With a 'Z,' Without a Net
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On the Town
Liza!
The career has been as fractious a roller-coaster ride—highlighted by heights and dips, punctuated by applause and thrills, accented by nerves and screams—as the life. Her critics and fans alike still have trouble pronouncing “Liza,” and the press still can’t spell “Minnelli.” But it’s written in stone: The one-word mention of her name will always have its own instant, built-in recognition factor. And the best of it all (a compilation of all highs and no lows) is captured in Liza with a “Z,” the historic 1972 NBC television special directed and choreographed by Bob Fosse, written by Fred Ebb, broadcast three times and—despite winning four Emmys—not seen for 33 years.
Get ready. It’s back, digitally remastered, fluffed and slick’um’d up in Dolby sound, premiering April 1 on Showtime, with a DVD following three days later. At 60, Liza may have another race in her before the bone yard. But at 26, in red Halston sequins and singing in stereo, she was already a Derby winner.
Filmed with eight cameras on a Broadway stage before a “live” audience, Liza with a “Z” was the first filmed concert for network TV. From the downbeat, the air is charged with a breathless electricity rare even by Broadway standards, and Judy’s little girl provides the kilowatts. Fresh from their Oscar-winning Cabaret, the Fosse, Minnelli, Kander and Ebb collaboration was in