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Legends of Broadway: Liza Minnelli Live at the Winter Garden

Liza Minnelli Format: Audio CD
4.7 4.7 out of 5 stars 45 ratings
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Audio CD, CD, May 8, 2012
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Track Listings

1 Overture: Liza with a "Z" / Ring Them Bells / I Can See Clearly Now / Maybe This Time / Cabaret - Liza Minnelli: Live at the Winter Garden Orchestra
2 If You Could Read My Mind / Come Back to Me
3 Shine on Harvest Moon
4 Exactly Like Me
5 The Circle
6 More Than You Know
7 I'm One of the Smart Ones
8 Natural Man
9 I Can See Clearly Now
10 And I in My Chair (En moi dans mon coin?)
11 There Is a Time (Le Temps)
12 Quiet Thing
13 Anywhere You Are / I Believe You
14 Cabaret Medley
15 You and I
16 It Had to Be You
17 My Shining Hour

Editorial Reviews

Liza Minnelli is Hollywood royalty, but it is on Broadway that she made her most distinctive mark, where her stage persona began to take shape and where she returned throughout her career to rediscover her adoring public. Live at the Winter Garden from January 1974 captures what may be the best of those memorable visits.

Minnelli was already a Broadway veteran, winner of a Tony Award in 1965 followed by, in 1973, Academy and Emmy Awards. At the crest of that incredible wave, Minnelli returned triumphantly to Broadway to hold court at the Winter Garden for a month of performances, captured on this long-unavailable live recording. Bob Fosse staged the show and the composer/ lyricist team John Kander and Fred Ebb supplied new material. The show was a blockbuster hit, selling out the entire month s run in one day and setting a house record for the Winter Garden Theater. At the end of the season, Minnelli was awarded a special Tony Award for the Winter Garden show.

The original album was released in April 1974, but had to be withdrawn because of contractual conflicts over songs from the Cabaret score. Until now, the recording was out of circulation. This long-awaited reissue is derived from the original master, engineered by Phil Ramone. Also included on this CD are three live bonus tracks that were not part of the original Winter Garden LP: Stevie Wonder's "You and I" and two standards, "It Had to Be You" and "My Shining Hour."

Product details

  • Is Discontinued By Manufacturer ‏ : ‎ No
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Product Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5.62 x 4.92 x 0.4 inches; 3.84 ounces
  • Manufacturer ‏ : ‎ Sony / Masterworks Broadway
  • Item model number ‏ : ‎ 25121183
  • Original Release Date ‏ : ‎ 2012
  • Run time ‏ : ‎ 1 hour and 8 minutes
  • Date First Available ‏ : ‎ March 18, 2012
  • Label ‏ : ‎ Sony / Masterworks Broadway
  • ASIN ‏ : ‎ B007LYAYNQ
  • Number of discs ‏ : ‎ 1
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.7 4.7 out of 5 stars 45 ratings

