This holiday season, two Portland actors are transforming themselves physically and metaphysically into Hollywood icons Liberace and Liza Minnelli.
David Saffert and Jillian Snow are back at Portland Center Stage this holiday season with “Liberace & Liza: Holiday at the Mansion (A Tribute)” after a successful first run in 2023. The pair of performers created the musical and also star in it.
Set in Liberace’s Las Vegas mansion, the story is about an imaginary friendship between two legendary Hollywood stars, Liberace and Liza Minnelli, who engage the audience in an over-the-top holiday party full of comedy, music and heart set in Liberace’s Las Vegas mansion. Billed as an “outlandish affair full of candelabras, mistletoe and the neon glow from the Las Vegas Strip,” theatergoers are encouraged to attend donning sequins and glam to partake in the cheer. Spoiler alert: Liberace and Liza like to mingle with the audience, looking to get a laugh.
“I hope they come away happy and their cheeks sore,” Saffert said, while thinking about the audience. “Especially this year with the amount of tension I hope that people just come and allow themselves to melt away. To let any tension melt away for 90 minutes and just enjoy this life that we present.”
Like Liberace, Saffert is a classically trained pianist from Wisconsin and explains that Snow, who can, “sing her face off,” had been portraying Liza Minnelli in New York comedy clubs.
Snow eventually moved to Portland where she crossed paths with Saffert and together they co-founded In Sequins Productions to create the show, “Liberace & Liza: A Tribute.” The holiday version is a twist on the original concept.
“I want [people] to be able to laugh and enjoy themselves and kind of escape for a brief period of time — especially now,” Snow said. “Mine and David’s goal has always been to just make people live this fantasy with us for a little bit and feel the love.”
Saffert has performed piano for Guthrie Theater, Oregon Ballet Theatre, Portland Opera, Oregon Symphony, Portland Gay Men’s Chorus, Oregon Shakespeare Festival, Portland Center Stage and the Interlochen Arts Camp. He was recently featured in “All Classical Radio’s Artist Anthology: 40 Creatives of the Pacific Northwest” and was knighted by Portland’s Royal Rosarians.
A lively three-person band accompanies Saffert and Snow with percussion, bass and keyboard throughout the show. The keyboardist, Bo Ayars, was also real-life Liberace’s music director for 13 years.
“Liberace & Liza: Holiday at the Mansion (A Tribute)” is running at Portland Center Stage through Dec. 22. Showtimes and ticket information are available online.
