`Minnelli on Minnelli'

`Minnelli on Minnelli' on Broadway

NEW YORK From Sarah Bernhardt to Sophie Tucker, from Danny Kaye toJerry Lewis. They all played the Palace, New York's famous vaudevillehouse that most recently was home to Disney's "Beauty and the Beast."

Now it's Liza's turn.

That's Liza with a Z. Liza Minnelli is following in the footstepsof her mother, Judy Garland, another legendary entertainer who stagedseveral comebacks at the Palace. And daughter does momma proud.

Minnelli's show is a homecoming of sorts. Garland's ghost hoversover the proceedings. Yet it is director Vincente Minnelli, Liza'sfather, whose genius is celebrated by his offspring in this basicallyone-woman evening called "Minnelli on Minnelli," which openedWednesday for a limited run through Jan. 2.

Minnelli sings tunes featured in many of her father's films,including "Cabin in the Sky," "The Band Wagon," "An American inParis" and "Gigi."

Don't go expecting the Minnelli of yore. The voice has the volume,if not the control, of the past, and hip replacements have hamperedher mobility. She does several of her numbers while sitting in achair.

But she still has something that can't be denied. There is aspirit and enthusiasm - plus a bit of her mother's vulnerability -that gets her over the roughest edges of an evening that,fortunately, improves as it goes along.

Patience will be awarded. And often there are poignant remindersof the past: An eager Minnelli, reminiscent of the 19-year-old whofirst captivated Broadway in 1965 in "Flora, the Red Menace." Or thesexy Sally Bowles in the Bob Fosse film version of "Cabaret." Or eventhe sophisticated Minnelli of more recent forays at such supersizedvenues as Radio City Music Hall.

She does deliver - both an affectionate valentine to her fatherand an entertaining act in its own right. Still, she takes a while towarm up. The whole first half, in fact.

Director Fred Ebb, lyricist for "Chicago, "Cabaret" and "Flora,"has surrounded her with six chorus boys, who are done in by the mostprosaic choreography this side of "The Ed Sullivan Show." These guysare there for support - and to give Minnelli a breather - but much ofthe time, they just get in the way.

Act 1 seems as if it is a glorified variety show with Minnelliworking her way through a series of songs that never quite catchfire. She also has little interaction with the audience.

Things change in the second act. By then, Minnelli has done anewly fashioned version of Lerner and Loewe's "I'm Glad I'm Not YoungAnymore," joking about her problems with drugs, alcohol and weight.She relaxes and so does the audience.

The woman also trots out family photos, pictures of herself as achild, mostly in costumes from her father's movies. She also showsbrief film clips from several of the films, including "MadameBovary," "The Bad and the Beautiful," "Brigadoon" and "Gigi."

By then Minnelli has the audience on her side, further cementingthe relationship with a powerhouse version of the torch song, "WhatDid I Have That I Don't Have." All that's left is a deserved standingovation. Liza is still here.