Liza To Return to London Paladium

Britain's Pride Life reports:

Last summer, Liza Minnelli was forced to cancel her only scheduled UK appearance on the advice of doctors, leaving many of her British fans fearing that they may never get to see this living, breathing, all-singing, all-dancing icon in the flesh. Imagine the excitement, then, upon hearing that Minnelli, now 70, plans to return to these shores later this year, for a series of “intimate” performances, beginning at her London “home”, the London Palladium, on 20 September. Fittingly it was at this same theatre that a then 18-year-old Minnelli appeared alongside her mother, Judy Garland, in a now legendary concert, in 1964. An Intimate Evening With Liza Minnelli will adopt the format of “An Audience With…” Minnelli will discuss her life onstage, invite questions from the audience, and sing the songs that have made her an undisputed star. The evening will culminate with Minnelli’s induction into the Palladium’s Hall of Fame.

Click over to Pride Life for Liza's thoughts on her gay fans and her favorite song. Follow Pride Life on Facebook for breaking LGBT news out of the UK.

VIDEO: Below is that famed concert in full.

Liza With A Tree

Broadway Cares / Equity Fights AIDS has issued this year's fundraising holiday ornament.

The zeventh ornament in our Broadway Legends ornament series—yes, that’s seventh with a “z”—is the beloved Broadway superstar Liza Minnelli! Draped in a sexy red sequined outfit, our Liza conjures up her signature 1970s Halston look when she won her second Tony Award® for The Act. With the “City Lights” of New York as her back-drop and her hand placed confidently on her hip, our glittery Liza will be the star of your holiday season. The 6” tall glass ornament was designed exclusively for BC/EFA by artist Glen Hanson with the Christopher Radko Company.

Ms. Minnelli reacts: "I'm simply delighted and so honored to be immortalized with such a wonderfully crafted ornament. I'm especially proud to help support Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS, an organization that has been very dear to my heart for more than two decades." Still available are the Julie Andrews and Gwen Verdon ornaments from previous years.

BROOKLYN: Liza And Rosie Join Cyndi Lauper For Girls Just Wanna Have Fun

During last night's concert at Brooklyn's Barclays Center, Cyndi Lauper prefaced a song from Kinky Boots by mentioning that she has now won a Grammy, an Emmy, and a Tony, a status known as GET. Lauper noted that the night's headliner, Cher, has EGO status as she's won an Emmy, a Grammy, and an Oscar.  Following the Kinky Boots number, Lauper brought Rosie O'Donnell up out of the audience and Rosie pointed out that she was seated with a full EGOT winner, Liza Minnelli, who then joined the the pair onstage for an obviously unrehearsed take on Girls Just Wanna Have Fun.

RELATED: Lauper is one of twenty artists with GET status. Eighteen artists have EGO status. Twelve artists have full EGOT status and Liza is not on that list because her 1990 Grammy Living Legend award is honorary. Barbra Streisand and James Earl Jones are also asterisk EGOT holders for the same reason. Rosie O'Donnell has 11 Daytime Emmys for her talk show and an Emmy for her performance as the host of the 1999 Tony Awards. Next month Rosie will receive an honorary Tony Award for her philanthropic work on Broadway.

Tired Old Queen at the Movies #123

Clip recap:

Liza Minnelli and Joel Grey give iconic, Oscar winning performances in Bob Fosse's brilliant CABARET (1972). The plot deals with a tragic affair between a would-be novelist and a cabaret chanteuse, set against the decadence of pre-Nazi Berlin in the early 1930's. Based on the writings of Christopher Isherwood, shot on location in Berlin and adapted from the Tony winning Kander and Ebb musical, it also stars Michael York, Marissa Berenson and Helmut Griem. Filled with eye popping musical numbers, brilliant performances and Fosse's subtle direction, CABARET is an unsurpassed musical achievement not to be missed!

Liza Joins NOH8 Campaign

Via press release, Liza's message: "Here's what I believe ... no shame, no blame, no guilt. Be happy. And be who you are. I love you." [Photo credit: Adam Bouska courtesy of NOH8 Campaign.]

Cabaret Cast Reunites For Today Show

Swag Tuesday

Courtesy of the Karpel Group, today's Swag Tuesday prize is the 40th anniversary deluxe Blu-ray reissue of Cabaret, which goes on sale nationwide on February 5th.

Bob Fosse’s ground-breaking Oscar®-winning musical drama starring Liza Minnelli (Arthur, The Sterile Cuckoo), Michael York (the Austin Powers films), Joel Grey (TV’s “Oz”), Helmut Griem, and Marisa Berenson (I am Love). Flamboyant and eccentric American entertainer Sally Bowles (Minnelli) sings in Berlin’s decadent Kit Kat Club, even as Nazism rises in Germany in 1931. She falls in love with a British language teacher (York) – whom she shares with a homosexual German baron (Griem). But Sally's insular, carefree, tolerant and fragile cabaret world is about to be crushed under the boot of the Nazis as Berlin becomes a trap from which Sally's German friends will not escape. Remastered for the first time in over 20 years with new and vintage special features! Cabaret will be available in a premium Blu-ray™ Book format containing 40 pages of insightful photos and text on February 5 from Warner Home Video. Also available on DVD.

We have three copies of Cabaret to give away. Enter to win by commenting on this post and please remember to include an email address. Entries close at midnight on Thursday, west coast time. Publicists: If' you'd like to take part in Swag Tuesday on JMG, please email me.

