Friday, March 12, 2021, marks the one-year anniversary of the COVID-19 shutdown of Broadway theaters, but it’s also the 75th birthday of living legend Liza Minnelli. To honor the actress, singer, dancer, and all-around show-biz icon, beginning at 8 pm, Club Cumming Presents, in association with Daniel Nardicio, Samuel Benedict, Matt Berman, and Scott Gorenstein, will stream A Love Letter to Liza – a virtual all-star celebration, exclusively on Stellar, with repeat airings on March 13-14.
Hosted by Emmy Award-winning journalist Frank DiLella (host of the weekly half-hour theater program “On Stage” on Spectrum News NY1), and following all pandemic protocol, the online evening of songs, stories, and tributes will feature performances by Ben Vereen and the dancers of The Verdon Fosse Legacy, Billy Stritch, Joel Grey, Lea DeLaria, Lily Tomlin, Melissa Manchester, Michael Feinstein, Haley Swindal, Seth Sikes, Ute Lemper, and more.
In addition, there will be personal stories and remembrances from Andrea Martin, Andrew Rannells, Charles Busch, Chita Rivera, Coco Peru, Craig Ferguson, Hoda Kotb, Jason Alexander, Jim Caruso, Joan Collins, John Cameron Mitchell, John Kander, Jonathan Groff, Julie Halston, Kathie Lee Gifford, Kathy Griffin, Kathy Najimy, Lorna Luft, Mario Cantone, Michael York, Michele Lee, Nathan Lane, Nicolas King, Sandra Bernhard, Parker Posey, and Tony Hale, plus special surprise guests and never-before-seen footage of Liza.
Best known for her Academy Award-winning performance as Sally Bowles in the 1972 film version of Cabaret, directed by Bob Fosse, Liza (the daughter of Judy Garland and director Vincente Minnelli) was born on March 12, 1946, in Hollywood, then moved to NYC in 1961, where she began her career in musical theater and nightclubs. The 1963 Off-Broadway revival of Best Foot Forward marked her professional stage debut at the age of nineteen, and in 1965, she won a Tony (her first of four) for Best Actress in a Musical for her titular role in Flora the Red Menace (which was also the beginning of her long-time collaboration with John Kander and Fred Ebb). Most recently she was honored with a Tony for Best Special Theatrical Event in 2009, for her concert Liza’s at The Palace!, presented at Broadway’s Palace Theatre. Along with her innumerable credits from the stage, screen, and recording studio, Minnelli has also been an advocate for philanthropic causes, including amfAR (The Foundation for AIDS Research).
A Love Letter to Liza streams on Friday, March 12, at 8 pm, on Stellar, and will be available for additional airings on March 13-14. As with a live in-person show, you can only watch it on the date and time of the performance you select. For tickets, priced at $30, go online. 20% of the proceeds will benefit The Actors Fund, a national human services organization founded in 1882, to meet the needs of the entertainment community.
