So we went up to midtown last night for Showtime's big premiere of Liza With a Z, the 1972 television special that hasn't been seen in more than three decades. It was — how to describe? — an experience. Some thoughts, in more or less the order they occurred to us:

• It is amazing that people stand on line for more than a half-hour to get inside to watch a TV show.
• It is amazing that a capacity crowd of nearly 1,200 people fills the Ziegfeld to watch a TV show.
• It is amazing that said capacity crowd gives Liza a standing ovation merely for entering the auditorium.
• (Well, it's a Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS benefit. Given the demographics of the audience, maybe this last one isn't so amazing.)
• It is amazing that the people around you applaud wildly for the opening credits of a TV show. ("It's a clap-happy crowd," mused our plus-one.)

But then we started to actually watch the thing — and our reactions started to change.

• It is amazing how great Liza looks on screen. (Nice outfits, Halston.)
• It is amazing how great the dances and staging look. (Nice choreography, Fosse.)
• It is amazing how great she sounds. (Nice genes, Garland.)
• And then it's amazing to realize you're wildly applauding each number along with the rest of this goofy, clap-happy crowd.
• It's amazing you're actually a little bit sad when the thing ends.
• It is amazing you're looking forward to April 1, when it will premiere on Showtime. (Even better: That'll be a free-preview weekend for the network, so you won't even have to actually subscribe.)
• It is amazing how sad you are that at the after party, notwithstanding the solo microphone standing forlorn at center-stage and the rumors flowing through the crowd, Liza does not perform.
• It is sad that after her big entrance you don't even see Liza around the party — not with Alan Cumming, holding court in a corner booth, not with David Hyde Pierce, chatting at the edge of the dancefloor, and not with Harvey Weinstein, who's prowling the food area.
• And it's nice that you finally get a Liza anecdote from a gossip reporter you know, who is just back from the ladies room. "Out of the way girls," the gossip reporter heard a familiar voice bellow while waiting on line for the toilet. "Move over, I gotta pee."

Scene.

Related:
'Liza With a Z' [Showtime.net]
Out of the Vault, It's Liza With a Zing [NYT]

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