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Liza Minnelli was born into show business royalty on March 12, 1946, and pressed into service onstage at the tender age of 14 months by her singer mother Judy Garland and director father Vincente Minnelli.

According to a short 1947 mention in Variety titled “In Ma’s Footsteps,” “Liza Minnelli, 14-month-old daughter of Judy Garland, makes her acting bow in Metro’s ‘The Pirate,’ which her father is directing.” It didn’t take long for her to move up to a film credit. Her first credited film role was at 3 years old, appearing briefly in “In the Good Old Summertime” alongside her mother.

And though her biggest wish when she was young was to be a dancer, Minnelli ended up doing back-to-back serious dramatic roles before winning her Oscar for her irrepressible performance as nightclub singer Sally Bowles in “Cabaret.”

“I always wanted to be a dancer. I remember going to dancing school because I asked my dad.

“When you’re walking backwards, and you roll your shoulder backwards, it’s not a seduction—it’s a con.”

It’s one of the first impressions we get of Michelle Williams’ Gwen Verdon as she dispenses advice to a group of tired dancers performing “Big Spender” during her husband Bob Fosse’s 1969 film Sweet Charity. It’s a moment in the first episode of FX’s Fosse/Verdon, up for 17 Primetime Emmys, which shows how, not God, but Verdon, was always in the details of the choreographer-turned-filmmaker’s theatrical and cinema canon. To this day, Fosse remains the only entertainer to win the triple crown of an Oscar, Emmy and Tony in the same year—1973—all before he checked into a mental hospital feeling suicidal.

“There wasn’t a dance that she couldn’t dance, everything was in her repertoire,” Williams says of Verdon’s range. Unlike Fosse, she was a trained choreographer,...

FX’s Bob Fosse-Gwen Verdon miniseries is already trying to steal the spotlight. Just as the 2019 Golden Globes began on Sunday, the network dropped Fosse/Vernon‘s first trailer, giving us a tantalizing look at Michelle Williams (as Verdon) and Sam Rockwell (as Fosse) in action.

Premiering in April, the drama chronicles the partnership of Broadway legends Fosse and Verdon. “He was a filmmaker and one of theater’s most influential choreographers and directors; she was the greatest Broadway dancer of all time,” per a release from FX. “Together, they changed the face of American entertainment — at a perilous cost.

Jane the Virgin co-star Jaime Camil is casting a musical spell on Charmed: The actor will guest-star on the witchy new CW drama as Mr. Morales, “the brash and eccentric new Music Director of Hilltowne University’s a capella group,” EW.com reports.

And that’s just the beginning of the Jane the Virgin connections: Camil’s episode will be directed by Jane herself, actress Gina Rodriguez. (The two shows share an executive producer in Jennie Snyder Urman.)

Ready for more of today’s newsy nuggets? Well…

* Audience Network has renewed Mr. Mercedes for a 10-episode third season.

* FX...

FX has set the main cast for the eight-episode limited series “Fosse/Verdon,” Variety has learned.

The series is based on the biography “Fosse” written by Sam Wasson and tells the story of the romantic and creative partnership between Bob Fosse (Sam Rockwell) and Gwen Verdon (Michelle Williams).

Norbert Leo Butz has been cast in the series regular role of Paddy Chayefsky, while Margaret Qually will appear in the series regular role of Ann Reinking.

In addition, the following people have been cast in recurring roles: Aya Cash as Joan Simon, Nate Corddry as Neil Simon, Susan Misner as Joan McCracken, Bianca Marroquin as Chita Rivera, Kelli Barrett as Liza Minnelli, Evan Handler as Hal Prince, Rick Holmes as Fred Weaver, Paul Reiser as Cy Feuer, Ethan Slater as Joel Grey, Byron Jennings as George Abbott, and Laura Osnes as Shirley MacLaine.

Butz is currently starring on Broadway in “My Fair Lady...

FX has rounded out the cast as production begins on Fosse/Verdon (new official title), its high-profile eight-episode limited drama series starring Oscar winner Sam Rockwell and Oscar nominee Michelle Williams in the title roles, from award-winning producers Thomas Kail, Steven Levenson, Lin Manuel-Miranda and Joel Fields, FX Television Studios and FX Productions. Production on the series is currently underway in New York City ahead of its spring 2019 premiere on FX.

Joining previously announced Rockwell and Williams as series regulars are Tony winner Norbert Leo Butz (Bloodline) as Paddy Chayefsky and Margaret Qualley (Novitiate) as Ann Reinking. Additional recurring cast includes Evan Handler (The People v. O.J. Simpson) as Hal Prince; Aya Cash (You’re The Worst) as Joan Simon; Nate Corddry (For All Mankind) as Neil Simon; Susan Misner (Jack Ryan) as Joan McCracken; Bianca Marroquin (Chicago) as Chita Rivera; Kelli Barrett (The Punisher) as Liza Minnelli; Rick Holmes...

