long list of musical albums and multiple stage performances including the Actors' Funds benefit tribute to Kander & Ebb in 2003.

The evening's festivities will feature a wine tasting by Tzalis Fine Wine as well as an open bar, dinner, a silent auction featuring Broadway memorabilia, Collectibles and Travel packages, and the only live feed of the TONY® AWARDS broadcast from New York. Previous recipients have included Julie Harris, Gwen Verdon, Charles Durning, Rita Moreno, James Earl Jones, Tyne Daly, Lauren Bacall, Stockard Channing and Carol Channing. Approximately 500 industry guests and theater enthusiasts attend the event.

THE ACTORS' FUND OF AMERICA is the national nonprofit human service organization that provides for the welfare of all entertainment professionals. Founded in 1882, The Fund serves those in film, theater, television, music, opera, and dance, and assists both performers and those behind the scenes with a broad spectrum of programs designed to address the needs of the community, including comprehensive social services, health services, supportive and affordable housing, employment and training services, and skilled nursing and assisted living care. The Fund also makes emergency grants for essential needs. Administered from offices in New York, Los Angeles, and Chicago, The Actors' Fund's mission is "to advance, foster and benefit the welfare of all professionals in the entertainment community who are in need of help, ensuring that these efforts are accomplished with compassion, confidentiality and preservation of dignity for the individuals concerned." Please visit our website at www.actorsfund.org.

WHAT: The Actors Fund along with presenting sponsor Variety honors Liza Minnelli with the “Julie Harris Award” for Lifetime Achievement on behalf of Hollywood's theatrical community at the 10th Annual Tony Awards Party to benefit THE ACTORS' FUND OF AMERICA.

WHEN: Sunday, June 11th, 2006
3:30pm -- wine tasting, cocktails and silent auction begins
5:00pm to 8:00p.m. -- Dinner and live telecast
8:00pm -- Presentation to Liza Minnelli
WHERE: Skirball Center (2701 North Sepulveda Blvd, LA, 90049)
TICKETS: Tickets are $200 and can be purchased directly by calling The Actors Fund Office at (323) 933-9266 x 54
-by BWW News Desk

03/04/06
"LIZA WITH A 'Z" ON PREORDER NOW!

LIZA WITH A Z is now on preorder at Amazon.com!

The 2 Disc Special Edition Remastered set includes:
*Grammy-winning original Liza with a "Z" soundtrack on separate CD
*Remarkably candid, fulll-length program commentary by Liza herself *Fan Q&A with Liza at the 2005 Toronto Film Festival
*Liza's performance at the 2005 GLAAD Awards
*Liza interviews legendary "Cabaret," New York, New York" and "Chicago" composer John Kander
*The complete "Biography: Liza Minnelli" from A&E Network
*Biographies of Liza Minnelli and Bob Fosse

02/20/06
LIZA ON RADIO DELUXE FEB 25-26
Multiple award winner Liza Minnelli will be interviewed by John Pizzarelli and Jessica Molaskey on "Radio DeLuxe with John Pizzarelli," the new radio program co-hosted by the husband-and-wife musicians. The Minnelli chat will air during the Feb. 25-26 weekend. Visit www.johnpizzarelli.com for broadcast details.

02/19/06
LIZA MINNELLI SELLS HOME FOR 3.5 MILLION
(CBS) BEVERLY HILLS, Calif. Singer-actress Liza Minnelli sold her late father’s Beverly Hills home for about $3.5 million.

Oscar award winning director Vincente Minnelli died in 1986 with instructions that his widow, Lee, be allowed to live in the 5,800-square-foot home for the rest of her life.

Liza inherited the house with Lee, 98, still living in it. The four-bedroom home, built in 1925 on an acre of land near the Beverly Hills Hotel went on the market in 2000. Lee sued Liza, claiming elder abuse and breach of contract. The suit was later dropped.

The home was in escrow for four years. It was determined that the person holding the life estate can occupy the property for life. The unnamed buyers plan to move in and refurbish the house.

Liza won an oscar for her role as Sally Bowles in “Cabaret” (1972) and Vincente for directing “Gigi” (1958).

