From Bangor Daily News (BangorNews.com), a review of Liza's Maine concert:

Breaking ground: Minnelli performs a gala; UM announces MCA construction

Monday, September 18, 2006

By Alicia Anstead

All those feeling the "little town blues" at the gala season opening on Saturday at the Maine Center for the Arts had their worries melted away as soon as uber-entertainer Liza Minnelli pranced from behind the curtain into a wash of light, with a rapping drum roll and a roar of applause.

If ever there was a performer who filled a stage, filled a spotlight and filled the hearts of her fans with a kick of big-city charm, it’s Minnelli.

But the next time the diva shows up in Orono, she’s likely to be delivering her throaty vocalizations in a performing arts center that looks very different from the one that hosted more than 1,400 patrons on Saturday.

At a formal sit-down dinner following Minnelli’s electric two-hour performance, University of Maine President Robert Kennedy announced that construction will begin at the end of this year’s performance season on an MCA and Hudson Museum expansion project that has been in the planning stages for more than five years.

It was no surprise that Minnelli, the daughter of consummate show people, performed her signature song "New York, New York" or the title song from the hit movie "Cabaret." She was not in the Broadway production.

It also was no surprise that she combined her powerhouse personality with coyness, or that she wore a shimmering and short pink dress, and, in the second half, switched to a sequined black pants suit with rhinestone embellishments. No surprise either that Minnelli’s 12-piece orchestra was made up of top-notch musicians or that she earned a handful of standing ovations. Her musicians even received one.

After the show, Minnelli, who is 60, greeted about 50 sponsors and patrons backstage. She hugged many of them and had her photo taken with each of them. Some asked her to sign programs. Others asked her to sign the jackets of old LPs of the soundtrack from the 1972 film "Cabaret," which made Minnelli a star.

One UM freshman offered the singer advice.

"Go take a vitamin C," Nile McGhie, an 18-year old from Cutler, instructed Minnelli, who had a hammering cough.

"Are you kidding?" Minnelli retorted. "I’m going to get a lobster!"

Throughout the show, Minnelli practically cooed in response to the audience’s warmth. She was wacky — calling a wardrobe assistant onstage to pin up her slouching slacks — sentimental — she told how her mother introduced her to Bill Lavorgna, the night’s music director and drummer — and grateful — her unplanned encore was an a cappella version of "I’ll Be Seeing You."

She gracefully handled audience demands for "Somewhere Over the Rainbow," her mother’s most famous song.

"My mother once told me never be a second-rate version of somebody else when you can be a first-rate version of yourself," she said, referring to her legendary mother, Judy Garland.

Minnelli also dedicated "What Did I Have That I Don’t Have" to her father, Vincente Minnelli, who directed the 1970 film, "On a Clear Day You Can See Forever," which featured the song.

Minnelli's performance proved her enduring star power and underscored that Maine audiences are among the most appreciative and generous

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From: media.www.mainecampus.com,   a rave review of Liza's concert in Maine, Saturday, September 16th, 2006 :

Liza brings glitz to MCA gala night
by Pattie Barry

Issue date: 9/18/06 Section: Style <www.mainecampus.com>

Liza Minnelli's superior talent and skill at performance and her overwhelming ease made the packed 1600-seat Maine Center for the Arts an intimate environment.

"I've never been here before," Liza said at a pause between songs. "I find this place to be superbly special."

And the audience ate it up, as it is quite infrequent when someone of Minnelli's caliber performs in northern Maine. Minnelli began her performance shortly after 7 p.m. to a standing ovation as she belted out Johnny Nash's 1972 hit "I Can See Clearly Now."

By the end of the night she had touched upon many of the songs that spanned her extensive career, including "New York, New York" and "Cabaret," the latter of which had garnered her an Academy Award for Best Actress in 1972 The program was ultimately as diverse as her career, and she sang a variety of songs from show tunes to jazz numbers to classics.

She often mentioned her famous parents through the program, singer-actress Judy Garland and film director Vincent Minnelli, though when an audience member called out a request for "Somewhere Over the Rainbow," Dorothy's famous ode in "The Wizard of Oz," Minnelli said that her mother always told her, "Don't be a second-rate version of someone else when you can be a first-rate version of yourself."

Though Minnelli has been plagued by health problems over the past few years, most notably her hospitalization in October of 2000 for encephalitis, and two hip replacements, she was remarkably well composed for the evening. Despite coughing frequently between songs and complaining about a head cold she was experiencing due to the change of "air conditioners to heaters," Minnelli moved gracefully and her powerful voice did not suffer because of it.

In all, Minnelli was an ideal choice to bring in the 20th anniversary of the MCA. There are few performers who have the ability to command a presence on the stage with simply the power of her voice.