Legendary entertainer Liza Minnelli took the stage once again for her first performance in years on Friday night’s RuPaul’s Drag Race season 17 finale.
The 79-year-old closed out her appearance on the MTV broadcast with a brief, powerful performance of the classic song “Ring Them Bells,” after she accepted the show’s Giving Us Lifetime Achievement Award from Emmy-winning host RuPaul.
“I speak for a grateful nation when I say: Liza, we love you,” RuPaul said at the end of her short interview with the EGOT-winning Hollywood icon and longtime LGBTQ community ally.
“Thank you. I don’t know what else to say, except, if it wasn’t for you, I wouldn’t be me. You made me!” replied the Cabaret actress while seated in a chair for the duration of the segment, as RuPaul quipped, “Well, you made us, actually! One more time, let’s ring them bells!”
A slew of backup dancers then rushed out to the stage while “Ring Them Bells” (which Minnelli previously performed in her 1972 special Liza With a Z) played overhead, with the musician clutching a set of jingle bells in her right hand and shaking them throughout the song.
Minnelli mouthed a few of the lyrics and struck several poses from her chair as the music continued.
For the final note, she held open her arms and lip-synced the grand finale of the song like the superstar that she is.
The cast of queens watched from the audience, with some of them — like theater performer Suzie Toot — getting emotional in the moment, before the entire room stood to applaud Minnelli as the show went to a commercial break.
Minnelli has made fewer appearances in recent years, though she did hit the stage with Lady Gaga at the 2022 Oscars to help the pop star present the award for Best Picture. At the time, Minnelli’s former publicist, Scott Gorenstein, told PEOPLE that “Lady Gaga requested that Liza present the award with her” for the big night, which Minnelli attended in a wheelchair.
“You know how I love working with legends. And I’m honored to present the final award of the evening with a true show business legend,” Gaga said, before the show aired a clip package of the nominees, with Gaga bending down toward Minnelli, whispering “I got you” to the star after helping her sort her cue cards moments prior.
Lady Gaga and Liza Minnelli at the 2022 Oscars. Neilson Barnard/Getty
In addition to her legendary imprint on pop culture, Minnelli has influenced a wealth of RuPaul’s Drag Race queens across the global franchise, with four queens from around the world portraying her on the Snatch Game impersonation challenge, including season 9 and All Stars 8 contestant Alexis Michelle.
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Three additional queens from the worldwide franchise later chose Minnelli as their Snatch Game celebrities, including Canada’s Drag Race season 1 star Scarlett BoBo, Drag Race Down Under season 2’s Hannah Conda, and RuPaul’s Drag Race UK season 6’s La Voix — the latter pair of whom also won their respective season’s Snatch Game challenges.
Additionally, All Stars 7 winner Jinkx Monsoon famously took things one step further when she played Minnelli’s mother, Judy Garland, in an all-time-great Snatch Game performance on the 2022 season.
Watch Minnelli perform in the video above.
