Richard Crouse

SYNOPSIS: The documentary “Liza: Truly Terrific Absolutely True Story,” now playing in select theatres, is a look at the life of Liza with a Z in and out of the spotlight. From her beginnings as the child of two superstars, to etching out her own iconic career on the world stage, the movie focuses on the “truly terrific absolutely true story” of how it all happened.

CAST: Liza Minnelli, Michael Feinstein, Ben Vereen, Mia Farrow, Jim Caruso, Chita Rivera, George Hamilton, Joel Grey, Kevin Winkler, John Kander, Darren Criss, Ben Rimalower, Lorna Luft, Ann Pellegrini, Allan & Arlene Lazare, Christina Smith, Ralph Rucci, Naeem Khan. Directed by Bruce David Klein.

REVIEW: Rich in archival footage, including many never-before-seen images from Liza Minelli’s private collection, “Liza: Truly Terrific Absolutely True Story” is not just a document of one performer’s life, but a look at the era and the people that produced her.

The story of Minelli’s well documented life is engagingly told through archival news and movie footage, home movies, photographs and the firsthand recollections of friends, but it is in the performance footage that a true picture emerges. Early performance clips show a young women bursting with raw talent, but no clear vision. Weighed down by the legacy of her famous family, she had eyes on her before she was fully formed as a chanteuse.

As the film reveals, through the efforts of mentors that she came into her own. Performer, author and godmother Kay Thompson, who along with helping to bring the young woman out of her shell, also gave her this sage advice, “Never go around with people you don’t like.” Next came French superstar Charles Aznavour who taught her to act the lyrics of her songs, Bob Fosse who streamlined her dancing and directed her to an Academy Award in “Cabaret” and lyricist Fred Ebb who became her professional guiding light and personal confidant. “Fred really invented me,” she says.

With their help, along with her superstar designer friend Halston, who created her signature look, we learn how Liza shed the shackles of her past to become mononymous.

Preternaturally talented, director Bruce David Klein paints her as smart, funny and gutsy, but the entertaining and often hilarious “Liza: Truly Terrific Absolutely True Story” is at its best when it allows her to express herself in her natural habitat, on stage in front of an adoring audience.