Liza with a W (as in Westbury)

Liza Minnelli is always an event.

Expect nothing less at Saturday night's concert at the NYCB Theatre at Westbury, a stage she has commanded at intervals throughout her nearly five-decade career.

Starting with her uncredited debut as a baby in the final shot of Mama's 1949 movie, "In the Good Old Summertime," Minnelli instinctively knew how to steal a scene.

The daughter of show-biz elite -- singer- actress Judy Garland and director Vincente Minnelli -- has never let her pedigree define or intimidate her.

'CABARET' AND BEYOND

Her current tour coincides with two milestones from the peak of her career. One is the 40th anniversary of the film "Cabaret." She won an Oscar playing Sally Bowles. The second is the first CD/digital release of "Liza Minnelli Live at the Winter Garden." A 27-year-old international superstar in 1974, Minnelli sold out a month's run of concerts in 36 hours. Columbia quickly released an album and just as quickly withdrew it because of contractual conflicts between her performance of a "Cabaret" medley and the soundtrack album. Only pirated versions have circulated since.

Minnelli, 66, credits Kander and Ebb -- John Kander and the late Fred Ebb -- for discovering her.

"They invented me," she says of the composer and lyricist, respectively, of "Cabaret."

"They hadn't even done their first show yet when we met," she recalls. Cast in Kander and Ebb's first Broadway show, "Flora the Red Menace," Minnelli became the youngest performer (19) ever to win a Tony for best actress in a leading role. She later appeared in Kander and Ebb's "The Rink" and "The Act" (winning another Tony) as well as the movie version of "Cabaret," directed by Bob Fosse. They also wrote songs for "Liza With a Z," her Emmy-winning TV special.

HOOF TO YOUR HEALTH

Dance was always a big part of Minnelli's act. And in 2000, it led to her recovery from encephalitis, which doctors predicted would confine her to a wheelchair for life. In 21/2 years, she was back onstage after what amounted to dance therapy.

"It's like an athlete," she says. "You have to train."

Her most recent recovery is from a broken ankle incurred when she fell during New York's October snowstorm. (That forced her to cancel a December date at Westbury. Saturday's is a makeup concert.) "I tripped over my dog," she says. "But feel good. I'm moving well again."

THE 'RAINBOW' EXCEPTION

When asked if her concert set list includes any songs associated with her mother, Minnelli said: "When I was a teenager headed to New York to study theater, I looked at her and said, 'I want to be on Broadway. I promise to make it on my own. I won't sing any of your songs.' And I've kept my promise."

With one exception. Her 2002 comeback concerts -- appropriately titled "Liza's Back!" -- included a tribute to Garland. After decades of refusing fans' requests, she sang "Over the Rainbow."

The concerts were produced by her fourth husband, David Gest, whom she divorced in 2007. Previously, she married and divorced Peter Allen (Minnelli was a character in the musical story of his life, "The Boy From Oz"), Jack Haley Jr. (his dad co-starred with her mom in "The Wizard of Oz"), and Mark Gero.

We asked: Are four husbands enough?

"I'll say!" she replied. "Four's just fine."

One more question: Don't you hate it when even your publicists refer to you as historic?

"I'm not history yet!"

SET LIST

Although Liza Minnelli's concert set list varies, here's one from the European leg of her tour.

"Alexander's Ragtime

Band"

"Liza With a 'Z' "

"My Own Best Friend"

"What Makes a Man"

"Cabaret"

"I Can't Give You

Anything but Love"

"Confession"

"You Fascinate Me"

"He's a Tramp"

"On Such a Night as

This"

"But the World Goes

Round"

"New York, New York"

ENCORE

"Every Time We Say

Goodbye"

WHEN | WHERE 7 p.m. Saturday, NYCB Theatre at Westbury, 960 Brush Hollow Rd.

INFO 516-334-0800, livenation.com

TICKETS $39.50-$59.50