Liza's at the Palace...
| Liza's at the Palace.... | |
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Original poster
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| Productions |
Broadway December 3, 2008 - January 4, 2009 |
| Liza's at the Palace....Original Cast Recording | ||||
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| Cast recording by Liza Minnelli, | ||||
| Released | February 3, 2009 | |||
| Genre |
Traditional pop music Jazz Show tunes |
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| Label | Hybrid Recordings | |||
| Producer | John Scher | |||
| Liza Minnelli, chronology | ||||
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| Review scores | |
| Source | Rating |
| Allmusic |   |
Liza's at the Palace.... was a concert presented by Liza Minnelli at the Palace Theatre on Broadway from December 3, 2008 through January 4, 2009. It was produced by John Scher and Metropolitan Talent Presents.
It was directed and choreographed by Ron Lewis, with vocal arrangements by Kay Thompson and Billy Stritch. Minnelli performed with four dancer-singers: Cortes Alexander, Jim Caruso, Tiger Martina, and Johnny Rodgers. The concert contained songs written by Kander and Ebb, among others.
The first act included a revised version of a vaudeville tribute her mother once performed at the Palace. The second act included a "re-creation of [Kay] Thompson's celebrated nightclub act with the four Williams brothers".
Stephen Holden of The New York Times said, "From the moment Ms. Minnelli joins forces with a male singing and dancing quartet to resurrect parts of a famous nightclub act Thompson created in the late 1940s and early ’50s with the Williams Brothers, the Palace Theater blasts off into orbit. There it remains, deliriously spinning until the end of a 2-hour-20-minute show (with intermission) that leaves the star in a state of breathless exaltation. The end of the opening-night show on Wednesday found Ms. Minnelli panting, drenched in sweat, her hair matted, as if she had just finished running the New York marathon, which in a sense she had... I would love to report that Ms. Minnelli’s voice and physical agility have been magically restored to their former glory, but those days seem to be gone. On Wednesday night her voice was in tatters, her diction unsteady. When she belted, her wide vibrato wobbled to the breaking point. Most of her s’s were slurred sh’s. Frequently short of breath, she swallowed phrases. Many of her highest notes were dry, piercing caws. But there were still occasional moments of beautifully focused dramatic singing... As for movement, there were no kicks or even half-kicks, although Ms. Minnelli can still strut stealthily and sprawl across a director’s chair in sensual abandon... Once the show began to soar, though, Ms. Minnelli’s force of will became a triumph of spirit over flesh. As she insisted on doing what she can no longer do, her audacity was inspiring: her message was you do the best you can, and if you have to, fake it. She trusted the listener’s imagination to fill in the blanks."
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