LIZA MINNELLI
THE CABARET ICON HINTS AT A RETURN TO THE SPOTLIGHT
Music mastermind Michael Feinstein on the Cabaret star’s comeback and their plans to collaborate on a new show together.
Start spreading the news: Liza Minnelli is preparing for a comeback! “She’s talked about putting a show together that she’d like to do with me,” her good friend Michael Feinstein told Closer at the Pasadena POPS presents Michael Feinstein Sings and Swings in Los Angeles. “Every time we meet, we discuss songs and come up with opening numbers. We’ll see!”
Until then, Michael says of the 71-year-old star, “She’s happy living a life of leisure.” Having moved to LA in 2015, “She’s never been happier or more content,” he adds. Liza treasures her downtime, but she still takes dance classes twice a week and helps support Michael’s Great American Songbook Foundation. “She’s always working on music and organizing boxes of things she’s collected through the years,” he says.
Liza has earned her rest. She got her start at age 3 in the MGM musical In the Good Old Summertime, toured with Frank Sinatra and has won Emmy, Grammy, Oscar and Tony awards. And when she is prepping for a show, Liza gives it her all. “Each song is a movie to me,” she says. “I write down a description of where the character came from, and what happened to her to get her to this moment.”
The star has battled addiction and survived four divorces to reach this point where she embraces every moment. And she credits her mother, Judy Garland, with teaching her the perseverance — and joy — she needed to survive. “She speaks most about her mom’s sense of humor,” says Michael, 60, “and the fact that she laughed herself through life despite people thinking of Judy as tragic.”
Liza, he adds, is showing no signs of slowing down: “She has a curiosity for life, and I think that’s what keeps her going.” As Liza herself says, “Life is grand!” In fact, it’s a cabaret.
— Lisa Chambers, with reporting by Lanae Brody
“The advice I’d give is, ‘To thine own self be true.’ ” — Liza