Cabaret is a 1972 musical film directed by Bob Fosse and starring Liza Minnelli, Michael York and Joel Grey.^[2] The film is set in Berlin during the Weimar Republic in 1931, under the ominous presence of the growing National Socialist Party.

The film is loosely based on the 1966 Broadway musical Cabaret by Kander and Ebb, which was adapted from The Berlin Stories of Christopher Isherwood and the play I Am a Camera. Only a few numbers from the stage score were used; Kander and Ebb wrote new ones to replace those that were discarded. In the traditional manner of musical theater, every significant character in the stage version of Cabaret sings to express emotion and advance the plot; but in the film version, the musical numbers are entirely diegetic, and only two of the film's major characters (The Emcee and Sally) sing any songs.

Plot[link]

In 1931 Berlin, American artist Sally Bowles (Liza Minnelli) performs at the Kit Kat Klub. A new arrival in the city, Brian Roberts (Michael York), moves into Sally's boarding house. A reserved English academic and writer, Brian gives English lessons to earn a living while completing his doctorate in Philosophy. Sally unsuccessfully tries to seduce Brian and suspects he may be gay. Brian tells Sally that on three previous occasions he has tried to have physical relationships with women, all of which have failed. The unlikely pair become friends, and Brian is witness to Sally's anarchic, bohemian life in the last days of the German Weimar Republic. Later in the film, Sally and Brian become lovers despite their earlier reservations, and Brian and Sally conclude with irony that his previous failures with women were because they were "the wrong three girls."

Sally befriends Maximilian von Heune (Helmut Griem), a rich playboy baron who takes her and Brian to his country estate. It becomes ambiguous which of the duo Max is seducing, epitomized by a scene in which the three dance intimately together in a wine-induced reverie. After a sexual experience with Brian, Max loses interest in the two, and departs for Argentina. When Sally triumphantly tells Brian that she slept with Max, Brian begins to laugh and reveals that he slept with Max as well. After the ensuing argument, Brian storms off and picks a fight with a group of Nazis, who beat him senseless. Brian and Sally make up in their rooming house, where Sally reveals that Max left them an envelope of money.

Later on, Sally finds out that she's pregnant and is unsure whether Brian or Max is the father. Brian offers to marry her and take her back to his university life in Cambridge. After a scene that strongly hints Sally prefers the life of a singer to the life of a mother and housewife, she proceeds with an abortion. When Brian confronts her, she shares her fears and the two reach an understanding. The film ends with Brian departing for England by train, and Sally continuing her life in Berlin, singing "Cabaret" to a highly appreciative audience.

Subplots[link]

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A subplot concerns Fritz Wendel (Fritz Wepper), a German Jew passing as a Christian. Fritz eventually reveals his true religious background when he falls for Natalia Landauer (Marisa Berenson), a wealthy German Jewish heiress. Although they marry, the audience are left wondering what their fate will be.

The Nazis' violent rise is a powerful, ever-present undercurrent in the film. Though explicit evidence of their actions is only sporadically presented, their progress can be tracked through the characters' changing actions and attitudes. While in the beginning of the film National Socialist members are sometimes harassed and even kicked out of the Kit Kat Klub, a scene midway through the film shows everyday Germans rising in song to rally around National Socialism, and the final shot of the film shows the cabaret's audience is dominated by Nazi party members.

While he does not play a role in the main plot or subplot, the "Emcee" (Joel Grey) serves in the role of storyteller throughout the film, acting as a sort of voyeur in the circus atmosphere. His surface demeanor is one of benevolence and hospitality ("Willkommen"), but when the floor show gets underway, he exposes the audience to the seedy world of the Cabaret. His intermittent songs in the Kit Kat Klub are risque and pointedly mock the Nazis. In a scene when Sally experiences delirium, the Emcee is seen holding her breasts - the significance of this is never explained, and it is not clear if it is memory or fantasy.

The rise of the National Socialist movement and their increasing influence on German society is dramatically demonstrated in the beer garden scene: A boy — only his face seen — sings to the seated guests what first seems an innocent lyrical song about the beauties of nature. This gradually becomes the strident "Tomorrow Belongs to Me" as the camera shifts to show that the boy is wearing a brown Hitler Youth uniform and lifts his hand in the Nazi salute. One by one, nearly all guests in the beer garden get up and voluntarily join in the singing and saluting. The oldest gentleman among them, however, obviously feels differently, and does not share the common exaltation, he obviously has grown wise enough not to join the chorus and turns away uneasily. Max and Brian flee the beer garden after the show of grass roots solidarity, realising that the Nazis will be difficult to "control" now. Earlier in the film the NSDAP enjoyed relative favor with the main characters, due to their strong opposition to Communism, which was a natural risk to the trio's increasingly lavish lifestyle.

