Liza Minnelli - From Red Menace to Cabaret Star
by Claire J Rottenberg
Liza
Minnelli was
born into a show business family, inheriting her
mother Judy Garland's musical talent. Her father,
Vincente Minnelli, directed many movie musicals,
including the Academy Award winning
"Gigi."
Despite her parents' successful film careers,
Liza's own career was launched on New York theater
stages.
Minnelli's first role was in the off-Broadway musical
"Best Foot Forward" in 1963, when she was only 17.
Her performance was well-received and she won the
Theatre World Award. Minnelli's next play came two
years later on Broadway. Her performance in Kander
and Ebb's "Flora
the Red Menace" created a sensation and earned her
critical acclaim, a Tony award and fame.
Minnelli followed her success in "Flora the Red
Menace" with an equally successful film career,
beginning in 1967 with the non-musical "Charlie
Bubbles." Her next two films, "The Sterile Cuckoo"
and "Tell Me that You Love Me, Junie Moon," were also
dramatic stories that did not give Minnelli a chance
to showcase her musical talents. However, her acting
talents were acknowledged with an Academy Award
nomination for "The Sterile Cuckoo."
Minnelli's greatest film success came in 1972 with
the movie version of the Kander and Ebb musical
"Cabaret."
Her performance as cabaret performer Sally Bowles
earned Minnelli an Academy Award.
Minnelli's other films never reached the success of
"Cabaret." Her only other movie musical was another
Kander and Ebb work, "New York,
New York,"
in 1977. After a series of failed films, Minnelli
went on to a successful concert career, including
shows in Las Vegas. She also worked on television
and recorded albums. Her efforts in these
endeavors were rewarded with an Emmy award in 1972
for her concert special "Liza with a 'Z'" and a
Grammy Legend award in 1989.
In the mid-1970s, Minnelli returned to Broadway and
once again found success where her career started.
Since 1974, she has appeared on Broadway in four
plays, twice replacing the original performer (Gwen
Verdon in "Chicago" in 1975 and Julie Andrews in
"Victor/Victoria" in 1997) and in three concert
shows. These returns to her roots resulted in two
more Tony awards for Minnelli - a special award in
1974 for her one woman show, "Liza," and in 1977 for
her performance in the musical, "The Act."