Liza and David Stick with Prenup

Liza Minnelli's latest gig wasn't exactly a showstopper. More like a marriage-stopper.

Divorce proceedings between the performer and her estranged hubby David Gest got underway on Wednesday with Minnelli in court and Gest a no-show.

His lawyer said the concert promoter was still in a Hawaiian spa recovering from injuries he allegedly sustained at the hands of Liza.

Minnelli and Gest--ever so briefly the picture of domestic bliss--have launched dueling lawsuits against each other. Minnelli claims Gest scammed more than $2 million from her. Gest is suing for $10 million, alleging the former missus pounded him in vodka-fueled rages. The damage was so bad, he claims, that he still suffers debilitating headaches and is in need of physical therapy.

Still, the two sides did find something to agree on during the initial hearing: They will stick to a prenuptial agreement signed eight days before their bizarre 2002 wedding gala.

The prenup reportedly gives the ex-spouses exactly what they had before they swapped vows and controls the divvying of their earnings during their 17-month union.

Minnelli, an Oscar, Tony and Emmy winner who is currently on Fox's Arrested Development, made a quick cameo at the pretrial hearing in Manhattan State Supreme Court.

Upon her entrance, Judge John E. Stackhouse welcomed the entertainer to his courtroom, shook her hand, and said "I'm happy that you're here," before explaining that Gest would not be present because of his lingering pain.

Stackhouse then told Minnelli, who was decked out all in a black ensemble with a pink wool muffler and matching gloves, that she could leave after she filled out some paperwork. She signed a few autographs and beat a hasty retreat, stopping only to tell reporters, "I am feeling very well, thank you."

With the exes out of the courtroom, their lawyers began sniping in earnest, with Stackhouse serving as referee.

Minnelli's attorney, Frederic J. Siegel, accused Gest of intentionally ducking his deposition.

"Either he should come here and be deposed or withdraw his actions," Siegel told the court. "There is no reason for him not to be here."

Siegel suggested Gest wasn't really sick, claiming to have a videotape of the promoter living it up at a New Year's Eve party.

Gest's attorney, Raoul Felder, insisted that his client was not well enough to fly because of the migraine headaches. Felder said Gest was still enduring physical therapy, including 20 injections on Tuesday to relieve the pain.

Felder then disputed Minnelli's claims that Gest secretly sold on eBay a piano given to her by Broadway composer Marvin Hamlisch and played by the likes of Sammy Cahn and Janet Jackson.

The attorney also pooh-poohed Minnelli's assertions that she was "not clean enough" for David and every time she "tried to sit on his lap or kiss him, he would hold her off."

Felder accused the Cabaret star of having a "medical condition" that she unlawfully hid from Gest when they signed the prenup, and he demanded she take a blood test.

"If our allegations are true, it would be a B misdemeanor," said Felder.

The judge, however, wasn't buying and brought both sides into his chamber to talk about with the matter privately. When they came out several minutes later, he let it be known for the record that Minnelli had not broken the law and reproached Felder for suggesting that she did.

After confabbing with both camps, Stackhouse declared the prenup would remain in effect.

That was okay by Felder, who said Gest made $2.7 million in 2001, while Minnelli made $150,000. It was in September 2001 that Michael Jackson introduced the future couple at his 30th anniversary tribute concert, which Gest produced. The couple wed in March 2002 and separated last July.

The next hearing is scheduled for February 20.