Home > Reviews > 2002 Royal Albert Hall

Live and kicking, that's Liza

The Express, 3 April 2002

The last time Liza Minnelli topped the bill, at her fourth wedding a fortnight ago, she was supported by a cast so stelar that Mia Farrow, Lauren Bacall and Diana Ross were reduced to extras.

Now in her new show she is quite alone - give or take a few thousand adoring fans, some of them hetrosexual.

But she proves that she is still capable of creating a one-woman "Cabaret old chum", which can blow the roff off the Albert Hall.

It's a miracle that she is there at all. Eighteen months ago, Liza was struck down by a brain disease and could neither walk or talk. On top of that she has had two new hips, surgery on her knees and back, double pneumonia, and polyps on her vocal chords - not to mention battles with booze, pills and flab.

It makes her mother Judy Garland's woes look like a bowl of cherries. The name of the show is Liza's Back, and that says it all.

Watched by an appreciative audience that included actress Martine McCutcheon - a bridesmaid at Liza's wedding last month - she shakes those fake hips and manages a high kick of sorts. She strains at some of the new material, and in a couple of numbers, gives the distinct impression she is resting her voice for later.

But her signature numbers from Cabaret and New York, New York bring the house down. And then she is belting out the final as if her vocal chords had never been away. "I returned, thanks to Alcoholics Anonymous and you," she declares.

Start spreadin' the news. Liza really is back.

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