Liberace Charms All

by Marilyn Nason, The Post-Star, July 11, 1972

Liberace makes believers out of non-believers every performance.

Sunday night at Saratoga Performing Arts Center he charmed over 6,000 and had equal success with an afternoon crowd of comparable size. Whoever labeled him “Mr. Showmanship” made a perfect assessment, for the man has a contagious stage presence, is a talented musician, exhibits an ingratiating smile to charm a snake and has the show business savvy to surround himself with superior back-up acts.

Last year at SPAC he offered an excellent island steel band and this year it was Jamie Redfern of Australia and the Jolly Jovers of England, the latter one of the most unusual comic acrobatic acts I’ve ever seen.

The Jovers are an older couple, she a little on the chunky side and certainly far from what anyone would consider athletic. Yet to watch her partner swing her around and do handstands with her was startling. All the time she kept up a dumb broad giggle that was infectious.

As for Liberace, he made his appearance at the start of the show in an ankle-length black opera coat liberally covered with antique 23-carat gold embroidery.

With him were two magnificent matched Russian wolfhounds. When he removed his coat, he was equally startling in a white and black Argentinian gaucho outfit and these were just the beginning of a half dozen additional changes, each outfit outdoing the other.

When Liberace settles down to playing piano, he is a commendable artist.

He offered everything from a Bacharach medley to Chopin to “Three Little Fishes” done à la Mozart, Strauss, Liszt, and Tschaikovsky, and some of the best double-time boogie woogie I’ve ever heard.

The lighted candelabra, glass-topped piano, frequent applause of the audience, warmth of the performer in his rapport with the audience, all made for an excellent show, a repeat of the delightful evening a year ago. Liberace will be back at SPAC in 1973, without a doubt.

Tonight, the New York City Ballet opens its second week in residence, initiating a series of six “Salute to Stravinsky” performances.

Tonight at 8:30 they will offer “Apollo, “Agon” and “Firebird.” Jacques d’Amboise and Karen von Aroldingen will dance “Apollo” with Allegra Kent doing “Agon” and Miss von Aroldingen with Peter Martins starring in “Firebird.”