The H. Ric Luhrs Performing Arts Center at Shippensburg University presents An Evening With Liza Minnelli on October 19, at 8 p.m.

Liza Minnelli, winner of four Tony Awards, an Oscar, a special “Legends” Grammy, two Golden Globe Awards and an Emmy, is one of the entertainment world’s consummate performers.

In film, on stage and in television, Liza has won critical acclaim, a multitude of fans, and recognition from her peers in show business, giving new dimension and credibility to the word “superstar.”

Considered one of America’s true legends, Liza began her professional career at an early age, 16, in 1963, in an Off-Broadway revival of the musical “Best Foot Forward,” for which she received rapturous notices and her first award, the Theatre World Award. It would be the first among many show business honors.

She had been seen earlier on movie screens in films that showcased her superb acting abilities, including her first film role opposite Albert Finney in “Charlie Bubbles,” followed by “The Sterile Cuckoo,” which won Liza her first Academy Award nomination for Best Actress.

In 1972 her movie career peaked when she played Sally Bowles in “Cabaret.” The film won eight Oscars, including Best Actress for Liza. The role also earned her a Golden Globe and a British Film Academy Award.

The unqualified success of “Cabaret” put Liza on the covers of both Time and Newsweek in the same week.

In 1981, she co-starred with Dudley Moore on the big screen in the classic “Arthur,” going on to make the sequel “Arthur 2” in 1988.

Liza starred in the first concert ever filmed live for television in 1972. The seminal “Liza with a Z” produced a Top 20 album and won the Emmy for Outstanding Single Program and the prestigious Peabody Award.

In between her many TV and film roles, Liza has never stopped touring and has long been considered one of the most exciting concert performers, electrifying audiences around the world and setting records at the most prestigious venues, from the Palladium in London and Opera House in Sydney, to the Olympia Theatre in Paris and New York’s historic Carnegie Hall, where one of Liza’s greatest triumphs was her unprecedented three-week concert engagement in 1987.

One of the greatest and most acclaimed show business triumphs of all time was Liza’s record-setting in-concert engagement at Manhattan’s famed Radio City Music Hall in 1991, where Liza played to packed houses for three weeks, followed by a return engagement.

The show was called, “Stepping Out,” after Liza’s film of the same name, which was released around the same time. She stunned audiences around the world, including London’s legendary Royal Albert Hall, with the sold-out show.

In 2010, following a much talked about cameo in “Sex and the City 2,” Liza released “Confessions,” which was recorded with her longtime collaborator, pianist Billy Stritch. The CD debuted to great reviews.

-Courtesy of H. Ric Luhrs Performing Arts Center

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