Put down the knitting, the book and the broom. Liza Minnelli, that indestructible showstopper in sequins, will step into the spotlight at Merrill Auditorium on Sept. 29, launching a new season of Portland Ovations attractions.

Along with Minnelli’s trademark razzle-dazzle renditions of “New York, New York” and “Cabaret,” the 64-year-old dynamo will perform highlights from a newly released studio album that longtime fans are already touting as one of her finest efforts.

Whether on tour or in the recording studio, Minnelli is ably assisted by Billy Stritch, a multitalented collaborator who just happens to be a show business phenomenon in his own right. The Grammy Award winner has performed at Carnegie Hall, recorded tributes to the likes of Mel Torme and Hoagy Carmichael and co-wrote the chart-topping country smash “Does He Love You?,” which was recorded by Reba McEntire. Now, the composer-musical director-celebrity confidante is accompanying Minnelli as she keeps pace with a grueling concert schedule over the next several months.

“Liza really inspires me,” said Stritch. “I’ve known her and worked with her for so many years and it never ceases to amaze me how she immediately creates a connection with the audience.”

“With most people who do concerts or tour these days, the shows tend to be very produced and scripted down to the minute. With Liza, you’re getting one of the great vaudevillians and she knows how to keep the show fresh and exciting night after night,” Stritch said. “She’s such a talented actress and singer and she’s maintained this terrific career for such a long time that the love from the audience gets deeper as the years go on. There’s just nobody like her.”

The same could be said of the versatile and prolific Stritch, who began taking requests and keeping an eye on his tips jar back in his hometown of Sugar Land, Texas. “I started performing and doing my first gigs when I was about 15,” Stritch recalled. “One of my first jobs was playing piano in this country club piano bar and that involved learning a lot of standards. You know, really learning Gershwin and Cole Porter and Irving Berlin. … I mean, let’s face it, that music was already old when I was a teenager, but those songs are so good and so timeless that they’re always open to all sorts of new interpretations” — including a Minnelli makeover.

Liza delivers her lights-down-low interpretations of classic ballads and torch songs on her new CD, “Confessions,” which called upon Stritch’s talents as arranger, associate producer and pianist. “I love this new album that I’ve done with Liza,” Stritch said. “It’s a collection of intimate standards. It’s basically Liza and me with very little augmentation. … I think everybody is going to be quite surprised because this is Liza very pulled back, very personal and intimate. … The mood we were going for is music for a late night gathering in a penthouse in New York. … Somebody’s great private party, you know?”

Besides evergreens like “At Last” and “All The Way,” “Confessions” contains poignant tributes to Minnelli’s legendary parents. The wistful tune “This Heart of Mine” was performed by Fred Astaire in the 1946 musical “Ziegfeld Follies,” which was directed by Liza’s Oscar-winning father, Vincente Minnelli.

Another standout selection on the album, “If I Had You,” was heard as background music in Vincente Minnelli’s wartime melodrama “The Clock,” which starred Liza’s mother — the immortal Judy Garland.

“With this particular season that we’re doing, each concert features about 25 minutes of showtime devoted to songs from the new CD,” Stritch said. “I certainly know that her fans are going to love it. We’re going to give them some new stuff and they’ll also be getting all of her high voltage hits, too. We do everything in this show.”

Stritch’s September appearance in Maine is actually a return engagement. “I worked with Liza in Bangor about four years ago,” he said. “We did a concert (at the Maine Center for the Arts) and it was really great, but I’ve always wanted to visit Portland because it’s the hometown of one of my best friends, Linda Lavin, who was the star of the “Alice” TV show in the ’70s and ’80s. … She has a nightclub act that we’ve worked on together and she’s told me such wonderful stories about Portland. So I’m very excited to come and see it for myself.”

For tickets to the Sept. 29 concert, call PortTix at 842-0800 or visit www.portlandovations.org.

Mark Griffin is the author of “A Hundred or More Hidden Things: The Life and Films of Vincente Minnelli.”