Y'all know I love a major diva. The year started by my swearing my ambitions were to see Tina Turner and Dionne Warwick. Dionne I achieved fairly swiftly, Tina will be waiting for me in March next year, so clearly now I am contemplating a trip to Vegas. Cher and Bette Midler in one sitting? Nirvana! However, it's not always necessary to travel to the other end of the earth to see one of these ladies. There is a notable superstar I have been waiting a while for. There were posters in Copenhagen when I was there last Spring for her Scandinavian tour and I couldn't work out why she wasn't playing London. I've also seen her before - one husband ago, in 2002 - and she doesn't disappoint. Ladies and gentlemen, the one, the only, Miss Liza Minnelli!
Cue spotlight from stage right.
Liza, of course, oozes showbiz royalty from every pore. Gay icon-wise, there are few who compete. Really only Streisand is up there in terms of living legends passionate bejewelled homos can argue over. Plus, Liza has the sparkle. The pizzazz. The history. When the dry ice billows, she comes a'running to separate it and make her entrance. Death-beds become a memory next to the prospect of a sequined basque and tap shoes. Some fade with age. Liza, since I saw her last at the Albert Hall, has incredibly improved. How on earth did she do that? Partly, I suspect, because she went back to core values: cabaret... with a small 'c'.
Years ago, when I was in New York, I picked up her Live! At Radio City Music Hall album, which I think was from a show she did in 1990. It's easily one of the campest records in my collection (believe me it has stiff competition). I suspect a lot of the songs in the show and thus on the album had been specifically written for the it, which is an unusual thing to do, I suppose. The notion of doing a new show with new songs rather than just the hits takes some gumption, but then she can pick up the phone to Stephen Sondheim or Kander & Ebb. Thrillingly, she did a couple of those Radio City numbers last week at her show at the Colisseum: Teach me tonight/Live alone and like it and Sara Lee. Pure bliss! The crowd, even gayer than the one which saw Rufus does Judy last February (which was, lest we forget, a gay man singing the songs of the ultimate gay icon before a full orchestra and with Liza's sister to boot) loved every second. It was at once clear: this was going to be an epic evening.
There was a dandy sitting next to me in pink linen. Head to toe, with a brass-handled cane. I think he had purchased the empty seat between us to place his jacket on during the show, to prevent it creasing. 'Enough with the oldies!,' she said, 'I'm going to do a new song now' and launched into 'What good is it sitting alone in your room! Come here the music play!' ... The queens went into meltdown, the hairs stood up on the back of my neck. This, along with Dionne singing Heartbreaker this February, marked a musical performance high-water mark which is unlikely to be matched again soon. And her finale of New York, New York wasn't too shabby, either.
Liza Minnelli Live alone and like it
... and she had gone on Jenny Craig, lost 40lb so the legs were pretty much like this too.
Everybody loves a winner.
That video captures Liza at her physical peak, yes?
Posted by: xolondon | June 06, 2008 at 11:34 AM
Yes, and she was so gracious - everyone loves that too, even if her "this is one of the most amazing nights of my life!" schtick is a little much after she (doubtless) wheels it out nightly. Maybe I am a cynic. Maybe when she's doing her third night in Scandinavia it doesn't feel like the best ever. Either way, I am still in awe.
Beats Streisand into a cocked hat.
Posted by: TRICKY | June 12, 2008 at 10:56 PM