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.
Liza
Liza Minnelli Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Now if my name were Ada, I'd be Ada even backwards I'd be Ada, and if my name were Ruth than I'd be Ruth because with Ruth what can you do? Or Sally or Margaret or Ginger or Faye but when your a Liza, you always have to say, no it's Liza with a "Z" not Lisa with an "S" cause Lisa with an "S" goes snoz Its Z instead of S, Li instead of Lee it's simple as could be see Liza!
Oh! and that is only half of it, there's another way they treat me cruely, how often I remember someone saying "There she goes Lisa Minoulli, or Minolli or Miniola or Minilli or Minillie, so is it a wonder I very often cry! It's M I double N then E double L I you double up the N that's "n" not Lou then E double the L end it with an I that's the way you say Minelli, Liza Minelli, it's easy, it's easy...see it's Lizi....no..... L I Z A
The song "Say Liza" is a playful and rhythmic presentation of the singer's name. Liza Minnelli, the performer of this song, is known for her unique name, and here she makes it clear that it needs to be said right. The opening lines, "It's Liza with a 'Z' not Lisa with an 'S'," make the main point of the song. By replacing the "s" in Lisa with a "z," the name becomes unique and distinctive. The lyrics continue to explain that the pronunciation of the name is Li, not Lee. Liza's name is straightforward, and she wants the world to know it.
The second part of the song adds humor to the name game. The singer plays with her name and demonstrates how it can't be turned into a backward word like "Ada" or modified as easily as a "Sally" or "Margaret." She explains that when you are a Liza, you have to stand up for your name because people tend to mispronounce or misspell it. Liza's passion for her name comes through in the lyrics, and she emphasizes that it's "easy" to say.
Overall, "Say Liza" is a catchy and fun song that showcases Liza Minnelli's playfulness and passion for her name. It's a celebration of uniqueness and individuality.
Line by Line Meaning
It's Liza with a "Z" not Lisa with an "S" cause Lisa with an "S" goes snoz
My name is spelled with a Z because if you spell it with an S, it sounds like 'snoz.'
Its Z instead of S, Li instead of Lee it's simple as could be see Liza!
It's easy to remember that my name is spelled with a Z instead of an S and Li instead of Lee. Just remember Liza!
Now if my name were Ada, I'd be Ada even backwards I'd be Ada, and if my name were Ruth than I'd be Ruth because with Ruth what can you do?
If my name were Ada or Ruth or any other name, I would still be proud of my name and wouldn't want people to spell it incorrectly.
Or Sally or Margaret or Ginger or Faye but when your a Liza, you always have to say, no it's Liza with a "Z" not Lisa with an "S" cause Lisa with an "S" goes snoz
Even though there are other nice names like Sally, Margaret, Ginger, or Faye, I always have to remind people to spell my name with a Z because if it's spelled with an S, it sounds like 'snoz.'
Oh! and that is only half of it, there's another way they treat me cruely, how often I remember someone saying "There she goes Lisa Minoulli, or Minolli or Miniola or Minilli or Minillie, so is it a wonder I very often cry!
It's not just the spelling of my name that people get wrong. Sometimes they mispronounce it too, saying things like 'Lisa Minoulli, or Minolli or Miniola or Minilli or Minillie,' and it makes me sad.
"It's M I double N then E double L I you double up the N that's "n" not Lou then E double the L end it with an I that's the way you say Minelli, Liza Minelli, it's easy, it's easy...see it's Lizi....no..... L I Z A"
To help people pronounce my last name correctly, it's spelled M I double N, then E double L I, double up the N (remember it's an 'n' sound, not 'Lou'), E double the L, and end it with an I. So it's Liza Minelli, and it's easy to remember – just spell it out: L I Z A.
Lyrics © BMG Rights Management, Warner Chappell Music, Inc.
Written by: FRED EBB, JOHN KANDER
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
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