Production sources have confirmed that Liza Minnelli was hospitalized on April 27 due to an "acute severe hip condition."
The singer has been forced to cancel the remaining dates on her national tour and was quoted by New York Post columnist Liz Smith as saying, "Liz, I'm just so mad!"
A diagnosis has not been released at press time and Minnelli is reportedly still in the hospital. Production sources report that Minnelli has had hip surgery twice before on her right side; this current condition involves her left side.
In September of last year, Minnelli announced a return engagement to the Palace Theatre, a heralded one-month run in December that initially raised questions concerning the singer's stamina and whether she could actually go the distance. At the press conference announcing the Palace comeback, Minnelli answered questions about both her health and overcoming substance abuse. She pointed out that whenever she had not performed it was because she could not work, never because she would not. Minnelli performed the entire December run and then announced that she was taking Minnelli on Minnelli, a tribute to her father, the late film director Vincent Minnelli, on tour to several key markets in 2000. The tour production was essentially the same as the Broadway show, although a few changes were made to Minnelli's back-up group. Minnelli on Minnelli, played in San Francisco and in Washington, D.C., but the remaining dates have been canceled after her hospitalization.
Minnelli's hospitalization has forced the cancellation of her dates in the following cities: Chicago's Shubert Theatre, May 2-6 and 9-13
Michigan State University (East Lansing), Sept. 13-17
Detroit's Masonic Temple, Oct. 6-8, 11-15 and 18-22
Boston's Wang Center, Nov. 1-5
Miami Beach's Jackie Gleason Theatre of Performing Arts, Dec. 27-31.
In a prepared statement Minnelli said, "My show is physically demanding and I was doing more damage with each performance and causing myself a great deal of pain. I simply could not continue with the show. It became clear that it wasn't possible to give my fans, who have gotten me through this before, the show that I love to do and that they deserve."
