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“Songs My Mother Taught Me: The Judy Garland Songbook”
Feinstein’s at Loews Regency – January 4 – 9
A legend is a tough act to follow, something Lorna Luft knows only too well. She has lived under the shadows of her legendary “Mama,” Judy Garland, and her superstar half-sister, Liza Minnelli, stepping out occasionally to show off her own robust voice, but then retreating again.
“I was never comfortable being a legend’s daughter,” she says. The audience can understand, though few have stood in her shoes. Who wouldn’t get it, growing up with a mother and sister who need no identification other than their first names? She confided in friends like Lucie Luckinbill (daughter of Lucy and Desi, whose first names are also ID enough) and finally decided the answer is to “stay on the trapeze and keep on singing.”
“Songs My Mother Taught Me,” in Feinstein’s at Loews Regency Ballroom, is a heartfelt, energetic program of personal stories and great Judy Garland tunes. From the first bars of “I Feel a Song Comin’ On” (Jimmy McHugh/Dorothy Fields/George Oppenheimer), the ghost of Judy’s voice hovers around the edges, and the vibrato of both Liza and Judy is evident. Luft is an engaging storyteller who belts out the songs in a voice that is potent though occasionally unrestrained.
Despite her misgivings about following Mama, Lorna Luft reveals a quality that Judy Garland did not show—confidence. This works for her personally but does not lend itself to capturing her mother’s vulnerable stage charisma. When Judy performed, the audience rooted for her, hoping she would make it and aficionados still sink into the emotional throbs of Garland’s performances, linking them with the drama of the star’s life.
Luft has a down-to-earth likeability, an asset though it probably won’t land her in legend heaven. She comes across as more settled, with a stable personal life and two grown children. Husband Colin Freeman is her musical director/pianist and he conducts the vigorous band of ten musicians. She reveals great love for her mother and knows her mother loved her. She admits Garland’s longtime disease of addiction, and at the same time, states that Judy Garland was not a tragic figure but a woman with a sharp wit who was truly funny and loving.
But enough about Judy Garland. This is Lorna Luft’s show. Only it really isn’t. Garland is as much a part of this program as her younger daughter. On a screen beside the band, Garland is shown in stills from her films and singing her hits or speaking on television. With showbiz panache, Luft salutes her mother with roaring renditions of classics like “Rock-a-Bye Your Baby with a Dixie Melody” (Jean Schwartz/Sam M. Lewis/Joe Young). In her denouement, she belts snippets of songs from the “Born in a Trunk” sequence of A Star is Born, raising the roof with torchers like “The Man That Got Away,” by Garland’s favorite composer, Harold Arlen (with Ira Gershwin), and “Come Rain or Come Shine” (Arlen with Johnny Mercer).
As much excitement as this multi-media presentation engenders, its big brass sound is often overwhelming even for a singer with Luft’s energy and ironclad pipes. Ballads like “You’re Nearer” (Richard Rodgers/Lorenz Hart) and “Through the Years” (Vincent Youmans/Edward Heyman) provide welcome decibel relief. The most poignant moment is the Lorna/Judy duet, with Garland on television, singing Jimmy McHugh and Dorothy Fields’s “I Can’t Give You Anything But Love.”
It is an endearing tribute with songs that are always delightful to hear. Hopefully, Lorna Luft has now made peace with her legacy.
