hey hey! so if you’ve read any of my tweets from the past two days – you already know how i feel about liza minnelli‘s two-night stint over at the hollywood bowl (a truly magical place) she was amazing! of course being a die hard liza fan – i had to go both nights – and i’m so happy i did – both shows were equally excellent – i can’t stop thinking about it! plus i was in good company – the first night – a lovely mother and daughter team who were total liza fans (they snapped some great pictures – check ‘em out below) the second night another group of really nice die hard liza fans! now of course it’s not 1972 anymore (the year cabaret was released – which garnered ms. minnelli an academy award for best actress) but 37 years later girlfriend (age 63) is still kicking and really did put on a stellar show – which included a number of her standards (maybe this time, cabaret, liza with a z, and of course new york, new york) and took on some songs i hadn’t heard before like what makes a man a man, i would never leave you and teach me tonight which she opened with … for the record – nobody needs to teach liza anything – it’s the other way around … she definitely taught us a thing or two! she’s been on stage performing since she was a teenager – and she’s worked with just about everyone in the business – and because of her infamous parents judy garland & vincent minnelli – she ran with a crowd that included people like rat packers frank sinatra and sammy davis jr. – she’s led a truly legendary life – i was so happy to see her up their doing her thing with a twelve-piece band (including billy stritch on piano) and no backup singers! thankfully she still sounded great (her voice isn’t what it used to be but she still can sing better than i can!) she looked excellent – her infectious energy & triumphant spirit is unmatched! (liza even got a standing ovation right at the start) she was the one person that i was truly dying to see someday in person – i’m thrilled i actually got to see her two evenings in a row – a gay boy’s lifelong dream come true! (there’s two videos below – the audio came out great) next month she’s playing over in las vegas – where she’ll be taping her tony-winning broadway show liza’s at the palace for a DVD – i can’t wait for that to come out! all the odds were in liza’s favor this weekend – she definitely won this time around! popbytes over & out for now … xoxo
PS everyone i talked to at both shows felt the same way i did – liza kicked ass!
