Liza Minnelli, AI project- Page 2

[John Adams]

Posted: 1/25/26 at 3:01pm

Merkin2 said: "Go listen to what Ben Affleck said about AI as it relates to writers."

I also took note re: what Affleck feels is the most common relationship humans currently have with AI.

IMO, if anyone wants to provide a continuous supply of data that AI can use to learn about expressing human emotion, adopt a bot as your friend. (begin at time stamp 14:36)

 

[Jay Lerner-Z]

Posted: 1/25/26 at 4:35pm

binau said: "I genuinely can't wait until the technology reaches a stage that we will be a able to hear Judy Garland perform every Broadway musical (think Rose, many of the ladies in Follies, even weird things like Sunday I'd be interested to hear her sing both leads). We will also have Bernadette singing Sweeney etc.

It's a scary future but there will be some good things to come from AI, at least for me."

 

I can't fathom how you could possibly get any satisfaction out of that.

[GiantsInTheSky2]

Posted: 1/29/26 at 1:16pm

I understand the desire to hear Judy’s voice singing parts that she could or should have gotten (Mame, Dolly, etc). Ethically it’s just messy right now. 

Liza did a non-response on her Instagram, talking about how the cover was a tribute to Rihanna and people just didn’t get it (no one noticed), that her audiobook is out and how overjoyed the publisher is, that she’s tired of people criticizing her…but not really addressing the thing people responded to which was the AI/ElevenLabs of it all (and Feinstein as usual).

I’m honestly curious if Liza truly recorded an audiobook or if it was done by way of her AI partnership. 

[Kad]

Posted: 1/29/26 at 1:23pm

It's pretty clear Liza is not running her social media and the recent posts/statements on there are really not what we'd expect from her. It's becoming disconcerting.  

[GYPSY1527]

Posted: 1/29/26 at 1:44pm

I would truely be heartbroken if she didn't record rhe audiobook and used AI. i really hope this is not the case.
 

GiantsInTheSky2 said: "I understand the desire to hearJudy’s voice singing parts that she could or should have gotten (Mame, Dolly, etc). Ethically it’s just messy right now.

Liza did a non-response on her Instagram, talkingabout how the cover was a tribute to Rihanna and people just didn’t get it (no one noticed), that her audiobook is out and how overjoyed the publisher is, that she’s tired of people criticizing her…but not really addressing the thing people responded to which was the AI/ElevenLabs of it all (and Feinstein as usual).

I’m honestly curious if Liza truly recorded an audiobook or if it was done by way of her AI partnership."

 

[binau]

Posted: 1/29/26 at 2:23pm

Jay Lerner-Z said: "binau said: "I genuinely can't wait until the technology reaches a stage that we will be a able to hear Judy Garland perform every Broadway musical (think Rose, many of the ladies in Follies, even weird things like Sunday I'd be interested to hear her sing both leads). We will also have Bernadette singing Sweeney etc.

It's a scary future but there will be some good things to come from AI, at least for me."



I can't fathom how you could possibly get any satisfaction out of that."

I literally can't fathom how you don't have the empathy to understand how I could get satisfaction from it. 

Look, AI is scary, it can be trash - Liza's song is trash. But it is here to stay, and it's not going away. And it's going to get better, and better, and better. 

Yes, there are ethical issues but you don't really have a choice. You have to accept it. 

So many in this thread are clearly ideologically opposed to AI. But it is what it is. You can learn to live with it, you can criticise it, you can complain about it. But you will never, ever be able to ignore it. It's going to be in your workplace, in your home, in our theatres, in our cinemas, in our hospitals, in our art.

It's going to write for us, sing for us, learn for us, teach us, do our work, entertain us, help us, heal us etc. etc. whether you like it or not. 

It may also do a lot of bad too - but you don't really have a choice. It's here to stay. You can't put the genie back in the bottle. 

You will never, ever be able to ignore it. Good luck. 

