‘Liza with a Z’ wows the crowd at UB’s Center for the Arts
Published: November 23, 2009, 12:30 am
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Western New Yorkers with a penchant for musical storytellers had their pick on Sunday night, with visits from two eminent American raconteurs.
Over at HSBC Arena, Buffalo hosted perhaps the final concert from Bruce Springsteen and his E Street Band.
But out in University at Buffalo’s Center for the Arts in Amherst, we had no less than Liza Minnelli, who has been regaling audiences with a litany of heart-wrenching stories — her own and others — for going on 60 years.
The concert, which raised $30,000 for Buffalo’s Ronald McDonald House, was a master class in storytelling through song.
Minnelli — her smoke-cured voice still bursting with verve, her body still vibrating with energy — took audiences on a spirited tour through a scintillating career. From musical theater obscurities to trademark numbers from “Cabaret,” “Liza With a Z” and “Maybe This Time,” Minnelli, backed by a 12-piece orchestra, held nothing back.
In an evening strung with anecdotes and well-worn but endearing staged bits, Minnelli packed the first half of the show with songs of solitude, revenge and longing. The requisite yell of “I love you, Liza!” uttered without exception from some overwhelmed member of the audience at every Minnelli show, came early in the show from a man in the middle of the orchestra.
Minnelli responded with ebullient thanks and then, tellingly, launched into Charles Aznavour’s heartbreaking “What Makes a Man a Man,” which she clearly intended as a tribute to her legions of gay fans. She followed that up with a breathless medley from her recent show “Liza’s at the Palace” and finished the first half off with a rousing rendition of the title song from “Cabaret.”
That flutter of vulnerability that endeared so many to Minnelli’s voice in her early performances is still there, as is the performer’s inimitable spirit and commanding stage presence. Arranger and pianist Billy Stritch has expertly surrounded some of Minnelli’s higher-register vocals with blazing brass in a way that renders them powerful without overpowering them. This is what they did in the days before auto-tuning, and it’s much more graceful and effective.
Things picked up considerably in the second act, with “Liza with a Z” and “I Can’t Give You Anything But Love,” and a razzle-dazzle version of “New York, New York,” for which Minnelli pulled out every stop she had left.
And she has a heck of a lot left.
Concert Review
Liza Minnelli
Sunday night in the University at Buffalo Center for the Arts.
cdabkowski@buffnews.com
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