Minnelli's first film appearance was at the age of three in the final scene of the 1949 musical In the Good Old Summertime, starring her mother and Van Johnson. Minnelli started performing at age 16, in 1963, in an Off-Broadway revival of the musical Best Foot Forward, for which she received good notices. The next year, her mother invited Minnelli to perform with her at the London Palladium. The audience loved her, launching her musical career. She returned to Broadway at 19, and won a 1965 Tony Award for Flora the Red Menace. Minnelli would also receive Tony Awards for The Act in 1978 and a special Tony in 1974. She was nominated in 1984 for The Rink but lost to her costar, Chita Rivera.
The film The Sterile Cuckoo (1969), in which Minnelli starred as a love-seeking teenage misfit, garnered the young actress her first Academy Award nomination. In 1972, Minnelli won the Academy Award for Best Actress for her role as Sally Bowles in the movie version of Cabaret, along with Joel Grey who won an Oscar reprising his role from the original Broadway production (that of the Emcee).
Minnelli has the distinction of being one of the few Academy Award winners whose parents are both Academy Award nominees. She has also won an Emmy Award for the 1972 TV special Liza with a Z. Minnelli received a 1990 Grammy Legend Award. She received Golden Globe Awards for Cabaret and for the TV movie A Time to Live.
Minnelli, like her mother, is known for her powerful vocal style, as in her trademark songs "Cabaret" and "Theme from New York, New York". Minnelli's original version of the latter, for the film in which she was a co-star with Robert DeNiro, preceded Frank Sinatra's successful cover version (for his Trilogy album), by two years.
After her performance as leading lady to Dudley Moore in 1981's Arthur, Minnelli made fewer, and fewer successful, film appearances.
She returned to Broadway in 1997, taking over the title role in the musical Victor/Victoria, replacing Julie Andrews. In his review, New York Times critic Ben Brantley commented, "her every stage appearance is perceived as a victory of show-business stamina over psychic frailty... She asks for love so nakedly and earnestly, it seems downright vicious not to respond."
Following her 2002 wedding to David Gest, Minnelli and Gest signed with the American cable network VH1 to star in their own reality series, but production of the series was cancelled at the last minute.
In 2004 and 2005 she appeared as a recurring guest star on the critically acclaimed TV sitcom Arrested Development as the lover of sexually and socially awkward Buster Bluth.
On January 1, 2006, she sang "New York, New York" at the second inauguration of New York City Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg. Other famous performances were at the 1978 Studio 54 party honoring New York City's revival, at which a guest was Mayor Ed Koch; the reopening of the Statue of Liberty on July 4, 1986; and at a 2001 New York Mets baseball game that was the metro area's first major sporting event after the September 11 attacks.
In 2013, she guest-starred on the NBC musical drama Smash, where she performed the number A Love Letter From the Times. She also reprised her role in the fourth season of Arrested Development.
Cabaret
Liza Minnelli Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Come hear the music play
Life is a cabaret, old chum
Come to the cabaret
Put down the knitting, the book and the broom
It's time for a holiday
Life is a cabaret, old chum
Come taste the wine
Come hear the band
Come blow your horn
Start celebrating
Right this way, your table's waiting
What good's permitting some prophet of doom
To wipe every smile away?
Life is a cabaret, old chum
So come to the cabaret
I used to have this girlfriend known as Elsie
With whom I shared four sordid rooms in Chelsea
She wasn't what you'd call a blushing flower
As a matter of fact she rented by the hour
The day she died the neighbors
Came to snicker
"Well, that's what comes from
Too much pills and liquor"
But when I saw her laid out like a queen
She was the happiest corpse I'd ever seen
I think of Elsie to this very day
I remember how she'd turned to me and say
"What good is sitting all alone in your room?
