The Stadium Theatre hosts Liza Minnelli.

MCT / Rob Kim

Let’s all be honest. When we all read about Liza Minnelli coming to the Stadium Theatre, in Woonsocket, for four shows this week, we all had the same reaction:

Really?

Really.

THE Liza Minnelli?

Yup. The Liza Minnelli.

“It’s the biggest thing we’ve ever had,” says Stadium marketing manager Derek Doura. “It’s putting us on the map.”

The engagement came about because an anonymous donor, who is a supporter of the 1,101-seat theater and a Minnelli fan who knew one of the performer’s agents, heard that Minnelli was trying out her new show before taking it to New York. He immediately rang his friend in the Minnelli camp and offered to bankroll a four-night stand at the Stadium to tweak the show.

“She just wants to try it out and have a few audiences to do a show in front of,” Doura says. “It’s really a dry run, to test it out here before she takes it to New York.”

The first half of the show is composed of Minnelli’s hits, including “Maybe This Time” and “Cabaret,” while the second half comes is a tribute to her godmother, Kay Thompson. Thompson was an arranger and vocal coach who worked at MGM along with Minnelli’s parents, Judy Garland and Vicente Minnelli, and had her own live show, which Liza Minnelli in an interview earlier this year called “the most spectacular nightclub act ever.”

When Minnelli did a version of the show at the Providence Performing Arts Center in January, she included her personal remembrances of Thompson, who helped Minnelli through some of the worst times of her life. Thompson also wrote the Eloise series of children’s books, centered on a New York girl based on Minnelli.

“I never talk about my life,” Minnelli said then, “and then here I am doing it!”

Doura says that he thinks there’s no turning back for the Stadium now — the buzz around a big-name show, he says, will lead the theater to stretch out and book more serious headliners.

He also says that, while tickets are still available, he expects near sellouts at each performance.

Liza Minnelli performs Wednesday, Thursday, Saturday and next Sunday at the Stadium Theatre, 28 Monument Square, on Main Street in Woonsocket. All shows are at 8 p.m. Tickets are $55, $65 and $75; call (401) 762-4545 or go to www.stadiumtheatre.com.

For Rick Massimo’s interview earlier this year with Liza Minnelli and his review of her show at the Providence Performing Arts Center, go to projo.com/music.

rmassimo@projo.com