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Reviews
Liza with a Z (1972)
Quintessential Liza/Fosse
The show was broadcast on T.V. once or twice in the early '70s. Recently I had the rare pleasure of viewing a bootleg video of the show as it was broadcast. If you think you know how well Liza could dance, and how captivating she was on stage, and if you think you know how extraordinary Bob Fosse's choreography & direction could be, and you haven't seen this performance, then you still don't know.
The marriage of Liza, Kander & Ebb, Fosse & the glitz of early 1970s musical theater come together here in perfect harmony. The lighting, the dancing, the songs, the costumes, the star. This was the year that Liza won an Oscar (for Cabaret), and an Emmy & a Tony for this production, "Liza with a Z". She may have also gotten a Grammy that year, but even if she didn't, it's a hat trick that stands alone in the annals of American entertainment. For her and for us, it's been all down hill from here.
To see her do "Ring Them Bells", "Mammy", "Son of a Preacher Man" and "Bye, Bye, Blackbird", just four numbers on this hour-long video, is worth the trouble of finding a bootleg copy.
Entertaining Mr Sloane (1970)
Black Sexual Comedy
I first saw EMr.S as a teenager who had just come out of the closet. As a child I was a fan of '60s horror films (Carradine, Cushing, et.al.) and black comedies (e.g., "No Way to Treat a Lady") and suspense/murder ("Eye of the Cat" or "Wylie", "What Happened to Aunt Alice?", "Daddy's Gone a Hunting", "Who Killed Teddy Bear?"). EMr.S, at least as I remember it after 20 years, combined those genres. The title character, handsome and bi-sexual, added the homo-eroticism that made for a very happy young gay movie fan indeed. It also led me to learn that the Brits were years ahead of Hollywood in the treatment of gay characters in movies, and I now count "Who Killed Sister George?" and "The Leather Boys" as other personal favorites.