Come hear the music play
Life is a cabaret, old chum
Come to the cabaret"
And as for me, ha
And as for me
I made my mind up back in Chelsea
When I go
I'm going like Elsie
Start by admitting from cradle to tomb
It isn't that long a stay
Life is a cabaret, old chum
It's only a cabaret, old chum
And I love a cabaret
In Liza Minnelli's song Cabaret, the lyrics begin by questioning the point of sitting alone in one's room when they could instead come out and experience the music and excitement of life. The phrase "life is a cabaret" emphasizes the idea that we should not take ourselves too seriously and instead embrace the joys of life. The song paints a picture of a lively setting, inviting the listener to put down their mundane tasks and join the party. The second verse speaks of a girlfriend named Elsie who was often judged for her lifestyle, but upon her death, the singer saw her as a happy person who lived life to the fullest. By the end of the song, the singer has decided to live their own life in the same way, embracing the fleeting nature of life and celebrating in the present.
This song about the bohemian lifestyle was written by Fred Ebb and John Kander specifically for the Broadway musical Cabaret, which opened in 1966. The song was later featured in the 1972 film adaptation of the musical which starred Liza Minnelli. Cabaret has since become a classic song in popular culture, often used in film and TV to represent a certain era and attitude. Interestingly, the song has also been used in commercials for products such as beer and cars.
Line by Line Meaning
What good is sitting, alone in your room?
Why bother sitting alone in isolation and silence?
Come hear the music play
Come join in the joy and celebration of life through music
Life is a cabaret, old chum
Life is a never-ending party
Come to the cabaret
Join the party
Put down the knitting, the book and the broom
Stop doing mundane things and start enjoying life
It's time for a holiday
It's time to take a break from the daily routine and have fun
Come taste the wine
Enjoy the finer things in life
Come hear the band
Listen to the music and enjoy the company of others
Come blow your horn
Let loose and express yourself freely
Start celebrating
Begin the festivities
Right this way, your table's waiting
You're invited to join the party
What good's permitting some prophet of doom
Why listen to someone who predicts bad things?
To wipe every smile away?
To take away all the joy from life?
So come to the cabaret
Ignore the naysayers and embrace the party
I used to have this girlfriend known as Elsie
I once had a friend named Elsie
With whom I shared four sordid rooms in Chelsea
We lived together in a less-than-ideal place in Chelsea
She wasn't what you'd call a blushing flower
She wasn't innocent or naive
As a matter of fact she rented by the hour
In fact, she was a prostitute
The day she died the neighbors
When she passed, the neighbors
Came to snicker
Came to gossip and make fun of her
"Well, that's what comes from
"That's what happens when you
Too much pills and liquor"
Use too many drugs and alcohol"
But when I saw her laid out like a queen
But when I saw her in her final resting
She was the happiest corpse I'd ever seen
She looked peaceful and content, even in death
I think of Elsie to this very day
I still remember Elsie fondly
I remember how she'd turned to me and say
I recall her saying to me
And as for me, ha
As for me
And as for me
For my part
I made my mind up back in Chelsea
I decided a long time ago
When I go
When I die
I'm going like Elsie
I want to go out peacefully and content like Elsie did
Start by admitting from cradle to tomb
Accepting that life is short and temporary
It isn't that long a stay
We don't have that much time on this earth
It's only a cabaret, old chum
Life is just a party
And I love a cabaret
And I love to party
Lyrics © BMG Rights Management, Universal Music Publishing Group, Warner Chappell Music, Inc.
Written by: Fred Ebb, John Kander
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
john crawford piano
I believe that, with this performance, Liza Minelli stepped out of her mothers shadow and proved that she was an artist that didn't need a famous mother, and that she was a singularly unique talent
tashkenty
She won the Oscar best actress award starting at 2:18. It’s so richly layered with subtle emotional shades, but at the same tiMe masking her sadness and loneliness
Mark Whitman
Agree she wants to cry and nearly does singing what Elsie told her about life in the Cabaret but is defiant❤
Anna Roz
“Start by admitting from cradle to doom, it isnt that long a stay”. Liza, you are magnificent
MN Bluestater
The lyric is “cradle to tomb.”
Mark Whitman
@MN BluestaterYes tomb
Mellanie Crowther
Cradle to TOMB
FePiu
Look at the glow in her eyes when she says "I'm going like Elsie".... simply spetacular!!! Amazing performance!
David Gantt
Liza's performance here is PERFECTION. A master class on how it ought to be done. Brilliant. A classic for eternity.
Seo Sergio bossa mpb
Concordo