-CBS News.com

02/06/06
REISSUE OF "LIZA WITH A 'Z" TO ARRIVE ON CD IN MARCH
Three weeks prior to its airing on Showtime, a CD of "Liza with a 'Z,'" the soundtrack to the TV special originally broadcast on NBC on Sept. 10, 1972, will arrive in stores.

The 11-track CD of "Liza with a 'Z'" is set to hit stores March 7 on the Columbia/Legacy label. The original album was released Sept. 5, 1972.

Showtime will air a fully restored and digitally remastered version of Liza Minnelli's iconic 1972 concert April 1. The concert, which was taped live at Broadway's Lyceum Theatre, won a Peabody Award along with four Emmys: Best Performance for Minnelli, Best Direction and Best Choreography for Bob Fosse, and Best Music, Lyrics and Special Material for John Kander and Fred Ebb.

The complete track listing for "Liza with a 'Z'" follows:
"Yes"
"God Bless the Child"
"Say Liza"
"It Was a Good Time"
"I Gotcha"
"Son of a Preacher Man"
"Ring Them Bells"
"Bye Bye Blackbird"
"You've Let Yourself Go"
"My Mammy"
Cabaret Medley: "Wilkommen," "Married," "Money, Money," "Maybe This Time" and "Cabaret"
By Andrew Gans of playbill.com

01/31/06
TWO-HOUR 'INSIDE THE ACTORS STUDIO' WITH LIZA MINNELLI AIRS FEB 5

On Sunday, February 5th at 9 PM, Bravo will air a special "Inside the Actors Studio" with the legendary LIZA MINNELLI. The daughter of Judy Garland and Vincente Minnelli, the star became the youngest performer ever to win a Tony Award; at 19, she won for her Broadway debut in Flora The Red Menace. She is the winner of three Tony Awards, an Oscar, a Golden Globe and an Emmy (for "Liza with a Z"). Minnelli also won a Theatre World Award for Best Foot Forward, a Tony Award for The Act, and a Special Tony Award in 1974. She was nominated for an Oscar for The Sterile Cuckoo, and won the Oscar and Golden Globe Awards for "A Time to Live" and for the film version of Cabaret, directed by Bob Fosse. Her other Broadway credits include The Rink, Chicago and Victor/Victoria, and she has also been seen on film in New York, New York, Arthur and others.

It was recently announced that Minnelli's multi-Emmy Award-winning concert "Liza with a Z" will air on Showtime on April 1st. "For more than eleven years, James Lipton has sat down with more than 180 of the world’s most accomplished artists – ranging from actors and directors to musicians and comedians - for penetrating, fascinating interviews. Lipton’s studious research and enlightened curiosity has inspired his guests to open up and confess their deepest thoughts about their craft," state press notes on "Inside the Actors Studio."

Hosted by Pace University, each episode is taped before an audience of students at the Michael Schimmel Center of the Arts and is now broadcast in 125 countries. Upcoming episodes of the series will feature interviews with Dave Chappelle and more actors to be announced.
For more information, visit www.bravotv.com.
January 31, 2006 - by BWW News Desk

01/30/06
LIZA ON TOUR IN GERMANY!
02.13.2006 Munich
02.16.2006 Dresden
02.19.2006 Berlin
02.28.2006 Hamburg
03.03.2006 Düsseldorf
03.05.2006 Frankfurt

01/21/06
LIZA WITH A 'Z', BACK ON TV APRIL 21ST!!
FOSSE/LIZA COLLABORATION RESTORED!

Courtesy Everett Collection

All fans of the Broadway musical, and Broadway history will be thrilled to hear that a very famous 1972 made for television/live presentation starring Liza Minnelli fully staged for a live theater audience and filmed by Bob Fosse has been restored, and will be seen again. Of course, we are hopeful for the DVD, so we can all see it soon. It is set to air on Showtime later this year.

The infamous "Liza With A Z!" was the creation of Fosee, Minnelli, and the Broadway composing team of Kander and Ebb.This amazing team had just completed work on the film version of the Broadway hit Cabaret earlier in 1972. That same year, eager to work together once more, they collaborated on a TV concert special, "Liza With a Z," filmed at Broadway's Lyceum theater in a one-shot, no-retakes, high-energy performance with Minnelli, dancers and an orchestra.