Customer reviews

4.7 out of 5 stars
4.7 out of 5
45 global ratings

Top reviews from the United States

DEWEY M.
5.0 out of 5 stars AT LONG LAST LIZA!: LIVE AT THE WINTER GARDEN
Reviewed in the United States on May 8, 2012
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Liza Minnelli fans will rejoice that "Live At The Winter Garden" (her sold-out Broadway concert from January-February, 1974) has FINALLY been re-released; for the first time ever now on CD. The original album was quickly pulled and taken out of circulation due to some legal problems with the songs from "Cabaret." I guess the "Cabaret" movie soundtrack was on one record label; while Columbia released "Winter Garden; hence the difficulty. Silly, really, since Liza only sings one song-- the title song-- from "Cabaret" here. Lucky me, my Public Library had a copy of "Winter Garden" on cassette tape (which should tell you how LONG AGO THAT WAS!!!) and I checked it out. I distinctly remember listening to this album.
"The Winter Garden" concert offers a bit of everything: comedy ("Exactly Like Me") , dancing, drama, and sex. Listening to it again now, much of the entertainment was clearly over my head as a kid. For instance, I just now figured out that "The Circle" ("girls of the night... at ease with the dark, at odds with the light") is a song about prostitutes. In another one- act play song titled "And I In My Chair", Liza plays a lady who discovers her husband is having an affair while attending a dinner party. And the oh-so-1970's number (And I mean that in a good way) "Natural Man" is a sexy dance number about ladies on the prowl for some hot loving.
Most of all, there is Liza, white hot after the success of the movie "Cabaret" and "Liza With A Z" TV Special. This is Liza in her prime, the way we love her best. Like her famous mama Judy Garland, Liza is simply unable to hide her talents or her enthusiasm, and that makes her simply irresistible here. This is gloriously giggly Liza, ("I Can See Clearly Now") who is having a grand time. She simply lets her talents explode here, and thank God she does.
The unreleased bonus tracks include Liza's especially blusey rendition of "It Had To Be You" and her appropriately titled final encore "My Shining Hour."
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Jennifer Abraham
4.0 out of 5 stars Liza Minnelli Live at the Winter Garden
Reviewed in the United States on January 20, 2013
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Live at the Winter Garden is Liza's third live album and ninth album in total. In my opinion, it's somewhat of a travesty that this album was not released as a double-album to release the entire performance in full, as it does lose some of its flair and character in the translation, so to speak. Even to people who've not seen what the full setlist looked like, it's blatantly obvious that songs from the show were cut for the album version even right from the overture, which boasts "Ring Them Bells" in part of that intro. Yet, the song is nowhere on the album, conveniently missing. (One would think they would at *least* include all the songs from the overture if they were going for subtlety.) The songs that remain are out of order, and it feels like a mis-matched hodgepodge of a disc. Which is a pity, because vocally, Liza was still basically at the top of her game. Even so, the effect of drugs were already starting to take their toll, as is made very evident in the speed of her speech at most points throughout the album, and the frantic nature even of her singing. It's not to the point of unlistenable by a long shot, but it does leave one feeling a bit uncomfortable at points. A little bit of the charisma and charm that Liza With A 'Z' possessed seems to be lacking from this one, but that may also just be a side effect of the album being a so badly butchered version of the original show. It's hard to tell for sure. The particular songs they chose to include here are interesting though, to say the least. Especially such songs as "The Circle" (which is very haunting when the full message of what the song's about hits you) and "Exactly Like Me", which later had to be dropped from Liza's set-list for hurting fans' feelings, even though it wasn't intended to be cruel; rather, it was yet another form of Liza's signature self-deprecation. The version of "There Is A Time" heard on this album is phenomenal; out of all the versions I've ever heard Liza perform of this song, this one is by and large my personal favorite. And who could possibly forget the great rendition of "Natural Man" heard here? With the exception of the very brief snippet of it heard in the "Men's Medley" on the Live At Radio City Music Hall album, I believe this is the only version of the song that ever made it onto a Liza album, despite it having been a staple in her live acts for a good while. I'm very thankful that this song wasn't one of the tracks lost to the sands of time on the cutting room floor.
I wish with every ounce of my being that perhaps someday, a full version of the performance will surface, but until that day, I'm grateful for the re-release on CD that we just saw last year that many of us never expected would really happen. The album may not be perfect, but it's definitely still good, and out of 5 stars, I'd say it deserves at least a very generous 4.
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Richard J. Gatton
5.0 out of 5 stars Liza at her best! What more do you need?
Reviewed in the United States on May 22, 2012
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I first heard this album when it was released by Columbia in 1974 (sorry to admit it!) and can still recall the joy of many of the songs from the album. Now, on CD, they come alive in brilliantly realized sound, with the full excitement of her performance coming forth. Liza is a joy throughout this performance. You remember she won her Oscar for acting when you hear how she acts/sings songs like "Exactly like me" and "I in my chair" when she brings out the nuances and traits of the characters she is singing about. "The Circle" is a song you have to really listen to in order to understand the meaning behind the words - it is not just a lilting song, but a poem about prostitutes. Quite an achievement for a young performer of only 27 years of age to pull off, and she does it masterfully. "A Natural Man" - the pulsating rhythm of the number gets to you and makes you imagine her and her two back-up dances commanding that huge stage with the dance movements of Ron Lewis and the direction of Bob Fosse coming in other numbers. Not a false move in the entire album. Special material by Kander & Ebb, Directed by Fosse, Marvin Hamlisch lending his talents, Ron Lewis doing some of the choreography, and so many other talents involved - a winner all the way.
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Re-master lover
5.0 out of 5 stars stellar !!!
Reviewed in the United States on February 6, 2013
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So happy that this has FINALLY come out in CD form, and the sound is brilliant, as is the performance of Liza; so fresh voiced and vocally creative, and the interesting thing about this concert is that it was almost all new material for Liza, much of it never to appear in another of her concerts, at least recorded.
It's a total exhilarating joy from beginning to end, and the bonus cuts are really appreciated and wonderful! The booklet is also great with the original Lp cover reprinted as well.
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Top reviews from other countries