Although the songs throughout the film allude to and advance the narrative, every song except "Tomorrow Belongs to Me" is executed in the context of a Kit Kat Klub performance. The voice heard on the radio reading the news throughout the film in German was that of Associate Producer Harold Nebenzal, whose father, Seymour Nebenzahl made such notable Weimar films such as M, Testament of Dr. Mabuse, and Three Penny Opera.

Cast[link]

• Liza Minnelli as Sally Bowles
• Michael York as Brian Roberts
• Joel Grey as The Emcee
• Helmut Griem as Maximilian von Heune
• Fritz Wepper as Fritz Wendel
• Marisa Berenson as Natalia Landauer
• Helen Vita as Frost
• Oliver Collignon (Mark Lambert, singing) as Nazi youth

Production[link]

Pre-production[link]

In 1971, Bob Fosse learned through Harold Prince, director of the original Broadway production, that Cy Feuer was producing a film adaptation of Cabaret through ABC Pictures and Allied Artists. Determined to direct the film, Fosse urged Feuer to hire him. Chief executives Manny Wolf and Marty Baum preferred a bigger name director such as Joseph Mankiewicz or Gene Kelly. Furthermore, Fosse’s many difficulties in directing the highly unsuccessful film adaptation of Sweet Charity gave Wolf and Baum serious concerns. Feuer appealed to the studio heads, citing Fosse’s talent for staging and shooting musical numbers, adding that if inordinate attention was given to filming the book scenes at the expense of the musical numbers, the whole film could fail. Fosse was ultimately hired.

Over the next months, Fosse met with previously hired writer Jay Presson Allen to discuss the screenplay. Originally unsatisfied with Allen’s script, he hired Hugh Wheeler to rewrite and revise Allen’s work. To this day, Wheeler is referred to as merely a "research consultant" while Allen retains screenwriting credit. The final script was based less on Joe Masteroff’s original book of the stage version and more on The Berlin Stories and I am a Camera.

Fosse and Feuer traveled to Germany, where producers chose to shoot the film, in order to finish assembling the film crew. During this time, Fosse highly recommended Robert Surtees for cinematographer, but Feuer and the top executives saw Surtees’ work on Sweet Charity as one of the film’s many artistic problems. Producers eventually chose British cinematographer Geoffrey Unsworth. Designers Rolf Zehetbauer, Hans Jürgen Kiebach and Herbert Strabel served as production designers. Charlotte Flemming designed costumes. Fosse dancer Kathy Doby and John Sharpe were brought on as Fosse’s dance aides.

Casting[link]

Feuer had cast Liza Minnelli as Sally Bowles (a role previously denied her in the stage version) and Joel Grey (reprising his stage role) long before Fosse was attached to the project, Fosse was given the option of using Grey as Emcee or walk away from the production. Fosse hired Michael York as Sally Bowles’ openly bisexual love interest. Several smaller roles, as well as the dancers in the film, were eventually cast in Germany.

Filming[link]

Rehearsals and filming took place entirely in Germany. For reasons of economy, indoor scenes were shot at Bavaria Film Studios in Grünwald, outside Munich. Location shooting took place in and around Munich and Berlin, and in Schleswig-Holstein and Saxony. Editing was done in Los Angeles before the eventual theatrical release in February, 1972.

Differences between film and stage version[link]

The film is significantly different from the Broadway musical. To accommodate Minnelli, Sally Bowles is Americanized. The character of Cliff Bradshaw was renamed Brian Roberts and made British, though he still remained bisexual. The characters, and plot lines involving, Fritz, Natalia and Max do not exist in the play (although there is a minor character named Max in the stage version, the owner of the Kit Kat Club, who bears no relation to the character in the film). The Broadway version used special settings to separate the fantasy world of the Cabaret from the darker rest of the world. In the stage version (along with Isherwood's original story), Sally's a terrible singer (preventing her from becoming the actress she wants to be and keeping her trapped at the Kit Kat Club), who thinks she's better than she actually is, in the film Sally's portrayed as a skilled singer.

Fosse cut several of the songs, leaving only those that are sung within the confines of the Kit Kat Klub, and "Tomorrow Belongs to Me" - sung in a beer garden, though in the stage play it is sung first by the cabaret boys and then at a private party. Kander and Ebb wrote several new songs for the movie and removed others; "Don't Tell Mama" was replaced by "Mein Herr," and "The Money Song" (retained in an instrumental version as "Sitting Pretty") was replaced by "Money, Money." Interestingly, "Mein Herr" and "Money, Money," which were composed for the film version, have, due to their popularity, now been added to performances of the stage musical alongside the original numbers. The song "Maybe This Time," which Sally performs at the cabaret, was not written for the film. Kander and Ebb had written it years earlier for Kaye Ballard, thus making it ineligible for an Academy Award nomination. Though "Don't Tell Mama" and "Married" were removed as performed musical numbers, both appeared in the film. The former's bridge section appears as instrumental music played on Sally's gramophone; the latter is initially played on the piano in Fraulein Schneider's parlor and later heard on Sally's gramophone in a German translation ("Heiraten") sung by cabaret singer Greta Keller.

