# I don't get Liza Minnelli. Please explain. **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [September 11, 2005, 4:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dont-get-liza-minnelli-please-explain/321069 "2005-09-11T04:41:24Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![foolsguinea](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/foolsguinea/32/14751_2.png) [@foolsguinea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/foolsguinea)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2005, 12:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dont-get-liza-minnelli-please-explain/321069/41 "2005-09-13T00:04:13Z")
I think she’s cute. I like big noses & wide eyes. So there. Some people! ---
**Author:** ![Cicero](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cicero/32/3594_2.png) [@Cicero](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cicero)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2005, 8:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dont-get-liza-minnelli-please-explain/321069/42 "2005-09-13T08:48:13Z")
Hypothetical- but who else (around at the time) could have played Sally Bowles as well? For that role alone she is a star. :o ---
**Author:** ![Walloon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/fbc32d/32.png) [@Walloon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walloon)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2005, 6:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dont-get-liza-minnelli-please-explain/321069/43 "2005-09-13T18:55:56Z")
Judi Dench was playing the role on the London stage in the late sixties, and Sally Bowles was originally an Englishwoman. You can listen to excerpts [here](http://www.djdchronology.com/mediafileclips.htm). It’s a draw: Liza was a better singer, but Judi probably the better actor. In 1999 she performed the part again in a studio recording of the musical. ---
**Author:** ![jsc1953](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/5daacb/32.png) [@jsc1953](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jsc1953)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2005, 7:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dont-get-liza-minnelli-please-explain/321069/44 "2005-09-13T19:17:15Z")
Never having heard of Judi Dench before _Mrs. Brown_, when she was decidedly…uh, frumpy: picturing her doing Mein Herr in the little low-cut short pantsuit outfit is causing a terminal case of cognitive dissonance. My head’s about to explode. ---
**Author:** ![Walloon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/fbc32d/32.png) [@Walloon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walloon)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2005, 8:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dont-get-liza-minnelli-please-explain/321069/45 "2005-09-13T20:05:21Z")
Calm down. [Judi Dench in _Cabaret_](http://www.djdchronology.com/djd/djd2/06.jpg). ---
**Author:** ![Yookeroo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yookeroo/32/323_2.png) [@Yookeroo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yookeroo)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2005, 4:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dont-get-liza-minnelli-please-explain/321069/46 "2005-09-14T04:14:40Z")
After watching **Cabaret** , I was able to forgive her for everything else she did. But I also liked her in **Arthur** and she’s great in **Arrested Development** ---
**Author:** ![stuyguy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ec9cab/32.png) [@stuyguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/stuyguy)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2005, 5:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dont-get-liza-minnelli-please-explain/321069/47 "2005-09-14T05:42:19Z")
Since we’re talking _Cabaret_, it might be worth mentioning that Liza did not originate the Sally role in the American stage production. Jill Haworth did. While we’re on the subject, the “Money Song” in the stage version is far better than the one in the movie. Don’t know why they changed it. ---
**Author:** ![bienville](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/4bbf92/32.png) [@bienville](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bienville)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2005, 6:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dont-get-liza-minnelli-please-explain/321069/48 "2005-09-14T06:57:38Z")
> [@Walloon](#): > > Calm down. [Judi Dench in _Cabaret_](http://www.djdchronology.com/djd/djd2/06.jpg). You get major points for digging up a photographic cite for such an obscure reference. But if that’s as sexy as she got, then she was still way short of the sexiness required for the role. _Way_ short. Liza brought the sexy (back then anyway). > [@Walloon](#): > > Sally Bowles was originally an Englishwoman. They re-Englished her for the [New York production that ran in the 90’s](http://www.ibdb.com/production.asp?ID=4848) (they kept the character English if not always the actress). I was lucky enough to see it in it’s original space, an old theater that had been completely renovated for this production, which was re-named the Kit-Kat Klub after the club in the play (so it was like you were seeing the show in the club in which the show took place!). [Natasha Richardson](http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0001670/) was an excellent English [Sally Bowles](http://web.ukonline.co.uk/natasha.jsrpages/scans/richardsonn/natasha_cabaret.jpg), but the show totally belonged to [Alan Cumming](http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0001086/) who was amazing and brilliant as the [Master of Ceremonies](http://www.blotter.com/user/leenya/cabaret.jpg). ---
**Author:** ![E.L.Alcalde](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/46a35a/32.png) [@E.L.Alcalde](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/E.L.Alcalde)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2023, 12:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dont-get-liza-minnelli-please-explain/321069/49 "2023-11-10T12:04:36Z")
Never was she à talented singer. She was only famous due to nepotism. ---
**Author:** ![ekedolphin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ekedolphin/32/10003_2.png) [@ekedolphin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ekedolphin)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2023, 12:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dont-get-liza-minnelli-please-explain/321069/50 "2023-11-10T12:21:03Z")
Welcome to the Dope, @E.L.Alcalde . This thread was last posted to in September of 2005. ---
**Author:** ![SanVito](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sanvito/32/2805_2.png) [@SanVito](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SanVito)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2023, 12:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dont-get-liza-minnelli-please-explain/321069/51 "2023-11-10T12:27:31Z")
And what a depressing thread it was - entirely focused on judging actresses on their looks. Judi Dench is an acting genius, but apparently she is just not pretty enough. God. ---
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2023, 2:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dont-get-liza-minnelli-please-explain/321069/52 "2023-11-10T14:10:22Z")
As this thread was bumped 18 years later from a nothing of a bump, I think I shall close this one. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dont-get-liza-minnelli-please-explain/321069.md?page=2)