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Michael Wilka
5.0 out of 5 stars Schnelle Lieferung!
Reviewed in Germany on October 29, 2019
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Alles bestens, vielen Dank!
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Ignatius
4.0 out of 5 stars Interesante.
Reviewed in Spain on November 28, 2016
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Los mejores trabajos discográficos de Liza Minnelli aparecen en sus disco en directo y este no es una excepción, grandes canciones muy conocidas junto a otras no tanto, que junto a su voz en plena forma lo hacen muy recomendable.
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sglynch
5.0 out of 5 stars just get it.
Reviewed in Canada on June 11, 2012
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this is an absolute must for any liza fan. beautifully crafted and an exquisite evening of song. liza at her best.
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robby
4.0 out of 5 stars Sostituzione Lp
Reviewed in Italy on December 29, 2012
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Altro lp in mio possesso che ho amabilmente sostituito con un più pratico cd, oltretutto con 3 bonus non presenti sull'originale. E Liza resta sempre una stella di prima grandezza.
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Edward T. Keeling
5.0 out of 5 stars Best Minnelli CD- EVER !!
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on July 24, 2012
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I was delighted to see that his CD had finally become available. The vinyl version was the first - and consequently greatly cherished - Minnelli album I ever bought (and I still have - loath to move it on until I got the CD. Well I have got it now, and the op shop will benefit rom a donation of the vinyl version.
And to my mind it is STILL the best album in the Minnelli range of live performances. ( I also recently bought Liza at Carnegie Hall (recorded in 1987) and Liza's Back (recorded in 2002)).
She was at the peak of her fame performing to the Winter Garden in 1974, and I have waited for so long for the entire album to re-released on CD. Several songs have appeared on compilations, but never the whole album. Now we understand why - something to do with the orchestration of the song Cabaret was the same as the movie. Ah well...
And sepaking of orchestrations - they suit her style perfectly. The song choice for this album is impeccable and the delivery ranges from raunch to pathos, from showbiz to pop and mahy roads in between.
I still think Liza's version of Shine on Harvest Moon is the best version EVER. Her Quiet Thing from Flora the Red Menace (her first Broadway show) is touching and heartfelt, and the Aznavour song And I In My Chair is sublime. Of course, this was after she had done the Liza with a Z TV production, but the one standout song in the same vein in Exactly Like Me(also from the pen of Kander and Ebb) which takes the mickey out of people who feel that they look like a celebrity. Great fun and very clever lyrics. There's even an Edith Piaf song - The Circle - and while Piaf's French idiom rarely translates well to English, in this case the plight of the "girls of the night" is poignant and delivered with rare sensitivity.
Minnelli is woithout doubt one of the greatest performers of our time - and with her genes, is that at all surprising?
Still, thanks Sony Music and Legends of Broadway for re-releasing this album.
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