You can listen to "I don't want to know" from DEAR WORLD over and over again about this strange dystopia we live in now, but it won't matter at all. When you look outside, when you turn on your TV, when you open a book, when you work, when you do anything you will eventually see this technology everywhere and in everything.

I hope to god it doesn't destroy our society. 

Updated On: 1/29/26 at 02:23 PM

[TheatreFan4]

Posted: 1/29/26 at 8:11pm

binau said: "I genuinely can't wait until the technology reaches a stage that we will be a able to hear Judy Garland perform every Broadway musical (think Rose, many of the ladies in Follies, even weird things like Sunday I'd be interested to hear her sing both leads). We will also have Bernadette singing Sweeney etc.

It's a scary future but there will be some good things to come from AI, at least for me."

You'll never hear that because AI cannot make choices. People make choices, AI will take a voice and strap it to a track and have them replicate it. Sure it'll be their voice, but none of their decisions because AI cannot think. AI should be detecting early cancer, not make you feel good listening to Judy Garland "sing" Another Winter in a Summer Town. Your own mind is going to come up with a far better approximation of what that is than AI could ever...

[binau]

Posted: 1/30/26 at 1:08am

Are you saying that given an indefinite amount of time that AI will never be able to produce a convincing replication of Judy Garland singing Another Winter in a Summer Town? (Great suggestion by the way I’d love to hear that). Of course it will. I don’t get what you mean haha. And when it can, it might feel a bit icky and uncanny but ultimately my mind will process the timbre of Judy Garland’s voice and enjoy the song when the sound is convincing enough. The same way I can enjoy Debbie W doing her impersonations even if it obviously isn’t the real thing. 

[Shirley Devore]

Posted: 1/30/26 at 6:50am

Updated On: 2/6/26 at 06:50 AM

[TheatreFan4]

Posted: 1/30/26 at 8:29am

binau said: "Are you saying that given an indefinite amount of time that AI will never be able to produce a convincing replication of Judy Garland singing Another Winter in a Summer Town? (Great suggestion by the way I’d love to hear that). Of course it will. I don’t get what you mean haha. And when it can, it might feel a bit icky and uncanny but ultimately my mind will process the timbre of Judy Garland’s voice and enjoy the song when the sound is convincing enough. The same way I can enjoy Debbie W doing her impersonations even if it obviously isn’t the real thing."

Absolutely not because it, again, can only replicate. She died in the 60s. She can't work with a music director. She can't make any decisions for the text. The very BEST they could hope for is making her match Christine Ebersole's cadence because all they'd have to train generative AI on are her incredibly old (and very different genres) and basically Christine Ebersole's performances of the song. It's Frankensteinining it. It's not that it's "icky", it's that it's just literally not her. Not her decisions. Its like saying it'd be able to create a Sondheim score! It could never! It could try and stupid people can be entertained, but he is dead. It's poor digital celebrity impersonation and that's all it can be.

[Merkin2]

Posted: 1/30/26 at 9:51am

I think Ai can have Ai Judy Garland sing a song in the style of Judy.  There’s clips of her singing somewhere over the rainbow looking forlornly so they can imagine what her singing another winter in a summer town might be like 

[Scarywarhol]

Posted: 1/30/26 at 11:05am

This feels like a Stan Lee situation, I'm very concerned for her. 

[GiantsInTheSky2]

Posted: 1/30/26 at 11:19am

Liza (and of course Michael) are doing a one-night conversation in Downtown LA in March. Each ticket comes with a signed book - which is most likely to be done via autopen, if not just Michael himself. 

[TheatreFan4]

Posted: 1/30/26 at 11:27am

Merkin2 said: "I think Ai can have Ai Judy Garland sing a song in the style of Judy. There’s clips of her singing somewhere over the rainbow looking forlornly so they can imagine what her singing another winter in a summer town might be like"

...So No?

