Liza With A Z Collapses With A C On Swedish Stage
Having given, and given, and given again until she could give no more, Last of the Self-Destructive Showtune Belters Liza Minnelli has collapsed four songs into a performance in Sweden last night:
Minnelli, 61, was performing in Gothenburg on Wednesday night in a concert called "A Classic Christmas Night," said Zlatko Nedanovski, who works for the company organizing the show. He said Minnelli felt unwell and nauseous before the concert but decided to perform anyway.
"She performed four songs, which was about half her set," Nedanovski said. "She felt unwell, walked towards the stairs behind the stage, took her first step off the stage, became unconscious, and fell into the arms of someone walking with her."
He said the audience saw Minnelli collapse.
"She remained unconscious for about five seconds. She seemed very dizzy afterwards," he said. [...]
[Nedanovski] said he suspected Minnelli may have been upset that her European agent, Mustafa Metin, was jailed after allegedly assaulting a photographer Dec. 8, and upset at poor reviews for her Tuesday show.
A statement from noted diva-wrangler Liz Rosenberg on Minnelli's official site offers counterpoint to the show organizer's rather stingy and meanspirited claims that the episode was brought on by bad-review-related stress: Calling the tour "triumphant and critically acclaimed," Rosen writes the singer "became very ill" after the show began and was rushed back to New York for "further medical evaluation." Our prayers are of course with her, but we're pretty certain she'll make a full recovery, especially once she's greeted at her Mr. Sinai hospital bed by the smiling faces of Rufus Wainwright, David Geffen, Hugh Jackman, and David Gest, dressed as Dorothy, Scarecrow, the Tin Man, and Cowardly Lion, respectively.
