Your backstage pass to the DFW music scene and beyond.
Liza Minnelli
8 p.m. Friday and Saturday
Meyerson Symphony Center
2301 Flora St., Dallas
$45-$122
214-670-3600
Liza Minnelli is bringing the sequins and songs that have made her name synonymous with Broadway-style entertainment to North Texas for a pair of shows with the Dallas Symphony Orchestra this week.
The gigs Friday and Saturday follow the late-September release of Minnelli's CD Confessions, 14 favorites by the likes of Irving Berlin and Jerome Kern. They're numbers she heard on LPs as a youngster, or remembers visitors such as songwriter and former neighbor Sammy Cahn performing when he dropped in.
"I love the first one," the 64-year-old chanteuse said, referring to the title cut, Confession.
Naturally, the North Texas shows have New York, New York, and other crowd favorites. But Confessions is just Minnelli's voice, plus keyboard and a bag full of standards: All the Way and At Last, for example -- the kind of stuff she likes to riff on when she and Tony Bennett get together around a piano.
"There was always music," around the house, Minnelli says. "I carried on that tradition."
As befits a legend -- recall that she, like her mother, Judy Garland, has been the face of Blackglama mink's classic "What becomes a legend most?" campaign -- Minnelli was a little late when she called. And there wasn't a lot of time to chat once she got on the phone.
Maybe Tony was coming over to knock out a couple of numbers.
But the Oscar/Tony/Grammy/Emmy winner still had time for a few questions before ducking out to do whatever divas do.
What made you want to tackle this particular batch of songs?
These are basically songs I've loved my whole life. I love the first one: Confessions. I heard it on a Jerry Mulligan record.
Will there be dancing in the shows here?
Yeah, I'm gonna bust a few moves.
You're a baby boomer and you've sung with Queen. How come you never did rock?
Because I wanted to be on Broadway, and that's where I headed as soon as I could go.
You did, however, hang out with a lot of rock figures at Studio 54 back in the day. What was the scene like?
It was fun ... before it got so weird. Then I didn't go.
Are you familiar with contemporary artists such as Lady Gaga?
I love Lady Gaga!
Should Lady Gaga play you in the Liza Minnelli biopic?
Lemme kick first! Then we'll discuss it.
John Austin, 817-390-7874