FX has rounded out the cast for its upcoming “Fosse/Verdon” limited series, adding Norbert Leo Butz and Margaret Qualley as series regulars.

The two join Sam Rockwell and Michelle Williams, who will play the title characters Bob Fosse and Gwen Verdon. Qualley will play theater actress Ann Reinking, while Butz portrays playwright Paddy Chayefsky. The eight-episode limited series is from Lin-Manuel Miranda and “Hamilton” director Thomas Kail, with Steven Levenson and “The Americans'” Joel Fields producing.

FX also announced a slew of recurring roles, including “You’re the Worst’s” Aya Cash as Joan Simon, and Nate Corddry as Neil Simon. Kelli Barrett will play Liza Minnelli.

Also Read: How Will Disney Manage Hulu and Launch a Competing Streaming Service at the Same Time?

Filling out the rest of the cast are Bianca Marroquin (Chita Rivera), Evan Handler (Hal Prince), Paul Reiser (Cy Feuer), Susan Misner (Joan McCracken), Ethan Slater...

Republic raids an early Rko talkie for a fantastic special effects sequence, and you won’t believe how it’s repurposed — in a story about a TV personality (in 1939!) taking on a corrupt political mob. New York crumbles and is then washed away — sort of. It’s yet another resurfacing of a title that not long ago we couldn’t see to save our cinema-curious souls.

S.O.S. Tidal Wave

Blu-ray

Olive Films

1939 / B&W / 1:37 flat Academy / 62 min. / Street Date October 31, 2017 / available through the Olive Films website / 29.98

Starring: Ralph Byrd, George Barbier, Kay Sutton, Frank Jenks, Marc Lawrence, Dorothy Lee, Oscar O’Shea, Mickey Kuhn, Ferris Taylor, Don ‘Red’ Barry, Raymond Bailey.

Cinematography: Jack A. Marta

Film Editor: Ernest Nims

Musical Director: Cy Feuer

Written by Gordon Kahn, Stanley Rauh, Maxwell Shane, story by James Webb

Produced by Armand Schaefer

Directed by John H. Auer

If Republic wasn’t...

There are plenty of musicals that stand out as among the upper tier of the genre, but few are as easily recognized as both defining and reinventing it at the same time. Cabaret, winner of 8 Oscars, and only missing Best Picture on the technicality of releasing in 1972, pushed the boundaries of the possible abilities and sensibilities available to a musical feature film, and the effects of the new stage it built can be felt all the way to last year’s Les Miserables, which brings forward the surprising power inherent in a showcase of song that is not only not happy, but delivers a variety of emotion based on a solid exposition of the singer’s circumstance. The following of Jean Valjean’s musical efforts closely resembles the now iconic shift in the performance of Cabaret‘s theme song as we work our way to the end of the film.

(L-r) Michael York, Liza Minelli, Joel Grey, Robert Osborne and Marisa Berenson attend the 

"Cabaret" 40th Anniversary New York Screening at Ziegfeld Theatre on January 31, 2013. 

(Photo by Roger Kisby/Getty Images)

Last Thursday I was planning on spending a quiet evening at home curled up with some reading or knitting, or possibly sweeping my kitchen. After all, the arctic temperatures and gale force winds in NYC were not exactly enticement to leave one's home or pajamas. But when I got the invite to attend the 40th(-ish) anniversary screening of Cabaret at the historic Ziegfield Theater and to chat with some of its legendary cast on the red carpet, I put down the knitting, the book And the broom - for life is, after all these years, still a cabaret.

If anything was reason enough for me to freeze my tail feathers off on a Thursday night, it was the chance to meet Liza Minnelli,...

Blu-ray Book & DVD Release Date: Feb. 5, 2013

Price: DVD $14.97, Blu-ray Book $27.98

Studio: Warner Home Video

Eight-time Oscar-winning musical Cabaret was remastered for its 40th anniversary Blu-ray Book and DVD, which come with new and vintage special features.

The 1972 ground-breaking film stars Liza Minnelli (Arthur) as Sally Bowles, a dancer at a girlie club in pre-war 1931 Berlin. Sally falls in love with British language teacher Brian Roberts (Michael York, Austin Powers in Goldmember), whom she shares with homosexual German baron Maximilian von Heune (Helmut Griem, The McKenzie Break). But as the Nazis gain power around them, Berlin becomes a trap that Sally’s German friends can not escape.

Cabaret‘s eight Academy Awards honored the movie’s director (Bob Fosse, All That Jazz), actress Minnelli, supporting actor Joel Grey (Kafka), art direction, cinematography, editing, music and sound. It was also nominated for Best Adapted Screenplay and Best Picture, but didn’t win those categories.