Several characters were cut from the film (including Herr Schultz, with Fraulein Schneider's part greatly reduced and the whole romantic subplot removed) and several from Isherwood's original stories put back in. The entire score was re-orchestrated, with all the numbers being accompanied by the stage band.

The following songs from the original Broadway production are missing in the film version, but are still available on the Original Broadway Cast album:

• So What?
• Don't Tell Mama
• Telephone Song
• Perfectly Marvelous
• Why Should I Wake Up?
• Meeskite
• What Would You Do?

Musical numbers[link]

All songs written by John Kander and Fred Ebb

1. "Willkommen" (Welcome) - Master of Ceremonies, the Cabaret Girls
2. "Mein Herr" - Sally
3. "Maybe This Time" - Sally
4. "The Money Song" - Master of Ceremonies, Sally
5. "Two Ladies" - Master of Ceremonies, two of the Cabaret Girls
6. "Sitting Pretty" - Instrumental
7. "Tomorrow Belongs to Me" - Nazi youth
8. "Tiller Girls" - Master of Ceremonies, the Cabaret Girls
9. "Heiraten (Married)" - Greta Keller
10. "If You Could See Her (The Gorilla Song)" - Master of Ceremonies, (unknown) in a gorilla suit
11. "Cabaret" - Sally
12. "Finale" - Master of Ceremonies

Home releases[link]

The film was first released to DVD in 1998. There have been subsequent releases in 2003, 2008, and 2012.

The film's international ancillary distribution rights are owned by ABC (currently part of The Walt Disney Company), while Warner Bros. (which inherited the film from Lorimar, Allied Artists' successor-in-interest) has domestic distribution rights. Today, Warner shares the film's copyright with production partner ABC.

Fremantle Media (owners of UK DVD rights under license from ABC/Disney) planned a Blu-ray release of the film in 2008 or 2009, but have since announced they no longer plan to do so.

In April 2012, Warner had a 40th Anniversary screening of the new restoration of the film. It was revealed that film had been available on standard-definition DVD from Warner Bros. But it was unavailable in high-def or for digital presentation because of a vertical scratch that ran through 1,000 feet, or 10 minutes, of one of its reels, said Ned Price, vice president of mastering and restoration for Warner Bros. The damage apparently was caused by a piece of dirt that had rolled through the length of the reel, starting with a scene in which York's character has a confrontation with a pro-Nazi boarding house resident, and cut into the emulsion. With the damaged images digitally "painted out" using bits from surrounding areas, "the difficult part was matching the grain structure so the fix was invisible,". Repair attempts using automated digital processing failed, so all 14 thousand frames of the damaged reel were painted by an operator using a computer stylus. The restored version is expected to play on TCM later this year..^[3]

Critical response[link]

The film was nominated for ten Academy Awards in 1973, winning a total of eight:^[4]

• Best Director (Bob Fosse)
• Best Actress in a Leading Role (Liza Minnelli)
• Best Actor in a Supporting Role (Joel Grey)
• Best Cinematography (Geoffrey Unsworth)
• Best Film Editing (David Bretherton)
• Best Original Song Score or Adaptation Score (Ralph Burns)
• Best Art Direction (Rolf Zehetbauer, Hans Jürgen Kiebach, Herbert Strabel)
• Best Sound (Robert Knudson, David Hildyard)

It was also nominated for the Academy Award for Best Picture and the Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay, losing both to The Godfather. Cabaret holds the record for most Academy Awards won by a film which did not win the Best Picture award.^[5]

The film also won seven BAFTA Awards including Best Film, Best Direction and Best Actress as well as the Golden Globe Award for Best Motion Picture (Musical/Comedy).

In 1995, Cabaret was selected by the Library of Congress for preservation in the United States National Film Registry as being deemed "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant". In 2006, Cabaret ranked #5 on the American Film Institute's list of best musicals; the song "Cabaret" was ranked #18 on their 100 Years...100 Songs list in 2004. In 2007, this film ranked #63 on AFI's 10th anniversary list of the 100 Greatest American Movies.

The film currently holds a 97% "Fresh" rating on Rotten Tomatoes, with the consensus "Great performances and evocative musical numbers help Cabaret secure its status as a stylish, socially conscious classic".^[6]

The making of Cabaret is recounted in Cabaret (Music on Film) by Stephen Tropiano (Limelight Books, 2011).

