Rufus Wainwright’s Judy Garland tribute takes audiences over the rainbow
Welcome to Curtain Call, our mostly queer take on the latest openings on Broadway and beyond.Judy who? Gays of a certain age have gone gaga for Garland since she first walked the yellow brick road in the 1939 film The Wizard of Oz.
Garland achieved a different recognition later in her career, momentarily stepping away from the silver screen (she was fired from 1951’s Royal Wedding) and into the concert spotlight, touring the UK and playing several extended runs at Broadway’s Palace Theatre.
But it was her 1961 concert at Carnegie Hall that has lived on in infamy thanks to a live album produced by Capitol Records.In 2006, singer-songwriter Rufus Wainwright recreated the famous evening in the same historic venue and has since carried a torch for Garland.
In honor of what would have been her 100th birthday on June 10, he’s revisiting the Carnegie Hall concert through a series of performances at City Winery in both New York City (through June 10) and Chicago (June 16-17).Garland was 38 years old when she performed at Carnegie Hall.
