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.
So What
Liza Minnelli Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
You say fifty marks
I say one hundred marks
A difference of fifty marks
Why should that stand in our way?
As long as the room gets let
The fifty that I will get
Is fifty more that I had yesterday
Is anyone as old as I?
What difference does it make?
An offer comes, you take
Sings:
For the sun will rise
And the moon will set
And learn how to settle
For what you get
It will all go on
If we're here or not
So who cares? so what?
So who cares? so what?
When I was a girl
My summers were spent by the sea
So what?
And I had a maid
Doing all of the house-work, not me
So what?
Now I scrub all the floors
And I wash down the walls
And I empty the chamber pot
If it ended that way
Then it ended that way
And I shrug and I say
So what?
For the sun will rise
And the moon will set
And learn how to settle
For what you get
It will all go on
If we're here or not
So who cares? so what?
So who cares? so what?
When I had a man
My figure was dumpy and fat
So what?
Through all of our years
He was so disappointed in that
So what?
Now I have what he missed
And my figure is trim
But he lies in a churchyard plot
If it wasn't to be
That he ever would see
The uncorseted me
So what?
For the sun will rise
And the moon will set
And learn how to settle
For what you get
It will all go on
If we're here or not
So who cares? so what?
So who cares? so what?
So once I was rich
And now all my fortune is gone
So what?
And love disappeared
And only the memory lives on
And so what?
If I've lived through all that
(And I've lived through all that)
Fifty marks doesn't mean a lot
If I like that you're here
(And I like that you're here)
Happy New Year, my dear
So what?
For the sun will rise
And the moon will set
And learn how to settle
For what you get
It will all go on
If we're here or not
So who cares? so what?
So who cares? so what?
It all goes on
So who cares? who cares?
Who cares? so what?
"So What" by Liza Minnelli is a song about acceptance, resilience, and understanding that life goes on, no matter what happens. The song starts with a spoken word section involving a negotiation between two parties, one asking for fifty marks and the other one for a hundred. The singer then says that it doesn't matter, as long as the room gets let, and the fifty marks are fifty more than they had yesterday. The song then shifts to Minnelli singing about her own life experiences, starting with summers spent by the sea with a maid doing all the housework. She contrasts this with her current situation, where she does everything herself, including cleaning floors and emptying the chamber pot. However, she accepts her situation, realizing that it doesn't matter in the grand scheme of things. She then sings about her past relationship, where she was disappointed in her figure, but now she has what he missed, and he lies in a churchyard plot. Finally, she sings about how she was once rich, but now all her fortune is gone and love has disappeared, but she doesn't care because she's happy that the person she's with is there. The song ends with the repeated chorus, "So who cares? so what? It all goes on."
The song can be interpreted as a commentary on the ephemeral nature of life, where nothing lasts forever, and everything eventually fades away. The repeated chorus emphasizes the idea that no matter what happens, life goes on, and we should learn to settle for what we get. Minnelli's personal experiences highlight the importance of acceptance and resilience in the face of adversity.
Line by Line Meaning
You say fifty marks
You have a price of fifty marks in mind
I say one hundred marks
I have a price of one hundred marks in mind
A difference of fifty marks
There's a difference of fifty marks between our prices
Why should that stand in our way?
Why should the difference in price prevent us from making a deal?
As long as the room gets let
If the room gets rented
The fifty that I will get
I will receive fifty marks
Is fifty more that I had yesterday
I will make an additional fifty marks compared to yesterday
When you're as old as I
As someone who is old like me
Is anyone as old as I?
Is there anyone else who is as old as me?
What difference does it make?
It doesn't matter
An offer comes, you take
If a deal presents itself, you should accept it
For the sun will rise
The sun will always rise
And the moon will set
The moon will always set
And learn how to settle
We need to learn how to be content with what we have
For what you get
Whatever you receive
It will all go on
Life will continue
If we're here or not
Whether we're here or not, life goes on
So who cares? so what?
So why should we care? It doesn't matter
When I was a girl
When I was younger
My summers were spent by the sea
I spent my summers at the beach
And I had a maid
I had someone who did all of my housework
Doing all of the house-work, not me
I didn't do any of the housework
Now I scrub all the floors
I clean the floors myself
And I wash down the walls
I also clean the walls
And I empty the chamber pot
I even have to do the unpleasant tasks
If it ended that way
If things ended up like that in my life
Then it ended that way
That's just how things turned out
And I shrug and I say
I accept it and move on
When I had a man
When I was with someone
My figure was dumpy and fat
I wasn't happy with my body shape
Through all of our years
Throughout our time together
He was so disappointed in that
He was disappointed with my appearance
Now I have what he missed
Now I look the way he wished I looked
And my figure is trim
I have a more shapely figure now
But he lies in a churchyard plot
But he's dead and buried
If it wasn't to be
If things weren't meant to work out
That he ever would see
That he would never see the changes in me
The uncorseted me
How I look now without the restrictions of a corset
So what?
It doesn't matter
So once I was rich
Once I had a lot of money
And now all my fortune is gone
And now I'm not wealthy anymore
And love disappeared
And love has disappeared from my life
And only the memory lives on
But only the memory of that love remains
If I've lived through all that
If I've survived all those challenges
(And I've lived through all that)
(And I have)
Fifty marks doesn't mean a lot
A small amount of money doesn't matter much
If I like that you're here
As long as you're here with me
(And I like that you're here)
(And I do like that you're here)
Happy New Year, my dear
Happy New Year, my love
It all goes on
Life continues
So who cares? who cares?
Why should anyone care?
Who cares? so what?
It doesn't matter
Writer(s): FRED EBB, JOHN KANDER
Contributed by Elizabeth B. Suggest a correction in the comments below.
Robert Frost
Saw this show. May 1991. Her energy was staggering. Fabulous show. Also had the privilege of meeting Liza after the show. Wonderful memories.
Nicole Rohde
At the very end of this performance you can clearly hear her mother in her voice. So beautiful and absolutely riveting. Love you Liza! You have and always be a sense of inspiration for everyone in the the arts community. Yes Queen!!
that 5 cent card company?
GREAT TALENT!
NO ONE LIKE HER!
Peter Bull
Pure talent, fantastic,I love this lady
Nathan Farias
She was at her peak here for this show and the pet shop boys album
Brave Soul
True
Jaime Dols
Love her voice! ๐
arxsyn
love her powerful, dark and earthy Contralto
arxsyn
@Kaji do you know how to read? I was referring to the very low passagi on the Soprano voice which means her useable chest register range is very short. The contralto on the other hand is the opposite. She has an an extended chest register to G4. That is the location of her passagio. It is the passagio that determines the true vocal fach of any singer. Before fancy technology was around this understanding was well established and technology only made this knowledge even more secure
Kaji
@arxsyn Um no. It's not lowering as I said. You're just repeating vocal myths. They were proved wrong by vocal pedagogues years ago.
No, Callie used to have a low B-flat 2 even in her 20s. And mind you, a strong one. There are clips on Youtube of her singing at 17 before she was classically trained and she does some solid Eb3s there.
And that's not what makes someone a soprano. Being a soprano relates to your vocal tract length, your timbre and your passaggi. If you think Callie's a soprano NOW, it makes me wonder how you think someone like Liza was a mezzo in her youth when her voice (even in the 80s) was higher set than Callie's... ever.