Editor’s Note: The following story is reprinted by permission of Parade Magazine, and appears in their March 1 issue. Here’s a peek at what’s to come — plus tidbits too big to make it into the magazine. Click here to see the fabulous Parade layout and photos of the legendary performer.

"If you’ve got one foot in yesterday, and one foot in tomorrow, you’re pissing all over today!"

That’s Liza Minnelli, more or less summing up her amazing resilience, her ability to live in the now. The great star — the Oscar, Tony, Emmy and Grammy winner — who describes herself simply as "a modern vaudevillian," is fresh off her triumphant five-week run at the legendary Palace Theater on Broadway. This is the very spot where her mother, Judy Garland, made history — not once, not twice, but three times. Liza herself played the Palace in 1999 in a show that paid homage to her father, film director Vincente Minnelli.

"Liza’s at the Palace" (now out on CD) was conceived in part as a tribute to her entertainer/author godmother Kay Thompson, whose performing style influenced many an MGM star, including Miss Garland — Judy appropriated a passel of Thompson gestures and cadences. Kay Thompson is best remembered today as the author of the "Eloise" books. (But check out the movie "Funny Face" with Fred Astaire and Audrey Hepburn to see Kay in glorious action, singing "Think Pink.")

I’ve known Liza many years. I’ve seen — and even helped see her through — some of her well-publicized travails. The marriages to Peter Allen, Jack Haley Jr., Mark Gero and — gulp! — David Gest that ended, inevitably, in divorce; the substance-abuse issues, which dogged her for years. What strikes me always is this girl’s ability to banish the blues, bury the bad and start out all over again. (Yes, she is still girlish and fresh at 62.)

When Liza walks into a room or appears, a dazzling figure onstage, I seem to hear the lyrics of the song "Optimistic Voices" from "The Wizard of Oz." We are, all of us, Munchkins, singing: "You’re out of the woods, you’re out of the dark, you’re out of the night/Step into the sun, step into the light/Hold onto your heart/Hold onto your hope."

Liza has, over and over again, stepped into the light and held onto her heart and hope. That is the empowerment she delivers to her audience.

Yet, what most journalists still want from Liza is a temporary abandonment of hope, so that she can tell The Shocking Truth of her life. The tell-all interview. The myth-shattering memoir. So silly. Why? Because over the course of 40 years, Liza has told that tale — in increments, with humor, with a wry nod indicating, "Please be smart enough to read between the lines." She’s gone as far as she’ll go. It is not in her nature to look back in anger or sadness. And it’s not an act. When you meet her at her best you’ll find nothing irrational about her optimism. She has a naked need for approval, and she always receives it. How can you not help build her up, and give her what she must have to go on?