Liza

Ok, we got through the Liza Minelli concert last night and have one more tonight. And I want to tell you, it was really a good show. The story telling that she provided the audience, her ability to dig deep and perform was something that I had not seen before, authentic and professional. She is 62 years old, been through a recovery or two, a marriage or....two. She got winded a couple times but worked that discomfort in to her act. The longer she went, the better she got. It was a very, very good performance by a woman who has seen it all, been there, done that. Her band of 30 years was with her as were a quartet rendition of the Williams brothers. She talked about losing her mother at age 22 and the influence of her GodMother, St. Louis's Kay Thompson.

She was nervous at the beginning, struggling a bit with her comfort level, like she was coming back from a long hiatus, returning to the stage after years of being away. She seemed to want to exude being "new and improved", talked about recently losing weight, her life, her tribulations. I remarked to Janie that she seemed to limp a bit, in 2000 she went through her second hip replacement and surgery again for brain encephalitis. The show unwound from the beginning, into a buildup where everyone felt satisfied that we had "gotten" Liza, regardless of her imperfections. I feel like I made a friend. I think that is what she was trying to do. So she gets two thumbs up from the Pfoodman.