This legendary performance was canonized and highlighted in the 1999 Tony-Award winning musical FOSSE with several numbers from the "Liza With a Z" special being included in the three-act tribute to the work of Bob Fosse. This legendary television special won several Emmy Awards, and has been considered "lost" for a number of years. It will be a singular thrill for many of us to see it for the first time.
The New York Daily News, Thespis Journal
http://thespisjournal.blogspot.com/2006/01/fosseliza-collaboration-restored.html

LIZA GIVES IT HER ALL

Photo by Christina StuartLiza Minnelli performs Friday night at the King Center for the Performing Arts in Melbourne.

Performance started out strong and just got better

IN REVIEW
MELBOURNE — It doesn’t get any better than Friday night’s performance by Liza Minnelli at the King Center for the Performing Arts.

At age 59, Minnelli showed the audience of 1,500 how it was done — you don’t just sing a song, you perform it with every molecule in you. She did just that. She strutted her talented stuff for nearly an hour and a half, singing show tunes and great American standards in her trademark Liza style.

Her first number set the theme to the whole evening: “I Can See Clearly Now.” With lyrics like “I think I can make it now, the pain has gone, all the bad things have disappeared,” Minnelli acknowledged her times of trouble, pain and struggle. Vulnerability mixed with showbiz know-how and talent to deliver a performance that rocked the King Center. After her second song, Minnelli paused long enough for a male audience member to yell out “I love you, Liza.” She yelled right back, “I love you, too.”

And the love fest kicked into high gear with audience members yelling out occasionally encouraging comments such as “Liza, you look great.” “Thank you so much,” she told the cheering audience. “God, you’re wonderful. This is fantastic.” Minnelli kidded the audience with some self-deprecating comments. Making a joke about the weight she has gained, she sang a comic ballad to Sara Lee. She also laughed about being nearly 60 years old and that she now deserved to sing songs that the famed Lotte Lenya once sang.

Even though she was giving it her all from the beginning, Minnelli got better as the show went on. By the end, she yanked off her false eyelashes, complaining that they were getting into her eyes. She grabbed a white hand towel and wiped the makeup from her face. All you saw then was pure Liza. And it was pure Liza that then sent the audience to their feet with her blockbuster numbers, “What Did I Have,” “Cabaret” and “New York, New York.”

Finally, emotionally drained, Minnelli was in tears as she acknowledged the loving and warm reception from the Melbourne audience, many of whom had come hundreds of miles to see the legendary performer. Wiping the sweat from her brow, she sang, a cappella, a love ballad to the audience — “I’ll Be Seeing You.”
I>PAM HARBAUGH FLORIDA TODAY

01/16/06
A LOT OF LIZA

Life hasn't always been a cabaret for Minnelli, but the show goes on for the entertainer at a high-stepping pace.

Liza Minnelli turns 60 in March, but she still belts it out to the back row. That goes the same for a rafter-rattling rendition of "New York, New York," such as the one she provided recently at the inauguration of Mayor Michael Bloomberg, or a blustery chat about this business called show.

"I go to dance class every morning for an hour and a half," Minnelli announces cheerfully, in response to the suggestion that it's hard work to keep singing and dancing for more than four decades. "Luigi, my dance teacher, he's 80 and he's still doing it, so I figure I'm in good shape."

That observation, like many of Minnelli's pronouncements, is punctuated by a formidable gale of laughter. More than an entertainer, Minnelli -- who performs Friday at the King Center for the Performing Arts -- is a character.

The show-business daughter of Judy Garland and director Vincente Minnelli, Liza -- a first-name-only star a la Cher and before Beyonce -- is the kind of show-biz creature that they don't make anymore.

NEW GENERATION OF FANS
In recent years, her off-stage exploits have obscured a talent that has yielded trophies at the Academy Awards, the Tonys and Emmys, as well as gold records. Instead of belting out songs, the headlines have been about belting chauffeurs and weathering a dysfunctional marriage to and estrangement from concert promoter David Gest.

In the best Broadway tradition, the show goes on. Minnelli has endeared herself to a new, younger audience with a recurring role on the edgy Fox TV comedy Arrested Development, where she plays a widow with vertigo who becomes flaky Buster's girlfriend.

