What Good Is Sitting Alone In Your Room?
In a time when TV talent shows provide celebrities that rise, fall and are totally forgotten within a year, it's easy to forget that some people can be born a star and remain that way for the whole of their lives.
Liza Minnelli has been in the public eye, for better or worse, for all of her 62 years. Most recently she has become better known through her troubles with drink, drugs and a messy divorce which brought her total of ex- husbands to four. It was great to see her back doing what she does best at the London Coliseum.
On the first night of her first UK tour for 20 years, Liza charmed a sold-out theatre with renditions of some of her most famous songs including New York New York, Cabaret and Maybe This Time. Liza was happy to share showbusiness anecdotes with the crowd. A somewhat unpredictable raconteur she often forgot to finish stories she had started. She began with her usual charm asking the audience with sucked in lips and a cocked hip if they noticed anything different before triumphantly announcing she had lost 44 pounds.
Now bearing two false hips and a wired up right knee she managed to sing and dance her way through a two hour, two part set, although she sometimes appeared to be gasping for breath.
Throughout her closing signature tune, New York, New York the crowd were on their feet, bringing the total of the evening standing ovations to six.
By Ruby Lake
