Long before nepo babies became de rigueur, Liza Minnelli was navigating life in the spotlight. The daughter of Judy Garland and Vincente Minnelli has a genetic disposition for both talent and addiction. The result: a decade-spanning career, a handful of ex-husbands, financial highs and lows, and familiarity with most of the country’s rehab centers. The EGOT icon puts it all on the page in her new memoir, Kids, Wait Till You Hear This!
What Sally Bowles owes to Flora Meszaros
Liza’s memoir, as told to longtime friend Michael Feinstein with Josh Getlin and Heidi Evans, follows a chronological path from a tumultuous but loving childhood with two celebrity parents through multiple comebacks, surgeries, and marriages. While most of us recall Liza as Sally Bowles in the film adaptation of Cabaret, her Tony win came for Flora, The Red Menace—John Kander and Fred Ebb’s first Broadway show. The musical put Liza on the map as a force to be reckoned with, making her, at 19, the youngest performer to win Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role in a Musical (a record that still holds today).
Liza describes Flora as “feisty, outspoken, and lovestruck,” which sounds like typecasting. Even so, director George Abbott and producer Hal Prince were less enthusiastic, but she finally won them over when the likes of Barbra Streisand and Eydie Gormé either passed or weren’t available.
On opening night, “Mama” (Judy Garland) wanted to sit in the front row and give Liza flowers at the curtain call to snag a moment in the spotlight, but Prince kept her at bay. The after-party was a different story, where Garland hopped on the piano for a few songs (much like Shirley MacLaine’s diva turn in Postcards From the Edge). Despite the raves for her performance, Flora, the Red Menace was a commercial flop, running for only 87 performances. “That’s life on the Great White Way,” writes Liza. “You pick yourself up and get ready for the next opportunity. No one pays you extra for your trouble.”
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Fast facts: ‘Kids, Wait Till You Hear This!’ by Liza Minnelli
Liza Minnelli’s memoir is as feisty and lovestruck as we hoped. The legend, in her own words, has receipts.
- Kids, Wait Till You Hear This! by Liza Minnelli with Michael Feinstein, Josh Getlin, and Heidi Evans
- Published: March 10, 2026 (Grand Central Publishing)
- 448 pages
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