Cyndi Lauper Hosts Online Celebrity Auction To Benefit LGBT Causes

Via press release:

Long-time civil rights advocate and artist Cyndi Lauper has rallied an impressive list of stars from music and entertainment to help kick off the 2012 True Colors Summer Charity Auction to benefit the True Colors Fund’s work in support of gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender equality. Elton John, Liza Minnelli, Lady Gaga, Anderson Cooper, Jason Mraz, Ricky Martin and many more celebrities have donated incredible experiences for the auction, open now through July 31st at leading online charity auction house Charitybuzz. Lauper founded the True Colors Fund to inspire and engage everyone, especially straight people, to become active participants in the advancement of gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender equality. The organization also works to raise awareness about and bring an end to gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender youth homelessness.

The bid for a meet-and-greet with Anderson Cooper is currently $850.

Forty Years Of Cabaret

Photo Of The Day

Gothamist reports: "To raise awareness for World AIDS Day, which is tomorrow, December 1, 2010, amfAR ambassadors Liza Minnelli and Cheyenne Jackson, amfAR chairman Kenneth Cole and fashion designer and Project Runway runner-up Mondo Guerra rang the opening bell this morning at the New York Stock Exchange."

Broadway Friday

-Liza Minnelli will release a new album titled Confessions in September. The CD will come in two versions. The track listing for the extended 15-cut deluxe edition is here. The album's producer has not yet been named.

-Christine Ricci makes her Broadway debut in Time Stands Still when it reopens on Broadway in September. Laura Linney will rejoin the cast from the show's limited run at Manhattan Theatre Club earlier this year.

-No more tomorrows. Vintage comic strip Annie will cease production next month after 85 years. Little Orphan Annie launched in the New York Daily news in 1924.

-Antonio Banderas will star in a revival of Zorba, set to open in September 2011.

-Broadway World has launched Critics Report Card, where they collect reviews and assign aggregate scores. This week's top ranked show is the revival of Chicago with a 9.5. At the bottom: The Addams Family with 4.6.

-Broadway-related tourism contributed $9.8B to the NYC economy in the 2008-2009 season. $2B of that was ticket sales.

-Doris Eaton Travis, the last of the Ziegfeld Follies Girls, died this week at the age of 106. Davis was a vocal supporter of Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS. The darling of Broadway's chorus boys, she often appeared in Broadway Cares' annual Easter bonnet contest.

-Tony nominated set designer Christine Jones has created a temporary Broadway theater with just one seat. Shows are running in Times Square for ten days beginning today, featuring plays, stand up comedy, and even a dance piece. One performer, one audience member, multiple shows per day. Tickets are free.

Judy's Cream Of Wheat

This is some pretty amazing vocal impression and video work by the Punchy Players, two guys named Jeff and Chris.

(Tipped by JMG reader Fred)

FLASHBACK: Liza & Chita Do Dinah

We need some gay-ass fabulosity up in this here joint today. Via Broadway World's Pat Cerasaro:

A fantastically fun moment from The Dinah Shore show in which Liza Minnelli performs "Nowadays" from CHICAGO alongside the songwriters who wrote it, John Kander and Fred Ebb. The mutual affection they feel for each other is palpable, but the clip reaches new heights of pathos - and hilarity - when Chita Rivera herself, Liza's co-star in CHICAGO, makes a surprise appearance. Also, watch John Kander pick up the Liza's microphone after she has dropped it and set it back on the piano stool, all whilst pounding out that delicious vamp. Fred Ebb seems to be the only one more surprised than Kander or Liza, and the clip goes even more over-the-top with the improvised ending up the octave.

So what year was this?

Liza & Aretha Do Snickers Ad

Sen. Ruben Diaz Has TWO Gay Brothers (And Loves Liza Minnelli )

How have we missed knowing that NY Sen. Ruben Diaz has two gay brothers? New York Magazine also reports that Diaz is a huge fan of Liza Minnelli and got visibly choked up when she performed the classic paean to drag, What Makes a Man a Man?, while attending a show with "one of his closest friends," a co-founder of the Stonewall Democrats. Strange, strange, strange. Diaz: "I'm not homophobic. I have a problem with gay marriage. I have no problem with gays." It sure didn't fucking sound that way to ME when Diaz was leading 10,000 Hispanic evangelicals in chants against the evils of homosexuality.

Judy Garland: Still Dead

Liza Minnelli lives a couple of blocks from me and I see her on the street once or twice a year, usually out shopping. Once I saw her leaving a Chinese joint on 2nd Avenue. She seems to be able to walk around unmolested by fans, at least on the Upper East Side. Still, you have to laugh at the Daily News' report on what happened at our local Gap store.

A Gatecrasher pal reports this recent sighting of her at the E. 66th and Third Ave. store, where she was being helped by a sales assistant.

"The employee asked her, 'Has anyone ever told you you look like Judy Garland?'" says the snitch. "She coldly answered, 'No!'"

You'd leave it alone after that, right?

"The confused employee went on to say, 'Oh my God! You're her! You are Judy Garland!'"

Oh. No. She. Didn't.

"Ms. Minnelli looked up with fire in her eyes and snapped back, 'Judy Garland is dead!'"

She then grabbed the pants she had been trying on "and stated to no one in particular, 'I've gotta get out of here!' She made a mad dash to the registers and then out the door."

Poor Liza.
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