Liza Minelli @ Birmingham Symphony hall – 4th June 2008
Surely it’s only a matter of time before the life of Liza Minelli becomes a musical in its own right and we will have come full circle. The daughter of the legendary Judy Garland (yes, Dorothy from The Wizard Of Oz), Minelli has been immersed in show business since the word go and tonight, in front of a sell-out crowd, the Oscar-winning actress and singer takes us through her extraordinary story using the songs like chapters in her autobiography. Every tune is introduced by a story involving stars of stage and screen, many of whom just happen to be relations, husbands, godmothers or friends of the leading lady herself.
On stage, Liza’s outfits sparkle almost as much as she does and, having lost a significant amount of weight recently, Minelli is back looking every inch the star. “Remember when I used to sit down in the second act?” she asks the audience. “Now I sit down in the first act too cos I’m sensible”. At 62 years of age, however, she can shimmy and shake her way around her stage like a girl in her 20s and her self-depreciating humour simply has the effect of making her fanatical fan-base love her all the more. Knowing glances towards the front rows when her songs mention drink, drugs or husbands prove that she’s unafraid to reference the very-public troubles in her life.
The first act climaxes with the song with which she’s probably most associated — “Cabaret”. The movie won her the Oscar and the song has the audience jumping to its feet and screaming in appreciation.
Act two sees a new outfit and more involvement from her quartet of male backing singers. The songs are acted out as if they’re part of the musical they came from and the whole thing is thoroughly entertaining. Screams of “I love you Liza” are met with comments like “I love you too, you know that. You’re my family and I don’t give a rat’s ass if that’s corny!”
Rumours of her voice starting to lose its power are wiped away by tonight’s performance. Every note is pitch-perfect and it’s easy to see just why Minelli became the huge star she is today. Her “mammy”, Judy Garland is referenced as being “vaguely famous” during stories of her early career and tales of her godmother, Kay Thompson, crop up throughout the show. Minelli recently recorded a collection of songs by Thompson as a tribute.
“Remember when I used to get down on one knee here?” she asks. “Forget it! It’s wired up!”
Less of a concert and more of a show, tonight is pretty much faultless throughout. But after almost 60 years in showbiz Minelli is perfectly at home on a stage. “Songs say what I want to say so much better than I ever could” she says. Life may not be a cabaret for everyone, old chum, but for one Liza Minelli it absolutely is and she seems to be now enjoying that cabaret to the fullest.
Words & Photos – Steve Gerrard