See also[link]

Dance portal

• List of American films of 1972

References[link]

External links[link]

• Cabaret at the Internet Movie Database
• Cabaret at Rotten Tomatoes
• Cabaret at Metacritic

Liza Minnelli
Liza Minnelli, circa 1971
Born	Liza May Minnelli (1946-03-12) March 12, 1946 (age 66) Hollywood, California, United States
Occupation	Actress, singer, dancer & choreographer
Years active	1949–present
Religion	Roman Catholic[1]
Spouse	Peter Allen (m. 1967–1974; divorced) Jack Haley, Jr. (m. 1974–1979; divorced) Mark Gero (m. 1979–1992; divorced) David Gest (m. 2002–2007; divorced)
Parents	Vincente Minnelli Judy Garland

Liza May Minnelli (born March 12, 1946) is an American actress and singer. She is the daughter of singer and actress Judy Garland and film director Vincente Minnelli.

Already established as a nightclub singer and musical theatre actress, she first attracted critical acclaim for her dramatic performances in the movies The Sterile Cuckoo (1969), and Tell Me That You Love Me, Junie Moon (1970); Minnelli then rose to international stardom for her appearance as Sally Bowles in the 1972 film version of the Broadway musical Cabaret, for which she won the Academy Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role. She later made a great star turn in Arthur (1981), co-starring with Dudley Moore (in the title role) and Sir John Gielgud, who won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor as Arthur's snobbish but loveable butler.

While film projects such as Lucky Lady, A Matter of Time and New York, New York were less favorably received than her stage roles, Minnelli became one of the most versatile, highly regarded and best-selling entertainers in television, beginning with Liza with a Z in 1972, and on stage in the Broadway productions of Flora the Red Menace, The Act and The Rink. Minnelli also toured internationally and did shows such as Liza Minnelli: At Carnegie Hall, Frank, Liza & Sammy: The Ultimate Event, and Liza Live from Radio City Music Hall.

She starred in Liza's Back in 2002. She had guest appearances in the sitcom Arrested Development and had a small role in the movie The OH in Ohio, while continuing to tour internationally. In 2008/2009, she performed the Broadway show Liza's at The Palace...! which earned a Tony Award for Best Special Theatrical Event.^[2]

Minnelli has won a total of four Tony Awards awards, including a Special Tony Award.^[3] She has also won an Oscar, an Emmy Award, two Golden Globes and a Grammy Legend Award for her contributions and influence in the recording field, along with many other honors and awards. She is among the few entertainers who have won an Oscar, Emmy, Grammy, and Tony Award.

Early life[link]

Minnelli was born in Hollywood, California, to Vincente Minnelli and Judy Garland.^[4] She attended New York City's Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School of Music & Art and Performing Arts and Chadwick School.^[5] Her first performing experience on film was at age three where she appeared in the final scene of the 1949 musical In the Good Old Summertime. The film starred Garland and Van Johnson.

Minnelli's half-sister and brother from Garland's marriage to Sid Luft are Lorna and Joey Luft. She also has another half-sister, Christiane Nina Minnelli (nicknamed Tina Nina), from her father's second marriage.^[6] Minnelli's godparents were Kay Thompson and Ira Gershwin.

Career[link]

Theatre[link]

During the summer of 1961, Minnelli was an apprentice at the Cape Cod Melody Tent, Hyannis, MA. She appeared in the chorus of Flower Drum Song and played the part of Muriel in Take Me Along. Minnelli began performing professionally at age 17, in 1963, in an Off-Broadway revival of the musical Best Foot Forward, for which she received the Theatre World Award. The next year, her mother invited Minnelli to perform with her at the London Palladium. She turned to Broadway at 19, and in 1965 she became the youngest woman ever to win a leading actress Tony Award for Flora the Red Menace. It was the first time she worked with the musical duo John Kander and Fred Ebb.

Music[link]

Minnelli began as a nightclub singer as an adolescent, making her professional nightclub debut at the age of 19 at the Shoreham Hotel in Washington, D.C.. She later appeared in other clubs and on stage in Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Chicago, Miami and New York City. Her success as a live performer led to her recording several albums at Capitol Records: Liza! Liza! (1964), It Amazes Me (1965) and There Is a Time (1966). In her early years, she recorded traditional pop standards as well as show tunes from various musicals that she starred in. Because of this fact, William Ruhlmann named her “Barbra Streisand's little sister”.^[7] The Capitol albums Liza! Liza!, It Amazes Me, and There Is A Time were reissued on the two-CD compilation The Capitol Years in 2001, in their entirety.

Liza Minnelli on Sunset Boulevard 1988.

