Patrick Russo is about a lot of things.

Charity is important to him.

Creativity is in his blood.

Staying busy makes him happy.

Family ties fulfill him.

He takes all that he is and gives back. In a few days, he will recreate a performance at Fountain Hills Theater that comprises all of him.

He will play Liza Minnelli and Judy Garland in the production, “Judy & Liza: Together Again” in two shows. The first is Saturday, Feb. 11, at 7 p.m., which is sold out. There are seats available for the second show set for Sunday, Feb. 12, at 2 p.m.

Russo has played the mother-daughter team in the past, beginning with an accidental occasion to play Liza in Chicago.

“I had choreographed a number of drag benefits in Chicago years ago,” he said. “One of the shows I worked with was a Liza Minnelli show. The guy who was to play the part wasn’t very good, to tell you the truth, and he backed out.”

The producers of the show asked him to fill in since he knew the production.

The show was a fundraiser for the Howard Brown Center, an organization well-known for its work with HIV-AIDS.

“I finally said yes,” Russo said. “I had not worked drag before, but the producers were pretty convincing. I really did want to help out the center, so I agreed to the gig.”

He invited a number of his friends to the performance “so I would have somebody to clap for me.”

After it was over, and he received accolades from not only his friends, but many others in the audience, he was compelled to do the show for other benefit events.

At one event over a 10-year period, he helped raise more than $1 million performing a show called “Who’s that Girl?” in a 1,000 seat theater. He impersonated Liza and Judy, as well as Pat Benatar, Madonna and Gloria Estefan in that show.

So he will recreate the two women, with Judy Garland in Act I and Liza Minelli in Act II. He will lip sync their songs then perform himself at the end of the show.

Tickets are $125 and VIP tickets are $150. The VIP tickets include a champagne after-party meet and greet with Russo. Ticket holders can take a picture with him and receive a signed headshot.

Russo has perfected his act through rehearsals and working with others.

“I had a friend who did Liza, and he worked with me a lot to help me perfect the persona,” he said.

Russo resembles Minnelli, and when he wears the dark contact lenses (Russo has very blue eyes), adds some specially-made teeth, gets on the wig and takes the stage, he is a convincing Liza Minnelli.

“Liza is my best, I think,” he said. “She is just a lot of fun to do.”

Russo’s career in theater started when he was young, learning how to tap dance at Miss Frances’ School of Tap Dance in Rockford, Ill.

He went on to do shows in high school. After graduation, he got his hair license. When he was 22, he worked on a cruise ship, sailing to Greece, Italy and Spain.

He decided to move to Chicago after that, hiring an agent and starting what he hoped to be a career as a dancer.

“It was pretty grueling,” he said. “I knew that a career as a dancer goes until you are maybe in your mid-30s. I looked at myself and had to choose between hair and dancing. I chose hair.”

He went for 25 years without performing at all, enjoying his life as co-owner of two salons in Chicago.

He got to Arizona by way of following his family.

“My uncle moved here in the ‘70s, and the rest of my family started moving here. I decided to follow them.”

He got into the local theater when a client at his local salon (he owns Russo’s Salon and Spa) suggested he check it out.

“I offered to help them (Fountain Hills Theater) in any way I could,” he said. “They asked me to help in the production of My Fair Lady.

“I have been doing shows in Fountain Hills now for six years. I love this theater. The audience is so close to the stage, and everything is just a part of the entire production.”

He also has performed with DeeDee Wood in The Pajama Game at Desert Foothills Theater. He appeared in The Producers in Scottsdale. The majority of his work has been in the Fountain Hills Theater.

His most recent honor was winning the AriZoni Award for his performance in La Cage aux Folles.

Russo said he has loved theater forever.

“I love it for so many reasons,” he said “It isn’t for the applause. It’s for the relationships, for the art, the creativity.”

And it keeps him busy. As if he doesn’t have enough to do. When he isn’t performing, he does hair at his salon, does a lot of continuing education to keep up with the trends and enjoys his friends and family. He plays piano and does oil painting, two activities he hopes to continue after he retires.

“I am really lucky to have a lot of support,” he said. “I am blessed to be able to do everything I love. Truly I am blessed.”