By Michael Barbieri****Did you know that Liza Minnelli was offered the role of Maria in The Sound of Music? That she was supposed to play Fanny Brice in Funny Girl? That she was set to play Fantine in the original Les Miserables?! Well… not really. But this is the hilarious conceit behind Trevor Ashley’s brilliant show Liza’s Back! (Is Broken), which played recently at Sony Hall.
Trevor Ashley is an Australian actor, cabaret performer and drag artist based primarily in Sydney, Australia. He created the role of Miss Understanding in the original production of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert:The Musical, he’s played Edna Turnblad in Hairspray in Melbourne and Sydney, Franz Liebkind in the Melbourne cast of The Producers and his show Trevor, The Arena Mega Musical played here in New York at Don’t Tell Mama. He’s been nominated for a Sydney Theater Award for Best Cabaret and Cabaret Hotline called him “A knockout performer.” Liza’s Back! (Is Broken) premiered in Melbourne in 2016, and for his performance here at Sony Hall, “Liza” had the sold out crowd in the palm of her hand and was indeed a knockout!
The minute Ashley hit the stage, belting out his opening number, “Liza’s Back,” the illusion was perfect! Dressed in a black, bugle-beaded pantsuit, he looked and moved just like the lady herself. Also, his vocal impersonation was spot-on, complete with her trademark vocal belt, her mushy ‘S’ sounds and her familiar half-giggle. And every so often, when he’d throw his head back to give us her slightly overenthusiastic “HA!” to punctuate a phrase, he was almost more Liza than Liza!
Joking that she was in town for her King Kong audition, Liza told us that she was recovering from a back injury. She told us that the doctor had given her a pain killer… “yeah, cocaine!” She then gave us a few phrases from Amy Winehouse’s “Rehab,” which led into a smart mash-up of “On Broadway” and “Broadway Baby,” with Winehouse’s Motown-esque groove used as the through line in the arrangement.
All of this was a set up for the real joke of the evening, which was, of course, that Liza had been approached by the creators of Broadway’s best-loved musicals, all of which she’d turned down for one reason or another. In The Sound of Music, for example, she felt the children nee
ded to be cut entirely; as she envisioned it, they had all died in a tragic house fire. This would’ve allowed Captain von Trapp to fall in love with her immediately, without those pesky kids stealing attention from “Maria Minnelli!” A medley from the show included priceless, Liza-fied versions of “I Have Confidence,” “Do-Re-Mi” (with the audience singing along), ending with the yodel from “The Lonely Goatherd.” And you ain’t heard nothin’ till you’ve heard Liza yodeling!
After a snippet of “One,” from A Chorus Line, Liza confided that Michael Bennett had based the show and its characters on her and her life stories. This led to one of the funniest moments of the evening. After telling us that all she needed was the music and the mirror… “just a small mirror that fits in my handbag that I can take into the bathroom with me,” she brought out her little hand mirror and laid it on the piano. She then dumped out a tiny baggie of white powder, bent and snorted and proceeded to give us a side splitting version of “The Music and the Mirror,” complete with an almost exact recreation of Cassie’s dance break— possibly one of the funniest things I’ve seen in a cabaret show!
Apparently, Andrew Lloyd-Webber called Liza, asking her to star in his musical of Sunset Boulevard. After reciting Norma Desmond’s iconic “There’s nothing else—just us and the cameras and all those wonderful people out there… in the dark,” we got an over the top rendition of “As If We Never Said Goodbye,” complete with a big, brassy, fabulous modulation toward the end. It was pure camp delight, and honestly, I would’ve gone to see her play the role!
After a short intermission, Liza returned in a blue spangled outfit and a blue, white and red sash for a wonderfully ludicrous “Do You Hear the People Sing,” from Les Miserables. She told us the composers, “Jean Claude Mumble-mumble-mumble and Bluhbluh Bluurrgh-blurgh” had offered her the role of Fantine, whic
h she turned down when she saw the costumes they wanted her to wear! If she had been allowed to glam it up a bit, she said she would’ve given Les Miz some pizzazz!
In one of the cleverest moments of the night, Liza channeled her mother! Yes, while reminiscing about her performances of Judy & Liza Live at the London Palladium, Liza became Judy! With a few subtle changes in the vocal impersonation and physical mannerisms, we saw a masterful mimic who gave us Garland at her slurring best! Telling us she had always wanted to play Mame on Broadway, she then went into a touching and eerily accurate “If He Walked Into My Life.”
We got a pitch-perfect “Some People,” from Gypsy and a very silly “Send in the Clowns,” from A Little Night Music, where she smoked, drank a martini and gobbled the olive from the cocktail, while puffing her cigarette the entire time. She also gave us a jazzy, Liza-fied “Memory,” from Cats, and a sassy, giggle-filled “On Broadway.”
Liza’s Back (Is Broken) is something of a wonderful contradiction. It’s a mostly loving tribute to Minnelli, always with a wink at the audience, but it’s also an irreverent and wicked impersonation that lays bare all of the diva’s over the top mannerisms and legendary personal problems in hilarious, often jaw-dropping ways. Ashley’s Liza has clearly NOT been to rehab; she’s a martini swilling, coke snorting, demurely egotistical STAR, with a capital S! And while Minnelli herself, if she saw it, might not appreciate the characterization, the audience at Sony Hall ate it up, giving Ashley several standing ovations at evening’s end!
Musical Director Tedd Firth conducted a 7-piece mini-orchestra, and yet the sound was perfectly balanced, with Liza’s vocal always at the forefront. The lighting and sound technicians at Sony Hall are to be commended as well for their work. With such a big sound, the band’s volume could’ve overpowered Mr Ashley, but never did.
The evening ended with several Liza classics: “Cabaret,” with a parody verse that began with “I used to have a Mama known as Judy,” “Maybe This Time,” delivered pretty much straight and “Theme from New York, New York,” which was belted out with typical Liza bombast! As for the Broadway shows she never got, well, “Liza” put it best—she said, “I’m not saying I could’ve done them better. I’m saying I WOULD’VE done them better.” In that moment, Trevor Ashley was pure Liza!
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