From 1968 up to the 1970s, she also recorded more contemporary material according to classic pop songs with her albums Liza Minnelli (1968), Come Saturday Morning and New Feelin' (both 1970) from A&M Records. She released The Singer (1973) and Tropical Nights (1977) from Columbia Records.

In 1989 Minnelli collaborated with Pet Shop Boys on Results, an electronic dance-style album. The release hit the top 10 in the UK and also charted in the US, spawning four singles: Losing My Mind; Don't Drop Bombs; So Sorry, I Said; and Love Pains. Initially released on VHS titled Visible Results, the clips were later issued on a bonus DVD included in the 2005 remastered and expanded edition of the album. Later that year she performed Losing My Mind live at the Grammys ceremony before receiving a Grammy Legend Award (the first Grammy Legend Awards were issued in 1990 to Liza Minnelli, Andrew Lloyd Webber, Smokey Robinson and Willie Nelson). With this award, she became one of only 12 other entertainers – in a list that includes Whoopi Goldberg, Barbra Streisand and Mel Brooks among others – to win an Emmy, Grammy, Tony Award and Academy Award.^[8]

In April 1992 Minnelli performed We Are The Champions with the surviving members of the rock band Queen at The Freddie Mercury Tribute Concert.

In 1996, Minnelli released a new studio album titled Gently. It was a recording of jazz standards and also included some contemporary songs such as the cover of Does He Love You which she performed as a duet with Donna Summer. This album brought her a Grammy nomination for Best Traditional Pop Vocal Performance. Minnelli was nominated in 2009 for Best Traditional Pop Vocal Album for her studio recording Liza's at the Palace...!, based on her hit Broadway show.

In May 2010, Playbill.com reported Minnelli would be releasing an album on the Decca Records label entitled Confessions, which was released on September 21, 2010.^[9]

In 2006, Minnelli appeared on My Chemical Romance's album The Black Parade, providing backing vocals and singing a solo part with Gerard Way on the track "Mama".

Film[link]

Her first appearance on film is as the baby in the very last shot of her mother's film, In the Good Old Summertime (1949). Her first credited film role was as the love-interest in Albert Finney's only film as director and star, Charlie Bubbles (1967).

In 1969 she appeared in Alan J. Pakula's first feature film, The Sterile Cuckoo (1969), as “Pookie Adams”, a needy, eccentric teenager. Her performance won her her first Academy Award nomination. She played another eccentric character the following year in Tell Me That You Love Me, Junie Moon, directed by Otto Preminger.

Liza Minnelli in her 1972 concert special Liza with a 'Z'.

In 1972, Minnelli appeared in perhaps her best-known film role, as Sally Bowles in the movie version of Cabaret. She said that one of the things she did to prepare was to study photographs of classic actresses Louise Glaum and Louise Brooks and the dark-haired ladies of that time.^[10] Minnelli won the Academy Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role for her performance, along with a Golden Globe Award. This made her the only Oscar-winning child of Oscar-winning parents.

Following the success of Cabaret, Bob Fosse and Minnelli teamed up for Liza with a ‘Z’. A Concert for Television, a made-for-television special. The program aired two times on TV and was not seen again until a DVD release in 2006.

Minnelli worked with her father in the 1976 A Matter of Time, costarring Ingrid Bergman. After severe editing and cutting, done by the studio, with no input from Vincente, the film was neither a commercial nor a critical success^{[citation needed]} .

Her appearance opposite Robert De Niro in the 1977 musical drama film, New York, New York however, gave Minnelli her best known signature song. Frank Sinatra released a successful cover version (for his Trilogy: Past Present Future album) two years later and used it as his signature song as well, sometimes even duetting with Minnelli live on stage.

After her performance as leading woman to Dudley Moore in 1981's hit film Arthur, Minnelli made fewer film appearances although she returned to the big screen in 1988 for Arthur 2: On the Rocks and in 1991 for Stepping Out, a musical dramedy.

Most recently she made an appearance in the movie Sex and the City 2 (2010) as herself.

Television[link]

During the early days of television in the 1950s Minnelli appeared as a child guest on Art Linkletter's show and in 1959 sang and danced with Gene Kelly on his first television special. She was a guest star in one episode of the popular Ben Casey television series starring Vince Edwards and was a frequent guest on chat shows of the day including numerous appearances on shows hosted by Jack Paar, Merv Griffin, Mike Douglas, Joe Franklin, Dinah Shore and Johnny Carson. During the 1960s she made several guest appearances on Rowan & Martin's Laugh In as well as other variety shows including The Ed Sullivan Show, The Hollywood Palace, as well as The Judy Garland Show. In 1964 she appeared as Minnie in her first television dramatic role in the episode "Nightingale for Sale" on Craig Stevens's short-lived CBS series, Mr. Broadway.

