jimac51
New Member
A couple of weeks ago,Liza's name came up in some gossip story that was reported here,and I mentioned that her 1972 TV special was making the rounds on Showtime and was released on video. Strangely,our Blockbuster has two rental copies and it did take a couple of weeks for one to show up when I was in there.
It's pretty amazing. Sure,parts of the show don't wear well(she does that pre-disco novelty song "I've Gotcha",but I see someone is using that in a current commercial,so so much for aging poorly).But the clarity,both visual and audio,are really great. Bob Fosse choreography created especially for this show(Fosse also directed,shortly after directing Liza in the film "Cabaret"-both Fosse and Minnelli would receive Academy Awards,the film won five more),new material by John Kanter & Fred Ebb,it was another one of those amazing Singer Special with the look of a Broadway production and it was filmed with 8 cameras in one night.
The DVD story is that Liza had the rights to the show and gave it over to someone to restore. It took six years. Evidently,though, much of the original components,including some unused footage,were still there,so,frame by frame,this was restored.
Part of the reason I'm bringing this up as a topic is not only because Liza has A&M ties,but the interview material about the restoration leads one to wonder about Mr. Alpert's TV specials and the oft asked question of why they aren't out. Well,part of the answer is the work that was done for this show. Now,there was already a market for this show because of Liza's cult of fans(I'm not one of them,but when she did good work,it was amazing).The DVD ranks #104 on Amazon today-not bad for a one hour entertainment show that is almost 35 years old,but it just shows the work versus the payoff that is needed to make this work financially. Mac
It's pretty amazing. Sure,parts of the show don't wear well(she does that pre-disco novelty song "I've Gotcha",but I see someone is using that in a current commercial,so so much for aging poorly).But the clarity,both visual and audio,are really great. Bob Fosse choreography created especially for this show(Fosse also directed,shortly after directing Liza in the film "Cabaret"-both Fosse and Minnelli would receive Academy Awards,the film won five more),new material by John Kanter & Fred Ebb,it was another one of those amazing Singer Special with the look of a Broadway production and it was filmed with 8 cameras in one night.
The DVD story is that Liza had the rights to the show and gave it over to someone to restore. It took six years. Evidently,though, much of the original components,including some unused footage,were still there,so,frame by frame,this was restored.
Part of the reason I'm bringing this up as a topic is not only because Liza has A&M ties,but the interview material about the restoration leads one to wonder about Mr. Alpert's TV specials and the oft asked question of why they aren't out. Well,part of the answer is the work that was done for this show. Now,there was already a market for this show because of Liza's cult of fans(I'm not one of them,but when she did good work,it was amazing).The DVD ranks #104 on Amazon today-not bad for a one hour entertainment show that is almost 35 years old,but it just shows the work versus the payoff that is needed to make this work financially. Mac
