By Sandy Posnak, Atlantic City Whoot, May 7, 1998

Liza Minnelli made her first appearance of the year at the Atlantic City Hilton last weekend, and the opening-night crowd welcomed her with a lengthy standing ovation.

Following an overture of songs identified with Liza, the lady of the hour, dressed in a tomato-red chiffon pantsuit, stepped ionto the spotlight to belt out Alexander’s Ragtime Band. Alexander wasn’t there, but Bill Lavorgna’s orchestra added ever greater verve to the number. Liza and Lavorgna have been friends since he first played for her mother, Judy Garland, 43 years ago. The vocalist continued with When My Ship Comes In, then sequed into The Man I Love.

Following some introductory lines from Old Friends, Liza noted she’s researching great American women, and that it’s tough to be a thin, great American woman. Liza concert regulars correctly guessed she was going to launch into Sara Lee and they were right. The “boys in the band” became her background singers in a delightful rendition of this whimsical ditty.

Liza then sang Sailor Boys, a sad song about a dock woman who was betrayed by her sailor boy. She put much feeling into the poignant song, written especially for her by French singer-composer Charles Aznavour. This was followed by You’ve Let Yourself Go, another Aznavour story tune about a woman whose lover of many years let himself go. Though he no longer pays heed to his appearance and displays little emotion toward her, she continues to love him.

Next Miss Minnelli sang Gigi, the title song of the Academy Award-winning motion picture directed by her father, Vincente Minnelli. In the movie the song is sung by a man to a woman. Liza cleverly improvised and her dramatic delivery was performed as a mother singing to a young daughter.

A nice addition to the concert was the precise harmony of the Cortes Alexander Trio, three talented young men who accompanied Liza in renditions of Thank Heaven for Little Boys and a zippy I Love a Violin. Liza left the stage to give her favorite group a chance to shine alone with the classic Stormy Weather and the romantic Gently. The smooth sounding trio, reminiscent of the Manhattan Transfer, has been travelling with Liza for two years.

The star returned to center stage, this time in a black sparkly pantsuit and large black feathery boa around her shoulders. She was accompanied by the trio as she sang selections from her 1996 Gently album, including It Had to be You, Some Cats Know, and Embraceable You. The latter was her parents’ favorite song, and she dedicated it to them and also to mega film star Joe Pesci, who was among the first-nighters.

Today almost everyone knows that Ms Minnelli spells her given name with a z rather than an s. But to dispel a bit of confusion about this earlier in her career, John Kander and Fred Ebb wrote the song Liza with a Z for her. She continued with this zesty, shimsical number, which was followed by Married.

Liza is in the unique position of being a vocalist with two signature songs, Cabaret, the title song from the Broadway musical, and New York New York, which was actually written for her, though it’s also closely associated with Frank Sinatra. After singing Cabaret, the showroom crowd responded with a standing ovation. The loud clapping and whistling continued, so she returned to encore with New York New York, after dedicating it to Frank Sinatra. The standing ovation that followed was loud and long. This was her fans’ way of telling her she was greatly missed during her lengthy absence from Atlantic City.

Liza, 51, is one of the few entertainers to hold triple crowns: several Tonys, an Academy Award, and television’s Emmy. The daughter of Judy Garland and Vincente Minnelli, she was literally born into show business. Though she showed slight signs of suffering from a cold Friday evening, she upheld the old showbiz tradition of the show must go on. And the crowd savored every minute of her performance.

Singer-pianist and Grammy Award winning composer Billy Stritch and his trio opened for Liza. Stritch accompanied himself on the piano with a repertoire of songs that included There’s a Boat That’s Leaving Soon for New York, The Best is Yet to Come, Let’s Take a Walk Around the Block, I Don’t Want to be Away from You, and a medley of Brazilian tunes. We liked Stritch when he first opened for Liza here several years ago, and we continue to admire his soothing voice and smooth, relaxed manner.

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