The 17 songs of “Minnelli on Minnelli” serve as Liza Minnelli’s personal tribute to the life and career of her late father, Vincente Minnelli, who directed “Meet Me in St. Louis,” “Gigi,” and many other classic films.

Like so many film performances by her mother, Judy Garland, Minnelli’s performance is vibrantly alive with life-affirming songs, humor, and tenderness. Her Broadway show has a limited engagement at New York’s historic Palace Theatre until Jan. 2.

Throughout the nearly two-hour one-woman show, “Liza with a Z,” as she’s sometimes affectionately called, is much more aptly “Liza with a B” – and the “B” is for brilliant.

Minnelli sometimes isn’t able to reach the upper registers of her once-wide vocal range. But in performing “Meet Me in St. Louis,” popularized by her mother or the title song from “On a Clear Day You Can See Forever,” Minnelli has never been better or more comfortable with her material. Late in Act II, Minnelli tells the audience, “When we were trying out this show, I found this trunk that my father had left. And I found stuff [pictures].

First published in the The Christian Science Monitor, on Dec 1, 1999