Recently, Minnelli has made guest appearances on such shows as Arrested Development, Law & Order: Criminal Intent and Drop Dead Diva. In the UK she has appeared on the Ruby Wax, Graham Norton and Jonathan Ross shows and in October 2006 participated in a comedy skit on the Charlotte Church Show and was featured on the Michael Parkinson Show. Set to be a guest judge on Australian Idol 2009 on the October 18, 2009. She appeared on The Joy Behar Show of September 1, 2010.

In November 2009, American Public Television aired "Liza's at the Palace", taped from September 30 – October 1, 2009 in Las Vegas at the MGM Grand's Hollywood Theatre.^[11] The executive producers of the taping, Craig Zadan and Neil Meron, previously were involved with the 2005 rerelease of 1972's Emmy and Peabody Award winning "Liza with a 'Z'".^[12]

She is currently scheduled to appear in the hit show Hot in Cleveland.

Later career[link]

Performing Liza's Back live in 2002.

She returned to Broadway in 1997, taking over the title role in the musical Victor/Victoria, replacing Julie Andrews. In his review, New York Times critic Ben Brantley commented, “her every stage appearance is perceived as a victory of show-business stamina over psychic frailty. She asks for love so nakedly and earnestly, it seems downright vicious not to respond.”

After a serious case of viral encephalitis in 2000, doctors predicted that she would spend the rest of her life in a wheelchair and would perhaps not even be able to speak again. However, she refused to accept this and with the help of vocal and dance lessons (most notably Sam Harris, Angela Bacari), which she still takes daily, managed to recover and returned to the stage in 2001 when asked by long time friend Michael Jackson to perform at Madison Square Garden in New York City where she sang "Never Never Land" and the televised "You Are Not Alone" at the Michael Jackson: 30th Anniversary Special concert produced by soon to be husband David Gest. Gest was so impressed with her stamina and ability to stun audiences that he produced her in Liza's Back in spring 2002 performing to rave reviews in London and New York City. (Most noted in that tour was a tribute to her mother. After years of declining fans' pleas for her to sing Garland's signature song, "Over The Rainbow", she concluded Act 1 with the final refrain of her mother's famous anthem, to an instant ovation.) Among performing her classic hits, other numbers unreleased in the album version included "I Believe You" by The Carpenters, a rap version of "Liza With A 'Z'", "Yes", and Mary J. Blige's "Family Affair".

In 2004 and 2005 she appeared as a recurring character on the critically acclaimed, Emmy Award-winning TV sitcom Arrested Development as “Lucille Austero”, the lover of both the sexually and socially awkward “Buster Bluth” and Buster's brother “GOB”.

Liza Minnelli at the 2005 Toronto Film Festival premiere of Elizabethtown, photo by Tony Shek.

In September 2006, she made a guest appearance on the long-running NBC drama Law & Order: Criminal Intent, in Masquerade, a Halloween-themed episode, broadcast on Tuesday, October 31, 2006.^[13] She also completed guest vocals on My Chemical Romance's 2006 concept album The Black Parade, portraying “Mother War”, a dark conception of the main character's mother, in the song Mama.

For years, Minnelli had wanted to record a collection of songs that her godmother Kay Thompson had performed in her nightclub act.^{[citation needed]} In 2007, she added some of Thompson's songs to her latest tour to introduce them to audiences.

Minnelli returned to Broadway in a new solo concert at the Palace Theatre called Liza's at The Palace...! which ran from December 3, 2008, through January 4, 2009.^[14][15] In her second act she performed a series of numbers created by Kay Thompson.^[16] The reviews noted that while her voice was ragged at times, and her movements no longer elastic, the old magic was still very much present—from first to last, Minnelli had audiences cheering and applauding and begging for more. The show was subsequently staged at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas on September 30 and October 1, 2009, at which time it was filmed for broadcast on public television and a February 2010 DVD and Blu-ray release.

On January 10, 2009, Minnelli made a rare live TV appearance in a surprise cameo on NBC's Saturday Night Live, playing the best friend of “Penelope” (Kristin Wiig). On January 26, 2009, she made an appearance on The View, singing "I Would Never Leave You" (written by Johnny Rodgers, Billy Stritch, and Brian Lane Green) from her new CD Liza's at The Palace...!. She was also interviewed by the cast of The View.

She was a character in the Australian musical The Boy from Oz starring Hugh Jackman. In the show's Broadway production, she was portrayed by Stephanie J. Block.

In October 2009, Minnelli toured Australia, and appeared on Australian Idol as a mentor and guest judge.

In February 2010, Minnelli appeared in a Snickers commercial along with Aretha Franklin and Betty White.

Minnelli made a cameo appearance in the May 2010 release of Sex and the City 2.

