March 28, 2022
Watch: Lady Gaga, Liza Minnelli Share the Oscars Stage
Kilian Melloy READ TIME: 2 MIN.
Lady Gaga famously duetted with Tony Bennett, but now she's upped her game: Mother Monster shared the Oscar limelight with Liza Minnelli, taking to the stage during the March 27 telecast and commemorating the 50th anniversary of Minnelli's famous starring role in "Cabaret."
Noting that "Queer fantasies came true at the 2022 Oscars," Billboard reported that Gaga and Minnelli took to the stage right after Jessica Chastain claimed the Best Actress award for her portrayal of gay icon Tammy Faye Bakker in "The Eyes of Tammy Faye."
Minnelli herself took the Best Actress statuette for the 1972 "Cabaret" film, in which she played Sally Bowles. Billboard recalled that "Cabaret" "depicted a brief period of LGBTQ cultural liberation in Berlin before the Nazi takeover of Germany that led to the death of six million Jewish people as well as an undetermined number of LGBTQ deaths in concentration camps."
The duo were on hand to present the Best Picture award. Wheelchair-bound but vivacious, Minnelli "laughed while squeezing Gaga's hand," the article recounted.
The telecast featured clips from various films over the course of the show, including some films with significant anniversaries such as "The Godfather," which turned 50 this year. Clips were also shown from the 10 nominees for this year's Best Picture award.
Minnelli explained, "Throughout the night we've seen highlights of the [10 films] nominated for best picture awards," before adding that she and Gaga were going to "tell you who it is."
"After a montage of the best picture nominees, Gaga – wearing a chic suit not wildly dissimilar from the one Joel Grey donned in his Oscar-winning (best supporting actor) performance in 'Cabaret' – sang a bit of the 'Willkommen' number that opens 'Cabaret,'" Billboard recounted.
Minnelli proclaimed herself to be Gaga's "biggest fan," before the pair revealed that the prize went to the Apple TV+ film "CODA."
Watch the moment, embedded in the tweet below.
Kilian Melloy serves as EDGE Media Network's Associate Arts Editor and Staff Contributor. His professional memberships include the National Lesbian & Gay Journalists Association, the Boston Online Film Critics Association, The Gay and Lesbian Entertainment Critics Association, and the Boston Theater Critics Association's Elliot Norton Awards Committee.
