Chasing Rainbows — The Songs of Judy Garland

Happy New Year, folks!

This was my first concert of 2012 and I’m really glad I went. Packed house. Judy’s still a draw, even after all these years. This was a one-woman bio-concert—songs associated with Ms. Garland, performed with patter/book outlining the high (and low) spots of her career. The stylist, and I use that term affectionately, was Karen Luschar. First off, I wish Ms. Luschar’s voice had been better. It wasn’t bad, but there was a distinct break between chest voice (think belting) and head voice. Without any transition area, parts of the songs were a bit too jarring. That said, I kept getting drawn in to the performance (with piano, bass, and drums).

The first half covered the early years: born in a trunk, vaudeville (as part of the Gumm Sisters), opening medley; the M-G-M years, including “Zing Went the Strings of My Heart” as the M-G-M audition, “You Made Me Love You,” as a birthday present/celebration for Clark Gable, medley II, the “Hey, let’s put on a show!” years; plus the movie/song/starmaker, “Over the Rainbow” from The Wizard of Oz. Fortunately, Ms. Luschar was not aiming for an impersonation of Ms. Garland and wisely chose to do a stylized version of this song. It worked. Unfortunately, some of Ms. Luschar’s up-tempo-hard-sell numbers didn’t quite achieve hard-sell status. But it was great to hear “Minnie from Trinidad,” “On the Atchison, Topeka and the Santa Fe,” and “Meet Me in St. Louis,” with an audience participation singalong.

~~Intermission~~

C’mon, get happy! We did, Judy did, and Ms. Luschar did. Now we concentrated on the concert years. Along the way, we heard that Judy was under psychiatric care by age 18, we had a second reference to the pills “that M-G-M gave her,” and we heard about the various marriages and divorces. Earlier, we had also learned that Ms. Garland won a special Oscar for The Wizard of Oz—a slightly smaller version that she referred to as her “Munchkin” award. The concert years brought the concert at the Palace theater (Tony award) and the Carnegie Hall 1961 concert that garnered five Grammy Awards. At Sunday’s concert, we heard “The Man that Got Away,” “San Francisco (I Don’t Mean Frisco)”, and “Hello Bluebird,” among others.

In what was usually a pick-a-guy-from-the-audience moment, we had an “only in New York, kids” moment. Ms. Luschar brought Jerry Stiller up onto the stage. Yes, that Jerry Stiller. They had some banter and then she involved him in a couple of tunes—“A Foggy Day in London Town,” and “Embraceable You” with a sweet little dance break.

Ms. Luschar channeled Judy by sitting at the edge of the stage and engaging the audience with a stylized version of “Stormy Weather.” Then a rousing finish.

With all its faults, I loved it still. There were many more songs, song snippets, biographical nuggets—too numerous to mention. But I had a very good time. Another openin’ of another year. Drop me a note if there’s something you’d rather hear more (or less) of. Attach a comment or email me at dmconcertmeister@gmail.com.

ConcertMeister