She also made a starring appearance in December 2010 in NBC's The Apprentice.

Personal life[link]

Marriages[link]

Minnelli has been married (and divorced) four times. Her first marriage was to Peter Allen (full name Peter Allen Woolnough) on March 3, 1967.^[17] Australian-born Allen was Judy Garland's protégé in the mid-1960s.^[18] They divorced on July 24, 1974.^[19]

Later that year, she married Jack Haley, Jr., a producer and director, on September 15, 1974.^[20] His father, Jack Haley, was Garland's costar in The Wizard of Oz. They divorced in April 1979.^[21]

Minnelli was married to Mark Gero, a sculptor and stage manager, from December 4, 1979 until their divorce in January 1992.^[22]

She was married to David Gest, a concert promoter, from March 16, 2002, until they divorced in April 2007. (They separated in July 2003.)^[23][24]

Minnelli also had a relationship with Desi Arnaz Jr., the son of Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz.^[25][26]

Minnelli has no children; one pregnancy left her with a hiatal hernia as a result of the medical steps taken to try to save the baby.^[6]

Philanthropy[link]

Minnelli has, throughout her lifetime, served various charities and causes which she considers very important. She served on the board of directors of The Institutes for The Achievement of Human Potential (IAHP) for 20 years, a nonprofit educational organization that introduces parents to the field of child brain development. She has also dedicated much time to amfAR, The Foundation for AIDS Research. In 2007, she stated in an interview with Palm Springs Life magazine, “AmfAR is important to me because I’ve lost so many friends that I knew [to AIDS]”.^[27] In 1994, she recorded the Kander & Ebb tune "The Day After That" and donated the proceeds to AIDS research. That same year she performed the song in front of thousands in Central Park at the 25th anniversary of the Stonewall riots.

Filmography[link]

Television movies[link]

• The Dangerous Christmas of Red Riding Hood (1965)
• The Princess and the Pea (1984, episode of the television anthology Faerie Tale Theatre)
• A Time to Live (1985)
• Sam Found Out: A Triple Play (1988)
• Parallel Lives (1994)
• The West Side Waltz (1995)
• Arrested Development (2003–2005)

Specials[link]

• Judy and Liza at the Palladium (1964, with Judy Garland)
• Liza (1970)
• Liza with a ‘Z’. A Concert for Television (1972)
• Love from A to Z (1974, with Charles Aznavour)
• Goldie and Liza Together (1980, with Goldie Hawn)
• An Evening with Liza Minnelli (1980)
• Liza in London (1986)
• Minnelli on Minnelli: Liza Remembers Vincente (1987, documentary)
• Frank, Liza & Sammy: The Ultimate Event (1989, with Frank Sinatra and Sammy Davis, Jr.)
• Liza Live from Radio City Music Hall (1992)
• Liza & Friends: A Tribute to Sammy Davis, Jr. (1993, with Charles Aznavour, Tom Jones, Jerry Lewis, and Cliff Richard)

Discography[link]

Stage productions[link]

Liza Minnelli, in 1993, visiting the tomb of Eva Perón. In the early 1980s, Minnelli was in the running for the role of Evita.

• Wish You Were Here (1961) (Hyannis, Massachusetts)
• Take Me Along (1961) (Hyannis, Massachusetts)
• Flower Drum Song (1961) (Hyannis, Massachusetts)
• The Diary of Anne Frank (1961–1962) (Tour)
• Best Foot Forward (1963) (Off-Broadway)
• Carnival! (1964) (Paper Mill Playhouse)
• Time Out For Ginger (1964) (Bucks County Playhouse)
• The Fantasticks (1964) (Tour)
• Flora the Red Menace (1965) (Broadway)
• The Pajama Game (1966) (Tour)
• Liza (1974) (one woman show, Broadway)
• Chicago (1975) (replacement for Gwen Verdon from Aug–Sep. 1975, Broadway)
• The Act (1977–1978) (Broadway)
• Are You Now or Have You Ever Been? (1978) (guest appearance, Off-Broadway)
• The Owl and the Pussycat (1978–1979) (Martha Graham Ballet/London and Lincoln Center/New York City)
• By Myself (1983) (one woman show, Los Angeles and London)
• The Rink (1984) (Broadway)
• Love Letters (1994) (Coconut Grove Playhouse, Miami)
• Victor/Victoria (1997) (vacation replacement for Julie Andrews, Broadway)
• Minnelli on Minnelli (1999–2000) (concert show, Broadway, Palace Theater)
• Liza's Back! (2002) (concert show, New York and London)
• Liza's at the Palace...! (2008–2009) (concert show, Broadway, Palace Theater)

Awards and honors[link]

Film awards[link]

Academy Awards^[28]

• 1970 nominated: Best Actress in a Leading Role(The Sterile Cuckoo)
• 1973 won: Best Actress in a Leading Role (Cabaret)

Minnelli has the distinction of being the only Academy Award winner whose parents were both Academy Award winners (her father won as Best Director for Gigi and her mother received an honorary Oscar for The Wizard of Oz).

