Read Online Colored Lights: Forty Years of Words and Music, Show Biz, Collaboration, and All That Jazz by Greg Lawrence, John Kander, Fred Ebb - Free Book Online Page B
Ads: Link
get you to make sure she wasn’t there. But her mother did show up, and that night Liza sat in front of her dressing mirror just shaking.
EBB: She was torn — “Do I introduce her? Do I not introduce
her?” There were a couple of incidents. At the Waldorf-Astoria, Liza leaned down to her mother in the audience, and Judy literally grabbed her off the stage, then got up there with her. Liza sat on the side of the stage while Judy did two or three numbers, with the audience going crazy.
KANDER: When the two of them performed together and it was planned, that was different. But if it was a night that was supposed to be Liza’s and her mother took over, that was difficult. The first time I saw that happen was the opening at the Waldorf, and Liza was sitting at her dressing table. Judy was there and she was drunk, sitting next to Liza. Judy said something like, “This is what we always wanted, isn’t it, baby? This is our big night, baby. This is what we’ve always wanted.” Liza just froze. I remember her face in the mirror, and it was one of those times I wished I was someplace else.
EBB: It was terrifying for her. She had anxiety attacks whenever she thought her mother was going to show up on any given night. That was sad. Ron Fields choreographed her act. We hired him because when he first approached us, he was wearing a sport coat with a red lining and Liza thought that was so spiffy. Marvin Hamlisch did all the arrangements. Marvin played for her and made all the musical selections. She sang “Pass that Peace Pipe.” That was one of our big numbers. She also sang “Liza with a Z,” and as I recall, she ended with “Sing Happy” from Flora as her finale.
KANDER: She also did “Maybe This Time.”
EBB: What else did she sing? Oh, Sondheim’s [singing] “It’s a nice night and the mood’s right / All I need now is the boy.” At first her agents at MCA had hired another writer to do her act, a guy who had written for the McGuire Sisters. He was trying to write for Liza the way that he wrote for them. But he went away for a week, and in that time you and I wrote “Liza with a Z.” I forget his name right now. I’m having a senior moment.
KANDER: Wilbur Evans.
EBB: That’s right. No, it’s not, but who cares? Wasn’t Wilbur Evans in Up in Central Park?
KANDER: Well …
EBB: Well, maybe not. Who cares? After he left, I took over her act.
Liza Minnelli on ″Liza with a Z″:
Fred and John wrote that song in an hour or an hour and a half, and I learned it in an hour, which was impossible. “Liza with a Z” made the name Liza famous, and I’ll always sing that song, just like I’ll always sing “Maybe This Time.”
KANDER: “Liza with a Z” was absolutely true. People were always calling her Lisa.
EBB: Writing the truth is what makes special material work.
KANDER: As a matter of fact, when she performed some years later at the Winter Garden, she wasn’t sure whether it would be such a good idea to use that song again. But on the tickets for that show, her name was misspelled, which gave her the opportunity to say that night, “I thought I would never have to sing this song again, but if you look at your tickets …”
EBB: They had printed the tickets with only one “n” in Minnelli. I remember after Flora the first date that we played with Liza in concerts was the Shoreham Hotel in Washington. At that time, I didn’t know anything about standing ovations. They were not something that happened every minute as far as I knew. At the end of our opening night, everyone in the audience stood up, and I thought, Oh, my God , they’re going home! Liza thought they were going to the coat room. She stood there utterly bewildered and eventually sat down on the stage, overwhelmed by the response. She didn’t know what to make of it, and I didn’t either.
Ron Field was sitting with me, and he said, “They’re standing up because they love her!”
KANDER: She was terrific in Flora
EBB: She was torn — “Do I introduce her? Do I not introduce
her?” There were a couple of incidents. At the Waldorf-Astoria, Liza leaned down to her mother in the audience, and Judy literally grabbed her off the stage, then got up there with her. Liza sat on the side of the stage while Judy did two or three numbers, with the audience going crazy.
KANDER: When the two of them performed together and it was planned, that was different. But if it was a night that was supposed to be Liza’s and her mother took over, that was difficult. The first time I saw that happen was the opening at the Waldorf, and Liza was sitting at her dressing table. Judy was there and she was drunk, sitting next to Liza. Judy said something like, “This is what we always wanted, isn’t it, baby? This is our big night, baby. This is what we’ve always wanted.” Liza just froze. I remember her face in the mirror, and it was one of those times I wished I was someplace else.
EBB: It was terrifying for her. She had anxiety attacks whenever she thought her mother was going to show up on any given night. That was sad. Ron Fields choreographed her act. We hired him because when he first approached us, he was wearing a sport coat with a red lining and Liza thought that was so spiffy. Marvin Hamlisch did all the arrangements. Marvin played for her and made all the musical selections. She sang “Pass that Peace Pipe.” That was one of our big numbers. She also sang “Liza with a Z,” and as I recall, she ended with “Sing Happy” from Flora as her finale.
KANDER: She also did “Maybe This Time.”
EBB: What else did she sing? Oh, Sondheim’s [singing] “It’s a nice night and the mood’s right / All I need now is the boy.” At first her agents at MCA had hired another writer to do her act, a guy who had written for the McGuire Sisters. He was trying to write for Liza the way that he wrote for them. But he went away for a week, and in that time you and I wrote “Liza with a Z.” I forget his name right now. I’m having a senior moment.
KANDER: Wilbur Evans.
EBB: That’s right. No, it’s not, but who cares? Wasn’t Wilbur Evans in Up in Central Park?
KANDER: Well …
EBB: Well, maybe not. Who cares? After he left, I took over her act.
Liza Minnelli on ″Liza with a Z″:
Fred and John wrote that song in an hour or an hour and a half, and I learned it in an hour, which was impossible. “Liza with a Z” made the name Liza famous, and I’ll always sing that song, just like I’ll always sing “Maybe This Time.”
KANDER: “Liza with a Z” was absolutely true. People were always calling her Lisa.
EBB: Writing the truth is what makes special material work.
KANDER: As a matter of fact, when she performed some years later at the Winter Garden, she wasn’t sure whether it would be such a good idea to use that song again. But on the tickets for that show, her name was misspelled, which gave her the opportunity to say that night, “I thought I would never have to sing this song again, but if you look at your tickets …”
EBB: They had printed the tickets with only one “n” in Minnelli. I remember after Flora the first date that we played with Liza in concerts was the Shoreham Hotel in Washington. At that time, I didn’t know anything about standing ovations. They were not something that happened every minute as far as I knew. At the end of our opening night, everyone in the audience stood up, and I thought, Oh, my God , they’re going home! Liza thought they were going to the coat room. She stood there utterly bewildered and eventually sat down on the stage, overwhelmed by the response. She didn’t know what to make of it, and I didn’t either.
Ron Field was sitting with me, and he said, “They’re standing up because they love her!”
KANDER: She was terrific in Flora
Similar Books
