Kids, Wait Till You Hear This! by Liza Minnelli

This memoir by Liza is required reading for fans who will not be disappointed - and of interest to anyone who enjoys the history of Broadway, film, and cabaret. She speaks with signature pep and doesn't shy away from missteps.

Daughter of Judy Garland and Vincent Minnelli, sister to Lorna Luft, she has won Emmys, Grammys, Oscars, and four Tonys—the first at just nineteen. Her first Oscar nomination was for The Sterile Cuckoo, her second film was Tell Me That You Love Me, Junie Moon - before Cabaret sent her into superstardom with the help of Kander & Ebb (earning her the Oscar). Between sold-out concert performances, a string of movie hits (Arthur) and misses (fans even loved her in Lucky Lady, some even in Rent-A-Cop), she battled alcoholism and drug addiction with continual stays in rehab. Somehow she emerged each time to critical and commercial success. She said she would never write a memoir as her life has been lived in public, and she didn't write this one. At 80, she narrated this to longtime friend Michael Feinstein, who has taken the reins to preserve her life and legacy. Between her four marriages (and she doesn't spare David Gest), she has an impressive line of lovers (Fosse, Vereen, Baryshnikov, and even the proudly out Feinstein), living life it seems in the haze of optimism and love.

This tells almost all, including the drug-fueled relationship with Scorsese while filming New York, New York and her more difficult times, but still maintains her stature as an EGOT legend. Fans will find this an easy read, packing more into its pages than one lifetime can bear. It's great to hear her memories told in her own words; however, I found it marred by the perceived slight she puts solely on one person, Lady Gaga. To bookend her career with this personal hurt seems petty compared with the myriad of highest and lowest experiences. Being walked over when you are passed out on Lexington Avenue in an alcohol-fueled drug haze would seem to take precedence.

A fascinating life. There is only going to be one Liza.

2025 / Hardcover / 420 pages