British Academy of Film and Television Arts^[29]

• 1971 nominated: Film Most Promising Newcomer to Leading Film Roles (The Sterile Cuckoo)
• 1973 won: Best Actress (Cabaret)

Golden Globe Awards^[30]

• 1970 nominated: Best Actress in a Motion Picture – Drama (The Sterile Cuckoo)
• 1973 won: Best Actress in a Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy (Cabaret)
• 1976 nominated: Best Actress in a Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy (Lucky Lady)
• 1978 nominated: Best Actress in a Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy (New York, New York)
• 1982 nominated: Best Actress in a Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy (Arthur)

Television awards[link]

Emmy Awards^[31]

• 1973 won: Outstanding Single Program – Variety and Popular Music (Liza with a 'Z'. A Concert for Television)
• 1973 nominated: Outstanding Achievement by a Supporting Performer in a Variety Show or a Special (A Royal Gala Variety Performance)
• 1980 nominated: Outstanding Variety or Music Program (Goldie and Liza Together)
• 1987 nominated: Outstanding Informational Special (Minnelli on Minnelli: Liza Remembers Vincente)
• 1993 nominated: Outstanding Individual Performance in a Variety or Music Program (Liza Live from Radio City Music Hall)

Golden Globe Awards^[32]

• 1986 won: Best Actress in a Mini-Series or Motion Picture Made for Television (A Time to Live)

Recording awards[link]

Grammy Awards

• 1997 nominated: Best Traditional Pop Vocal Performance (Gently)
• 2010 nominated: Best Traditional Pop Vocal Album (Liza's at The Palace...!)

Grammy Hall of Fame Award

• 2008 inducted (Cabaret. Original Soundtrack Recording)

Grammy Living Legend Award

• 1990 won: Grammy Living Legend Award for Contributions and Influence in the Recording Field^[33]

Stage awards[link]

Drama Desk Awards

• 1984 nominated: Outstanding Actress in a Musical (The Rink)
• 2009 won: Drama Desk Special Award for “her role as a beloved American musical theater icon, for her enduring career of sustained excellence, and her glorious performance in Liza's at The Palace...!”^[34]

Independent Theatre Reviewers Association

• 2009 won: Best Female Theatrical Performance (Liza's at The Palace...!)

Theatre World Award

• 1963 won: Outstanding Off-Broadway Debut (Best Foot Forward)

Tony Awards^[35]

• 1965 won: Best Leading Actress in a Musical (Flora the Red Menace)
• 1974 won: Special Tony Award for “adding lustre to the Broadway season”
• 1978 won: Best Leading Actress in a Musical (The Act)
• 1984 nominated: Best Leading Actress in a Musical (The Rink)

The show Liza's at The Palace...! itself won the Tony Award for Best Special Theatrical Event in 2009.^[36]

Miscellaneous Honors[link]

Hasty Pudding Theatricals^[37]

• 1973: Hasty Pudding Woman of the Year

Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation^[38]

• 2005: Vanguard Award, for “her contributions to increased visibility and understanding of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) community”

Mercy College (New York)^[39]

• 2007: Honorary Doctorate, “for her charitable activities and a career that has spanned five decades and multiple genres”^[40]

Parents, Families and Friends of Lesbians and Gays^[41]

• 2010: Straight for Equality in Entertainment Award, for “her lifelong support of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people.”

Other appearances[link]

Minnelli appears in the song "Mama" on the My Chemical Romance album The Black Parade. She added her vocals to the song from a separate studio while members of the band listened via satellite.

See also[link]

• List of persons who have won Academy, Emmy, Grammy, and Tony Awards

References[link]

Further reading[link]

• Leigh, Wendy (1993), Liza: Born a Star. E. P. Dutton
• Mair, George (1996), Under the Rainbow: The Real Liza Minnelli. Carol Publishing
• Schechter, Scott (2004), The Liza Minnelli Scrapbook. Kensington Books/Citadel Press * See Free Preview at Amazon.com
• Spada, James (1983), Judy and Liza. Doubleday

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Liza Minnelli

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Liza Minnelli

• Liza Minnelli at the Internet Movie Database
• Liza Minnelli at the Internet Broadway Database
• Liza Minnelli at the Internet Off-Broadway Database
• Liza Minnelli at AllRovi
• Official Minnelli Site
• Liza Minnelli at Yahoo! Movies
• Liza Minnelli at TVGuide.com