BWW 'Code Red' DVR Alert: Mitzi Gaynor Explodes on TV!

O.K. Everyone .. THIS IS A WARNING! DO NOT MISS THIS PBS WORLD PREMIERE on Saturday night - if you live in the TRI-STATE area. The rest of the country has to wait ‘til December "pledge-drives" to see this very special SPECIAL. And, as if that weren't enough...Mitzi will be in the studio LIVE between segments to kick off this WLIW EXCLUSIVE event. 

I got to view it, in advance, and my jaw just dropped. Mitzi Gaynor Specials were just that. This was not a regular series. You'll learn, as you watch, that when it looked like film work was gonna dry up for the film star of SOUTH PACIFIC, that it was through a friend's suggestion that she devise a show for Las Vegas and that translated to a whole new career on television and these specials. She visited the cast of the current Tony Award winning revival on October 9th, see the joyful photo coverage right here.

And her co-star? Bob Mackie!!!! Your eyeballs will explode. The music, the dancers (Mitzi and 100 men in one segment), the sketches, the arrangements, the song choices and some real guest highlights in Michael Landon, Jane Withers, Suzanne Pleshette, Linda Hopkins and Ken Berry. Then there are tons and tons of COSTUMES!!!! REJOICE!

It's fascinating to watch an art-form that was pretty much a staple in the years covered here (1968-1978). There are even some special effects new to television in their time. It's fantastic to watch this on the eve of Rosie O'Donnell entering and aiming to resurrect the Variety Show idea and format. It seems like exactly the right time and the ONE key ingredient to shows of this nature? A star as your centerpiece. A bigger than life star.

This will open your eyes to an enormous talent with energy to spare ... and one, I'm quite sure, many of you are not familiar with.

Tune in or lose out. It's like LIZA WITH A Z! ... only here we have highlights from 10 (one a year) specials. Don't miss it ... or you'll have to wait ‘til December. For those of you NOT in the TRI-STATE area ... sit tight ... it's coming your way.

And as for the "fund-raising" that PBS does .. THIS is the kind of JACKPOT programming event your money goes to - to make happen. America is in a depression and this will surely lift your spirits!

WLIW New York will present Mitzi Gaynor: RAZZLE DAZZLE! THE SPECIAL YEARS - world broadcast premiere Saturday, October 11 at 8 pm with Mitzi live in the WLIW21 studio sharing stories from her fabled career.

After its premiere on WLIW, the special will air nationwide on PBS as part of the station's December pledge drive. Check www.pbs.org and your local listings for details.

Available on November 18, 2008, "Mitzi Gaynor - Razzle Dazzle! The Special Years" provides a reflective and entertaining glimpse into television variety at its zenith and takes a nostalgic trip through Gaynor's special television years in a look at the groundbreaking performances, extraordinary costumes and triple threat talent of Mitzi Gaynor in a wealth of digitally remastered clips, rare photos and footage from Gaynor's personal archive which illuminate the behind-the-scenes stories and impact of these landmark television events."Mitzi Gaynor - Razzle Dazzle! The Special Years" features numbers choreographed by some of film and theatrical dance world's most influential choreographers, including Peter Gennaro (Tony-winner for Annie, and co-choreographer with Jerome Robbins for West Side Story), Danny Daniels (Tony-winner, The Tap Dance Kid), Robert Sidney (The Dean Martin Show) and Tony Charmoli (Woman of the Year).

In addition to the highlights of Gaynor's classic performances are new interviews with Gaynor herself, world renowned Emmy® winning costume designer Bob Mackie, Tony-winner Kristin Chenoweth (Wicked, Pushing Daisies), director/choreographer Tony Charmoli, dancers Alton Ruff and Randy Doney (who performed with Mitzi on the road and in her TV specials), Nine-time Emmy® Award winning comedy legend Carl Reiner, best-selling author and critic Rex Reed, and Tony nominee Kelli O'Hara, currently starring on Broadway as "Nellie Forbush" in the 2008 Tony Award® winning version of Rodgers & Hammerstein's South Pacific, the role made famous by Mitzi Gaynor in the 1958 film version.

Click here for more information and to purchase from Amazon.com. BUT, purchasing from PBS INSTEAD, gets you an EXCLUSIVE PUBLIC TV edition of the DVD with FOUR EXTRA PERFORMANCES not available anywhere else, including "Everybody Loves My Baby" and "Love is Blue" from 1968's Mitzi, "The Charleston" from 1976's Mitzi...Roarin' In the 20s, and "Camptown Races / Waiting for the Robert E. Lee" from 1975's Mitzi...And 100 Guys).

That's TWENTY EXTRA MINUTES OF MITZI - available exclusively to public television supporters!

For photos from the Mitzi Gaynor Specials, click here.