Liza Minnelli, Joel Grey, and More Set for NYC CABARET Screening, 1/31

Turner Classic Movies (TCM) will continue its latest Road to Hollywood tour around the country with a stop in New York City, where TCM, Warner Bros. Home Entertainment and Verizon FiOS will present a free public screening of the groundbreaking musical Cabaret (1972). Four of the film's stars - Liza Minnelli, Joel Grey, Michael York and Marisa Berenson - will join TCM host Robert Osborne on stage to introduce the 40th anniversary restoration of the film. The event is set to take place Thursday, Jan. 31, 2013, at Manhattan's famous Ziegfeld Theatre, where Cabaret first premiered.

One of the most acclaimed films of its era, Cabaret features Liza Minnelli in her OscarÒ-winning performance as an American singer looking for love and success in pre-World War II Berlin. Joel Grey earned an Academy AwardÒ as the ubiquitous Master of Ceremonies. Michael York plays a young English teacher whose eyes are opened by what he experiences. And Berenson is a Jewish department store heiress whose love life is affected by the rise of anti-Semitism in the country.

Cabaret provides a perfect showcase for the unique choreography and imaginative visual style of Bob Fosse, who won the OscarÒ for Best Director. The film also earned Academy Awards for Best Cinematography, Best Art Direction-Set Decoration, Best Film Editing, Best Adapted Score and Best Sound.

The original Cabaret film print hadn't been shown in a decade because one of the film's original reels suffered damage in the form of a vertical scratch that ran throughout the entire reel. After computer technology to repair the damage failed Warner Bros. corrected more than 1 million frames by hand. The negative was then scanned to significantly improve resolution, and the sound was upgraded, all with dazzling results.

The newly restored edition of Cabaret served as the opening film at the 2012 TCM Classic Film Festival in Hollywood last April. On February 5, Warner Home Video will continue Cabaret's 40th Anniversary celebration with the debut of its 40th anniversary Blu-ray presented in a premium Blu-ray Book format which contains 40 pages of rarely seen l photos and revealing text. Featured also is a new documentary, "Cabaret: The Musical That Changed Musicals," an enlightening look at how Fosse and Cabaret brought movie musicals back from the brink of extinction. A DVD version will also be available.

Although the screening is free, tickets are required for entry. Free tickets may be obtained online at http://www.tcm.com/roadtohollywood, beginning Monday, Jan. 17, 2013.

As part of the buildup to the 2013 edition to the star-studded TCM Classic Film Festival, set to take place April 25-28, 2013, in Hollywood, TCM is traveling around the country for a series of 10 free screenings and live appearances by legendary stars and special guests. The tour began with a screening of Forbidden Planet (1956) at the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex in Orlando as well as transmitted to the International Space Station, followed by On the Waterfront (1954) in Pittsburgh and the Jan. 31 screening of Cabaret (1972) in New York. Additional cities and films on the Road to Hollywood tour will be announced soon.

The TCM Classic Film Festival launched in spring 2010 and has established itself as a destination event. Each year, the festival welcomes 25,000 movie fans from around the globe to enjoy more than a hundred screenings and events.

TCM host and film historian Robert Osborne serves as official host of the 2013 TCM Classic Film Festival, with TCM's Ben Mankiewicz also introducing various events during the festival. The Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel, which has a longstanding role in movie history and was the site of the first Oscars ceremony, will once again serve as the official hotel for the festival, as well as a central gathering point for attendees. Screenings and events will also be held at Grauman's Chinese Theatre, the Chinese 6 Theatres and the Egyptian Theatre. The Hollywood Roosevelt will also offer special rates for festival attendees.

Cinematic Journeys: Travel in the Movies, the theme for the 2013 TCM Classic Film Festival, will explore how movies can carry viewers beyond their hometowns to distant or imaginary locales, where they can be transformed by great storytelling. Often, the mode of travel provides the filmic inspiration, whether it's planes, trains, or automobiles. At other times, the trip itself serves as the central narrative, as in the case of many "road movies." With Hollywood as the starting point, TCM's excursion will take festival attendees on a fascinating journey to worlds both familiar and new.

Warner Bros. Home Entertainment (WBHE) brings together Warner Bros. Entertainment's home video, digital distribution, interactive entertainment, technical operations and anti-piracy businesses in order to maximize current and next-generation distribution scenarios. An industry leader since its inception, WBHE oversees the global distribution of content through packaged goods (Blu-ray Disc and DVD) and digital media in the form of electronic sell-through and video-on-demand via cable, satellite, online and mobile channels, and is a significant developer and publisher for console and online video game titles worldwide. WBHE distributes its product through third party retail partners and licensees, as well as directly to consumers through WBShop.com.

Turner Classic Movies is a Peabody Award-winning network that presents great films, uncut and commercial-free, from the largest film libraries in the world. Currently seen in more than 85 million homes, TCM features the insights of hosts Robert Osborne and Ben Mankiewicz, plus interviews with a wide range of special guests. As the foremost authority in classic films, TCM offers critically acclaimed original documentaries and specials, along with regular programming events that include The Essentials, hosted by Robert Osborne and Drew Barrymore, and the month-long 31 Days of Oscar in February and Summer Under the Stars in August. TCM also stages special events and screenings, such as the TCM Classic Film Festival in Hollywood and the TCM Classic Cruise; produces a wide range of media about classic film, including books and DVDs; and hosts a wealth of online through the TCM homepage, which includes the TCM Movie Database, message boards, blogs and more.

TCM is part of Turner Broadcasting System, Inc., a Time Warner company. Turner Broadcasting creates and programs branded news; entertainment; animation and young adult; and sports media environments on television and other platforms for consumers around the world.

Photo Credit: Walter McBride / WM Photos