She joined the cast at the suggestion of producer Ron Howard, who once starred as a child actor in The Courtship of Eddie's Father, a 1963 film directed by Minnelli's father. "Ron knew I was funny and he called me up and said, 'Do you want to do something?' " says Minnelli, who takes pride in the fact that she does her own stunts, even with two hip replacements. "She has vertigo and falls down a lot. On the first day, they had a stunt double there with a lot of pads on and I said, 'What do you mean?' I went to Luigi and worked three hours on how to fall down."

If Minnelli's popularity in the role is partially a byproduct of her tabloid celebrity, it doesn't seem to dawn on her. Besides, it's not as if her world revolves around a silly TV show. She's also working on a new album, a collaboration with Michael Feinstein on a collection of songs by her godmother, Kay Thompson, a famous nightclub singer, arranger and author of the Eloise children's books.

There's also a brief role as a sex therapist in The OH in Ohio, a film starring actress Parker Posey. In her spare time, Minnelli is working on a screenplay for another movie, which she describes only as a New York story "about a woman who owns a club downtown and the people who come every night to get up and sing."

ALWAYS LEARNING
In typical Minnelli fashion, she's incapable of settling on a specialty. It's a trait that has guided her career from her first film role as a baby opposite her real-life mother in 1949's In the Good Old Summertime, to her first Broadway starring turn in 1965 to her career-defining, Oscar-winning role in the 1972 film Cabaret to Liza with a Z, an Emmy-winning TV special that same year.

A digitally remastered Liza with a Z, incidentally, will premiere March 13 in New York's Ziegfeld Theater, where Cabaret made its debut, before hitting Showtime and DVD in April.

The TV special captures Minnelli at the height of her career, a gorgeous, gregarious showstopper. What's it like for her to see it again now? "I think it's wonderful," she exclaims. "It's so brilliant because it's Bob Fosse's great, great work on stage and his great film work. It's a lost masterpiece."

Has Minnelli learned or lost anything in the years since? It's more the former than the latter, she says. "As you grow older and learn more, it's about the subtleties in things I didn't see before. "When you first start out, you fling your arms out to the side," she explains. "Then you hit 40 and you gesture your arms to the side. Then you hit me and you just raise your hand." Another hearty laugh. "It's economical."

It's appropriate that Minnelli is so well-known for "New York, New York." Her creativity is fueled by the atmosphere of the Big Apple, where the New York press engaged Bloomberg at his inaugural in a cultural debate over whether Minnelli's version of the song trumped Frank Sinatra's.

The woman herself won't be drawn into such controversy. "It's everybody's song. That song is about this great, great city, and it's just a wonderful song to sing." In addition to New York, the notion of acting is essential to all things Minnelli. She recently sat for an Inside the Actor's Studio with James Lipton to offer some secrets.

Here's one: "Everything comes from acting. It always comes first whether it's doing a song or when you speak or with your body when you dance, there's always a message or a reason. "When I sing, I do a character study of each song. What does she look like? What kind of earrings does she like? It's nothing an audience can see, but they know somebody is meaning what they are saying."

STAYING UPBEAT
In the days of hip-hop and music videos, she still sees flashes of old-school multiple-threat talents in singer Michael Buble. She also loves Maroon 5 and Dancing with the Stars, which reflects the motto of a performer who once collaborated with the Pet Shop Boys: "I never say no to anything as far as work goes. That way when things pop up you are ready to do them."

She's not as upbeat about naysayers and tabloids, which recently linked her in a rivalry with Ivana Trump for the affections of Max of Schaumburg-Lippe, a 27-year-old Austrian prince who also has been linked to Paris Hilton.

Alan Rock, morning host on jazz station 89.9 FM (WUCF), reflects the punch-line status that Minnelli holds with some music fans.

"She's got a good left hook; she wears a lot of makeup and she's probably Mr. Blackwell's favorite dresser," Rock says. "For people who like straight singing, she's extremely enjoyable and has a powerful voice. "There's a gal that had a great opportunity," he adds. "Doors were opened to her that weren't opened to a lot of people. She had the talent to back it up and didn't do what she needed to do to back it up."

For Minnelli, such opinions go in the bin with the tabloid headlines: "I got great advice from Elizabeth Taylor. She said, 'Don't read it!' There's nothing you can do about it, and most people know it's a lot of baloney."

