CREDIT: Liza Minnelli's at the River Rock Show Theatre Tuesday through Thursday.

LIZA MINNELLI
River Rock Show Theatre
Nov. 13, 14, 15
Tickets $79.50 - $145 at Ticketmaster

Liza Minnelli shrieks into the phone with a kind of over-the-top Broadway enthusiasm that instantly makes me pull the phone away from my ear.

Her thick New York accent, nervous laughter and fast-talking ways are a dramatic contrast to the grey muffled sounds of a grey November afternoon in Vancouver.

Minnelli is calling from the Martha Graham dance studio in New York City during a break from rehearsals for her new show - parts of which she is bringing to the River Rock Show Theatre for three nights next week.

"Are you going to come see me?" she pleads in a girlish voice. "Oh, please do."

The 61-year-old entertainer has something of a reputation for being hungry for love and affection, which might explain her four marriages (and divorces) as well as her fierce determination to continue performing. She's had two hip replacements, three knee surgeries, and she survived a severe case of viral encephalitis back in 2000.

Despite all the physical and emotional setbacks though, Liza is tirelessly rehearsing a series of songs and dance routines originated by her godmother, Kay Thompson.

She remembers watching her godmother perform in nightclubs and cabarets with four male backup dancers back in the late 1940s and is striving to re-create that atmosphere.

"It's great fun, because it's nothing but movement and song," Minnelli says breathlessly and excitedly.

"I think singing this stuff of Kay's just makes you feel better. And people have said it makes them feel better when they hear it. I remember I used to feel better when I heard it."

Minnelli was still a young child when she saw Thompson perform. Her mother, the legendary Judy Garland, became close friends with Thompson when Thompson was hired to be her vocal coach.

Thompson later wrote a successful series of books about a mischievous little girl named Eloise, inspired by her raven-haired goddaughter.

Minnelli is planning to perfect her performances of her godmother's repertoire and then film it for a project she says will be similar to Liza with a 'Z', a 1972 concert that was filmed and released on DVD last year. She will perform a few of the Thompson numbers in between old favourites such as New York, New York when she's here next week.

Her daily rehearsals sound gruelling, but she cheerily says it's nothing out of the ordinary for her.

"I was trained on Broadway, so that's how I work. I work like a Broadway dancer. I go to rehearsal. I learn it. I learn it frontwards, backwards, sideways, upside down and then relax into it."

All the dancing - combined with an athlete's diet and a healthy state of mind - has caused Minnelli to shed about 30 pounds. "I eat salad and I eat salmon and when you're in training for anything like this, you become an athlete. You really got to go into it properly and with this much dancing and this much movement and song, you've got to be in very good shape. I'm getting there," she says.

"And I'm so happy and I just feel great - physically and emotionally and mentally. I just feel I'm in a very good spot."

And just as I'm growing accustomed to her Broadway baby tone and the clipped pace of the conversation, the music in the background grows louder, she says "all right sweetheart ... all right honey. Bye!" And she's gone, undoubtedly skipping off to where she feels most comfortable - the stage.

aobrian@png.canwest.com