Judy & Liza
LONDON PALLADIUM
Judy started a tour of Australia and Hong Kong in the Spring of 1964. Whilst Judy was away, Liza continued to work on her voice and was well on the way to establishing a name for herself. On return from Hong Kong Judy was at a very low ebb, taking excessive quantities of medication. Judy needed to work to pay off her debts, but wasn't in any shape to carry a 2 hour show. In the fall of 1964, Judy called Liza with the idea of ‘Judy and Liza at the London Palladium'. Liza is said to have refused on the basis that it was expecting too much of her. However, Judy called the press and announced the concert and Liza did go.
Again Judy set up home in London and was seen out enjoying the sites and night spots. She was now accompanied by Mark Heron and Peter Allen.
The rehearsals for the show on 8th November 1964 went well, Judy's voice was holding and both Judy and Liza got through with little problem. Ticket sales boomed - Judy and Liza were signed for a special extra night a week later. Unfortunately, Judy was prone to throat infections and was not in the best of health. Despite this Judy and Liza gave the show their all. Something happened on the stage that night. Out stepped Liza the Woman, the singer, actress, and dancer. She was dealing with the force that was Judy Garland and holding her own. The audience went crazy... Mother and Daughter were a big hit. Judy's wit, humour and affection more than compensated for any visible tiredness. Judy and Liza not only got through but yet again won terrific applause and respect from the audience. A significantly abridged version of the concert was released on an EP and LP from EMI in 1965. The second show was broadcast on Television. Due to technical conditions the telecast recording was poor. The BFI holds an archival print of the event which whilst watchable is badly rendered. Video copies have been released on PAL and NTSC offering very little of the atmosphere and magic of the actual occasion.
-info from Judy in London. A wonderfully informative site about Judy Garland, and some info on Liza.
JUDY AND LIZA AT THE LONDON PALLADIUM NOW ON DVD!! The novelty of Judy Garland: Live at the London Palladium is the spectacle of the great entertainer sharing the stage with her up-and-coming daughter. In November 1964 Liza Minnelli was not yet 20 and not yet a Broadway success. She looks it: the coltish, appealingly gawky girl is still pretty raw (at one point after a costume change she yanks off her earrings just before launching into a song), and Garland seems alternately proud of and bemused by her. The video is pretty raw, too, a rough black-and-white affair that can best be described as serviceable in quality. However, fans of this brand of showbiz razzmatazz will be satisfied with the duets between the women (especially trading verses on a medley of "Happy Days Are Here Again" and "Get Happy"). Judy opens the show with the reliable chest sweller "Once in a Lifetime" (no relation to the Talking Heads tune) and delivers a tutorial in song dynamics with "The Man That Got Away." She appears rather shrunken and tired but still comes on like a trouper, fending off the audience's constant heckling for "Over the Rainbow" (as though she might forget it?) before finally handing the song back to them as a touching sing-along. This was Garland's last appearance at the Palladium. It's also a passing of the torch to Liza, who would later become the kind of polished dynamo embodied by her mother, more than capable of holding down her own one-woman shows.
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Finally a DVD of the infamous Palldium Performance of Judy and Liza is realeased today in stores and amazon.com.