What about Somewhere Over The Rainbow and Another Winter are even similar? Like I said, simple people are easy to entertain but it's not going make it Judy. A celebrity impersonator can dress up as Cher all they want, it doesn't give them the abilities of Cher. AI literally can't imagine. It can't create. It can only regurgitate. Your mind is a far more powerful tool for imagining what that would look/sound like. Please go use it. 

[TotallyEffed]

Posted: 1/30/26 at 11:38am

Gay facts: the song is simply called "Over the Rainbow"

[John Adams]

Posted: 1/30/26 at 11:39am

TheatreFan4 said: "It's Frankensteinining it. It's not that it's "icky", it's that it's just literally not her. Not her decisions. Its like saying it'd be able to create a Sondheim score! It could never! It could try and stupid people can be entertained, but he is dead. It's poor digital celebrity impersonation and that's all it can be."

Enough time will pass that the work of Sondheim, Garland, or Ebersole will no longer be front and center (or on "speed dial" in the public's memory. Most people's memory will become "hazy" re: their voices, or their work. 

I think John Philip Sousa might be an example of that effect. In his time, his work was extremely popular with the general public. Today, I think most people would have a hard time naming any other of his works beyond, "The Stars and Stripes Forever".  I also believe that Andrew Lloyd-Webber can use bits and bobs of Puccini in his work, without it generally being noticed, for the same reason. IMO, if Lloyd-Webber had been born earlier, and had written his work alongside Puccini’s, more people would recognize the similarities immediately.*

Technically, any AI impersonation can be brushed off as being, “in the style of…”. I do believe (as I’ve written before), that there most definitely will be a future where AI will be taken for granted just like our current technologies. Artists’ work that is currently recognized as attributable to a specific artist, may not be so in the future. Giving credit to the AI will be a non-issue unless there is an effort made by people not to be “stupid”. (Fat chance of that happening.)

* PS: Another example: 
I can remember when “Hadestown” first opened on Broadway, and there were posts re: Patrick Page’s performance as Hades. No one seemed to see (or be aware of) how strikingly similar his performance was to that of Ken Nordine’s Word Jazz recordings from the mid -late ’50s. When enough time passes, memory fades and can be replaced.

Updated On: 1/30/26 at 11:39 AM

[binau]

Posted: 1/30/26 at 12:49pm

TheatreFan4 said: "Merkin2 said: "I think Ai can have Ai Judy Garland sing a song in the style of Judy. There’s clips of her singing somewhere over the rainbow looking forlornly so they can imagine what her singing another winter in a summer town might be like"

...So No?

What about Somewhere Over The Rainbow and Another Winter are even similar? Like I said, simple people are easy to entertain but it's not going make it Judy. A celebrity impersonator can dress up as Cher all they want, it doesn't give them the abilities of Cher.AI literally can't imagine. It can't create. It can only regurgitate. Your mind is a far more powerful tool for imagining what that would look/sound like. Please go use it."

I’m not really sure I even understand your argument. Yes it isn’t real. Yes it might be a cheap - or not so cheap - impersonation. That’s the point. What do you think of Debbie W’s album of Garland impersonations? What is the difference between this and say AI doing the same job quickly and easily across an entire catalogue of music? 

The point is Judy Garland is dead and her once in a million and unique voice will soon be able to be used to create songs in the style of her voice. Your point that AI can’t create just regurgitate is exactly why this is a perfect use case. I want them to regurgitate her vocal style in other contexts that’s the point. 

I find it rather strange to suggest we should just pretend in our minds? No I want to hear it. I want to hear Bernadette sing Lovett. It may not be perfect, but if the choice is nothing or something I’ll go with something every day of the week? 

And it’s funny the rhetorical device you used ‘simple people’ - ok so now if we don’t agree with you we are simple now are we? Lolol. I am not simple and I am going to leverage AI for the fullest extent of its capabilities to experience the sounds I want to hear when the real thing can’t produce them anymore. 

