photo by Bruce-Michael Gelbert
Electra as Liza Minnelli
...........................................................................................

A favorite performer, Electra, returned to Cherry Grove, from Florida, to perform at Cherry's, at the end of June and beginning of July, and I caught her performance there as Liza Minnelli on June 29. Perhaps best known for her Bette Midler, Electra brought to her loving and energetic tribute to Liza the same detailed, disciplined precision that she brings to her incarnation as the Divine Miss M. Kevin "Ginger Moore" Hammond served as DJ.

"Liza's Back," as good as new after rehab, detox, dieting, whatever, Electra declared with determination, and working the room, invited, "Teach Me Tonight." She took us back with her sultry "Shine on, Harvest Moon" and "It Had to Be You."

About Liza, Electra explained, "She and I have a lot in common: we've both had gay husbands," and with intensity, offered, from the film of "Cabaret," "Maybe This Time," "dedicated to all of you losers out there." She donned a boa to bid us, "Come to the Cabaret" and segued into "City Lights." She let out all the stops for "Some People," from "Gyspy," showing us the more aggressive side of the often vulnerable Liza, and looked at life philosophically in "The World Goes 'Round."

A powerhouse medley, made up of "There's No Business Like Show Business," "Steppin' Out," and "New York, New York" was Electra's finale. She then treated us to two encores. She saluted Cherry Grove with a sweet "Never Never Land," from "Peter Pan," and, at its end, paid homage to Liza's mother, Judy Garland, with a bit of "Over the Rainbow," from "The Wizard of Oz." For a second encore, she began Charles Aznavour's look at gay life, "What Makes a Man a Man," as Liza, before moving into Aznavour's own version, removing drag, makeup, and wig during it, to put Electra away, and become, once more, Jim Buff.

Electra and Charity share the bill at Cherry's on July 5 for Dining with Divas and the show that follows.