Showtime broadcast the restored film on April 1, 2006. The re-mastered film was accepted into both the Toronto International Film Festival and the Hamptons Film Festival and premiered September 9, 2005, at the Elgin and Winter Garden Theatres in Toronto. They introduced her to Robert Greenblatt, President of Entertainment for Showtime, who agreed to finance the restoration, broadcast the film, and release the DVD. In 2005, Minnelli revealed to Craig Zadan and Neil Meron, producers and friends of hers, that she owned the rights to the film and that she had been restoring it with Arick. Michael Arick and Minnelli eventually tracked down the original negatives in 1999 in Los Angeles and New York. In the 1980s, the original negatives were lost and feared destroyed. Musical numbers Īfter the initial broadcasts in 19, the negatives were stored in the vaults of NBC, only occasionally being brought out for Minnelli's own personal use. The film was not seen for over thirty years and was thought lost until 1999, when Michael Arick discovered that Minnelli owned the copyright and the two set about restoring the negatives. Kay Gardella of the New York Daily News reviewed the film as being "sensational with an S." After the initial broadcast, NBC re-ran the concert only twice more and did not screen it again after 1973. įirst broadcast by NBC on September 10, 1972, it went on to win four Emmys and a Peabody Award. Marvin Hamlisch was selected by Kander and Ebb to be music coordinator. Costumes were designed by Halston, who was also a friend of Minnelli's. Minnelli is often accompanied on stage by dancers, backup singers, and musicians. Throughout the concert Minnelli sings and dances to a variety of popular songs, highlights from Cabaret, and material specifically written for her by Kander and Ebb-most notably the title song. įilmed on May 31 at the Lyceum Theatre in New York, after only eight weeks of rehearsals, the concert was shot with eight 16mm film cameras at the insistence of Fosse, in contrast to other television specials of the time which were all shot on videotape. Singer sponsored the production, even though producers did their best to prevent the sponsors from seeing rehearsals, fearing they would back out due to Minnelli's short skirts. According to Minnelli, Liza with a "Z" was "the first filmed concert on television". All four had recently completed the successful film adaptation of Cabaret. Fosse also directed and choreographed the concert, and Ebb wrote and arranged the music with his song-writing partner John Kander. The restoration of the original materials looks about as good as can be expected, with the spirit of a glitzy seventies TV variety special quite intact.Liza with a "Z" is a 1972 concert film made for television, starring Liza Minnelli, produced by Fred Ebb and Bob Fosse. Minnelli and Fosse won Emmys for the show. No quarreling with the Cabaret medley say want you want about Liza, she owns those songs. Speaking of which, Minnelli tackling Joe Tex's "I Gotcha" is one of those jaw-dropping mismatches that she salvages only through dint of daft commitment. The bell-and-booty shaking in "Ring Them Bells" and the loony tuxedo-clad cowpokes in "I Gotcha" hint that Fosse was in the midst of a manic phase. "Bye Bye Blackbird" gives Minnelli and her backup dancers a chance to stretch out in an echt-Fosse feast of bowler hats and white gloves. Memories of the all-or-nothing style of her mother, Judy Garland, are already heavy in the air by the time Minnelli reaches "My Mammy," and workouts on "God Bless the Child" and "Son of a Preacher Man" confirm the singer's approach.Īs for Fosse's choreography, there are signature moves aplenty-his dancing so frequently suggested a choreographer lusting for actual sex to break out on stage. Liza treats each song as an emotional Mount Everest, never holding back a thing, and the result is a psychodrama played out in the klieg lights. Songs by Cabaret composers John Kander and Fred Ebb provide a spine for the show, including a breathless rendition of "Ring Them Bells" and the tongue-twisting "Say Liza (Liza with a 'Z')," a goofball number that sounds more like one of Danny Kaye's patter songs than a tune for Liza Minnelli. Liza with a "Z" places the still-coltish Minnelli on the stage of the Lyceum Theater, in a one-night-only performance covered by Fosse's eight cameras. Minnelli and director-choreographer Bob Fosse were at the top of their popularity in 1972, having just made Cabaret, the blockbuster musical for which both won Oscars. Liza with a "Z", a splashy TV special from 1972.Īnd wow, is it ever a product of its era. Remastered and for the first time released as a 2LP set. The Holy Grail for Liza Minnelli fans finally resurfaces on vinyl after 40-some years. Description A soundtrack from a concert for television.
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