Chugg Entertainment and David M. Hawkins are presenting the long awaited return of award winning superstar Liza Minnelli. Bringing her unstoppable Minnelli magic to Australia, Liza will tour nationally during October in an unmatchable concert performance. Based on her recent hit Broadway show "Liza's At The Palace", the evening will feature an incomparable Minnelli songfest including many of her personal favorites and signature hits.
Minnelli spoke to the Sydney Morning Herald in advance of her weekend concerts and spilled some secrets about the upcoming Sex and the City sequel.
The article states that, "The 63-year-old told the Herald's cabaret correspondent, Bryce Hallett, she would play a marriage celebrant at the wedding of two of the show's gay characters, Stanford and Anthony, before performing the Beyonce hit Single Ladies backed by two female dancers in wigs 'just like me'. 'The choreography for the number is something I should have done when I was 22; it was really difficult but fun,' the showgirl chortled. 'I like rehearsals and I'm an old broad to be doing this stuff at my age.' In further SATC news sure to elicit shrieks from Taylor Square to San Francisco, Minnelli confirmed fellow diva Barbra Streisand would also appear in the flick's lavish wedding scene."
Along with a twelve-piece orchestra led by conductor/drummer Michael Berkowitz and pianist/musical supervisor Billy Stritch, the performance will feature many of Liza's showstoppers such as "Cabaret", "Maybe This Time" and "Theme From New York, New York" - all written especially for her by the legendary Broadway song writing partnership of John Kander and Fred Ebb.
Directed by Ron Lewis, this concert performance of almost two hours duration (with interval), will be full of personal stories, anecdotes and heartfelt reminiscences.
Liza Minnelli was born in Los Angeles into show business royalty. With her mother Judy Garland and her father the Award winning director Vincent Minnelli, her's is the only family where both parents and child have won an Oscar. Her god parents were Ira Gershwin and Kay Thompson. Liza made her screen debut in 1949 as a toddler with her mother in the MGM movie musical In the Good Old Summertime.
One of the world's best-loved entertainers, she won Tony awards for Flora, the Red Menace in 1965 and The Act in 1978, along with a third for Best Personal Achievement, resulting from her 1974 engagement at the Winter Garden Theatre. Nominated for an Academy Award® for The Sterile Cuckoo (1969), she won the best actress prize for her best-known film, Cabaret (1972), which also won her a Golden Globe Award and a BAFTA. She won an Emmy for Liza with a 'Z' (1972) and was also the recipient of a Grammy Legend Award in 1989, making her one of the few artists who have won entertainment's top six awards.
Liza has also been the recipient of three David di Donatello Awards - for The Sterile Cuckoo (1969), Cabaret (1972) and Lifetime Achievement (2002). Film credits include Charlie Bubbles (1968), Tell Me That You Love Me, Junie Moon (1970), Lucky Lady (1975), A Matter of Time (1976), New York, New York (1977), Arthur (1981) Stepping Out (1991), and The Oh In Ohio (2006). Liza recently attracted an entirely new generation of fans with her acclaimed turn as "Lucille 2" on the Emmy-winning Best Comedy Arrested Development, and for her appearance on the chart-topping album The Black Parade by My Chemical Romance.
Liza Minnelli first toured Australia in the late 1960's with Peter Allen and played Chequers Nite Club in Sydney. She also made a television special in 1968 for TCN9 called ‘Liza', and appeared with the Allen Brothers on Bandstand in 1969. Her first major solo Australian tour was in 1981 playing all major cities nationally. The last visit to Australia for Liza was with Frank Sinatra and Sammy Davis Jnr. in 1989 with The Ultimate Event.