Jim Abbott | Sentinel Pop Music Critic Posted January 16, 2006

01/09/06
LIZA WITH A ZING
Listen up, honey, if you only know Ms. Minnelli from the tabloids, then you really don't know Liza.

Liza Minnelli loves Whitesnake. No, really: Judy Garland's diva daughter - the triple-threat showbiz legend who has won an Emmy, an Oscar and myriad Tonys - totally digs the hard, head-banging '80s band. She even has them on her iPod. "Honey, I'm a dancer - I love rock!" says Minnelli with the verve and volume of a teenager demanding a heavy-metal encore. "I love Whitesnake! You bet!"

Talking on the phone with the one and only L-I-Z-A is like chatting with an exclamation point. She's a pip, a hoot, an honest-to-goodness name-in-lights star. She's so old-school Hollywood, it almost comes off as parody. She drops "Honey!" and "Darling!" like a lost Gabor sister, and she drops famous names (Fosse! Ebb! Halston!) like Eminem drops f-bombs. If you think you can keep up with Minnelli's conversational cabaret, well, pound a few more espressos, old chum.

Minnelli, 59, who brings her singing-dancing-acting spectacle to Clearwater's Ruth Eckerd Hall on Thursday, is gearing up for a big 2006. First off, she's excited about launching a world tour that's selling like gangbusters. "I'm doing everything I like!" she says about her stage show. "I've put together my own favorites and what the audience likes, and it seems to be working well." She promises a little of everything, not to mention the underrated comic skills on display in movies such as Arthur and TV shows such as Arrested Development, the Fox sitcom that introduced her offbeat antics to a new audience.

The biggest event for longtime Liza fans, however, will come on April 1, when Showtime debuts a remastered version of her 1972 TV special Liza With a "Z," an Emmy-winning bit of razzle-dazzle staged and choreographed by Bob Fosse and written by Minnelli mentor Fred Ebb. "I feel like Fred and John (Kander, Ebb's songwriting partner) invented me," she says. Much like the woman herself, Liza With a "Z" - which is scheduled for the deluxe DVD treatment around the same time - is over the top and a great deal of fun. The show features the doe-eyed brunette in skimpy outfits designed by famed clothier Halston, most notably a red minidress that shows off a whole lotta Liza. "We nearly didn't (broadcast) because of those outfits!" she laughs. "What happened was, there was a lady from the censors there for our dress rehearsal. And she said, "I'm sorry, but (Liza) can't wear those clothes. She's naked!' So Halston and Fred Ebb and Fosse say to her, "Come with us.' And they took this woman into a room.

"Now, I'm standing outside wondering what's going to happen," Minnelli continues. "I have nothing to wear if I can't wear that! The show is that night! The censor lady then comes out of the room and I ask her . . . (Brief author interlude: Minnelli now drops her voice into an innocent hush and sounds exactly like her mother as Dorothy in The Wizard of Oz. It's both a lovely and slightly chilling moment. Now back to the story . . .) . . ."Will I be able to wear these costumes?' And the censor lady says, "Yes.' Now wait, dig this reading! She said (Liza affects a slow, stuffy accent), "Yes . . . it's fah-shun.' Ha! Ha!"

Because Liza has a way of making you feel like old pals, I ask if she'll be wearing that little red number at her Clearwater show? Maybe give the crowd a shot of those famous gams? "Ha! With two false hips and a wired-up knee? I don't think so!" she cackles mightily, referencing the injuries that have slowed her during the second half of her career.

Late-night comics love to tee off on Minnelli, of course. She's a showbiz kid with famous parents. A woman who partied hard with her generation in the '70s. And she's piled up numerous high-profile relationships, most of which have ended badly . . . and publicly. Most recently, Minnelli has had to deal with the fallout from her failed marriage to fourth husband David Gest, a concert promoter who accused Minnelli of physically abusing him. Minnelli doesn't address the messier particulars, but she does say that ultimately the nasty press doesn't bother her at all. "I think (the press) is kind of fascinated by the fact that nothing has held me down," she says, adding that people often have a hard time telling the difference between her performance personas and the real woman.

"After I did The Sterile Cuckoo (a 1969 film about an emotionally unstable woman), people walked up to me and said, "Are you all right?' And after I did Cabaret, they come up and said, "Hey, you wanna go out?' "I'm myself, always," she says with the casual sigh of a star who has seen it all and heard it all. "My friends know that I'm a rather intelligent, relatively happy woman. What the public thinks is fine. Whatever they want to think, that's fine."