Updated On: 1/30/26 at 12:49 PM

[TotallyEffed]

Posted: 1/30/26 at 12:51pm

John Adams said: Enough time will pass that the work of Sondheim, Garland, or Ebersole will no longer be front and center (or on "speed dial" in the public's memory. Most people's memory will become "hazy" re: their voices, or their work."

 

Take it back.

[TheatreFan4]

Posted: 1/30/26 at 1:44pm

binau said: "And it’s funny the rhetorical device you used ‘simple people’ - ok so now if we don’t agree with you we are simple now are we? Lolol. I am not simple and I am going to leverage AI for the fullest extent of its capabilities to experience the sounds I want to hear when the real thing can’t produce them anymore."

Because it's for shallow dopamine hits. Enjoy the work they actually created instead of puppeting a corpse to dance for you. Bernadette is alive she can sing Lovett if she wants to. It's a bit ghoulish to think when she's dead someone could just make her do it instead. You say "can't" produce anymore and that shouldn't be the decision of others. AI in Art is the most bottom of the barrel capitalist bull****. We have so much art in the world to enjoy. Go enjoy it. 

[Merkin2]

Posted: 1/30/26 at 1:53pm

Ai knows what it’s told.  It has the entire internet at its disposal with clips and information about Judy Garland and the way she performed.  AI can absolutely create a video of Judy garland singing another winter in a summer town.  Why do you keep denying this?  I don’t see any harm in it, it’s just fun.  Nobody here is suggesting it’s capable of human emotion, go listen to what Ben affleck said. 

[Merkin2]

Posted: 1/30/26 at 2:09pm

Nobody said we should be toying with corpses.

AI is capitalist bull$hit?  And paying money to go see someone live isn’t?

AI is just the latest technology.  Nothing more, nothing less.  

[John Adams]

Posted: 1/30/26 at 2:19pm

TotallyEffed said: "Take it back."

I know... 

Equally saddening is the loss of Catherine O'Hara.

The good news is that digital audio/video will assist in counteracting the natural process.

Updated On: 1/30/26 at 02:19 PM

[TheatreFan4]

Posted: 1/30/26 at 2:21pm

Merkin2 said: "Ai knows what it’s told. It has the entire internet at its disposal with clips and information about Judy Garland and the way she performed. AI can absolutelycreate a video of Judy garland singing another winter in a summer town. Why do you keep denying this? I don’t see any harm in it, it’s just fun. Nobody here is suggesting it’s capable of human emotion, go listen to what Ben affleck said."

It quite literally is puppeting a corpse. Same as those weird ass deep fakes that have popped up time and again in films bringing back long since dead actors to dance for people in their famous roles. It is weird and it is sad for people to want more of that. They don't see the contributions of these people in the culture as anything more than content. On stage you are seeing the work and art of people who work themselves to bone to do what they do and provide you with art. Attempting to have a machine do that for you is triviliazing that. It is not just "for fun" it is the dumbing down of culture. Art is created, you don't tell art what you want it to be. Like I said, if Bernadette wanted to do Lovett, she can. Don't make a computer do it because she won't so you can clap like a seal for it. 

[binau]

Posted: 1/30/26 at 2:28pm

I kind of agree with you about the ethical issues. To steal someone’s likeness and try and replicate that especially without consent is ethically dubious territory.

But if we are talking about the art, hypothetically if it could produce the likeness in a way that is indistinguishable from the real thing would you still reject it? Ie is it just the principle rather than the outcome?

[Jay Lerner-Z]

Posted: 1/30/26 at 3:19pm

binau said

"I literally can't fathom how you don't have the empathy to understand how I could get satisfaction from it. "

 

Why do I need empathy? I'm a giant Bernadette fan too, but I would know that an AI Bernadette is NOT her, and only a rough approximation of what her performance might be like. It might be mildy interested in it for one sample listen, but it could never compete with the real thing.