Liza with a Z

Liza with a "Z": A Concert for Television is a 1972 concert film made for television and starring Liza Minnelli. The film was produced by Fred Ebb and Bob Fosse. Fosse also directed and choreographed the concert, and Ebb wrote and arranged the music with his song-writing partner John Kander. All four had previously worked on the successful film adaptation of Cabaret earlier in the same year. According to Minnelli, it was "the first filmed concert on television". Singer sponsored the production, even though the producers did their best to keep any of the sponsors from seeing the rehearsals for fear of them pulling out due to Minnelli's short skirts. Filmed on May 31 at the Lyceum Theatre in New York, after only eight weeks of rehearsals, the concert was shot with eight 16mm film cameras at the insistence of Fosse, in contrast to other television specials of the time which were all shot on videotape. Throughout the concert Minnelli sings and dances to a variety of popular songs and standards, music from Cabaret and songs specifically written for her by Kander and Ebb—most notably the title song. Minnelli is accompanied on stage in many songs by dancers and backup singers, and—in three numbers—two guitarists plus a keyboardist and drummer. Costumes were designed by Halston, who was also a friend of Minnelli. Marvin Hamlisch was selected by Kander and Ebb to be music coordinator. The film was first broadcast on NBC on September 10, 1972. Kay Gardella of the New York Daily News reviewed the film as being "sensational with an 'S'" and it went on to win four Emmys and a Peabody Award. However, after the initial broadcast, NBC re-ran the concert only twice more and did not screen it again after 1973. The film was not seen for over thirty years and was thought lost until 1999, when Michael Arick discovered that Minnelli owned the copyright and the two set about restoring the negatives.