Minnelli might be an easy target, but the truth is that there aren't many legitimate multitooled entertainers like her left in the world. Although she's hesitant to criticize, she says many of the young performers of today are missing out on the necessary showbiz schooling. "I don't think they're training them," she says. "Every kid who wants to go on Broadway has to be able to do everything: sing, dance and act. I only learned it from that. A lot of the rock 'n' roll kids can dance and can sing; some of those videos are good. But it's still not live performance."

"To me, everything comes from acting," says Minnelli, who lists Sarah Bernhardt and Edith Piaf as the performers she would have paid good money to see. "Dancing is acting with your body. Singing is acting with your voice. And it all comes from the words that you believe in. And that's why I have so many acting pieces in my show."

"Every song, I do a character study on (the song's subject)," she says about her performing technique. "What color hair does this woman have? What are the decals on her refrigerator? Does she have children? What is the view out her window? What state does she live in? Each song is a different movie to me."

Minnelli is seeing more young people at her shows, a demographic shift she credits to her cameos on Arrested Development. "Now people come to see me 'cause I'm funny," she laughs. (Arrested Development, a cult TV hit that failed to find a mainstream audience, is winding down its final season on Fox, but Minnelli has hope. "I think it might get picked up by another network with any luck.")

Finally, as the interview is winding to a close, and because Liza and I are such good pals now, I ask her a simple question: Are you happy? "Yes, I really am," she says. "Very happy." It all comes back to a famous quote she uttered decades ago and is still vital to her today: "Reality is something you rise above." "If something is not working out, you have to rise above it," she explains. "Take a good look at it, and make it work out."
By SEAN DALY Published January 9, 2006

01/06/06
MINNELLI DATING ROYAL TOY BOY!

Liza Minnelli is starting the New Year with a new toyboy - a 27-year-old Austrian royal.

The Cabaret star, 59, who is still fighting for a divorce from estranged husband David Gest, is reportedly dating Prince Max of Schaumburg-Lippe - the former lover of socialites Ivana Trump and Paris Hilton.

The European royal has confirmed the romance to US tabloid National Enquirer, stating the actress/singer is his perfect match: "Liza is American royalty. She's a princess ... Women like Liza are truly alluring."
Online.ie

01/02/06
LIZA FEATURED IN SPECIAL EDITION CHICAGO DVD!

The New Chicago-Razzle Dazzle Edition Dvd is packed with extras, as well as segments on LIZA MINNELLI!!

First Segment is all about how LIZA stepped in for Gwen Verdon when Gwen got sick and couldn't do Chicago for several weeks. Very interetsing 15 min segment, with people owing the survival of Chicago to Liza for helping out!

Also there's a live musical performance of LIZA singing "Nowadays" on a Television show back in the 70s with Kander & Ebb!!

Buy the dvd, it's worth it!!
LOVIN' LIZA Webmaster :)

01/01/06
STARS CELEBRATE BLOOMBERG'S SECOND TERM

An all-star lineup led by Liza Minnelli was on hand for the swearing in of New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg.

Minnelli brought the audience to its feet with her performance of "New York, New York", Sunday, the New York Post reported Monday.

Getty Images

Liza Minnelli belts out New York, New York on New Year’s Day after Michael Bloomberg took the oath of office for his second term as mayor of New York.

More than 5,000 people watched the performance as well as the mayor taking his second oath of office.

Cuban jazz artist Paquito D'Rivera played America the Beautiful, and the Abyssinian Baptist Church choir from Harlem sang the national anthem.

ABC TV's Barbara Walters handled the introduction of the mayor while actor John Lithgow was master of ceremonies for the event.

Lithgow got laughs from the crowd when he wondered aloud why he was chosen to helm the ceremony, the Post said.

After all, I come from the tawdry world of show business, not the dignified and stately world of city
United Press International

*CLICK HERE FOR LIZA 2005 NEWS*

*CLICK HERE TO RETURN TO THE MAIN PAGE*

Wicked tickets Lion King tickets Mary Poppins tickets
The Pirate Queen tickets Legally Blonde tickets Tickets