Get Happy!
Songstress Joan Ellison brings Judy Garland’s original symphonic arrangements back to life in a nostalgic trip from technicolor Hollywood to Carnegie Hall! (Arrangements used with the kind permission of the Judy Garland Heirs Trust.)
The hit parade includes “The Trolley Song,” “The Man That Got Away,” “Get Happy,” “Come Rain or Come Shine,” “Zing! Went the Strings of My Heart,” “Almost Like Being in Love/This Can’t Be Love” “The Palace Medley,” “Stormy Weather,” “The Boy Next Door,” “Chicago,” “That's Entertainment,” “You Go to My Head” and, of course, “Over the Rainbow.”
“Ellison captivated her audience through her own vulnerability and passion with song and façon de parler. She doesn’t imitate Garland; instead, she honors her and…intimately portrays and shares a legacy of romance, love, loss, and longing. We were captured by her sumptuous musical badinage and expressed poignant tensions. Ellison is sensually dazzling, graceful, and glittering, from her signature red lipstick and costumes to the music.”
Highlights from the livestream of “Get Happy! Joan Ellison Sings Judy Garland” with the Toledo Symphony and Conductor Carl Topilow.
Photo credit: Beth Segal
FEATURING JUDY’S ORIGINAL ORCHESTRAL ARRANGEMENTS
About the Judy Garland Carnegie Hall Concert Restoration Project
Blog post (October 17, 2017): Michael Feinstein has invited me to join the Judy Garland Carnegie Hall Concert Restoration Project team as Editor, for The Judy Garland Heirs Trust. As part of this project to preserve Judy Garland’s musical legacy, our aim is to restore all of the original symphonic arrangements from the 1961 Carnegie Hall Concert and make them available for live performance once again. Since late last summer I have been restoring and performing a handful of Judy’s original arrangements that the Trust, of which Michael Feinstein is a trustee, very graciously shared with me. But to get the chance to work on a preservation project like this is so exciting that I still have to stop and pinch myself. (And then I look at the long road ahead and it sobers me up in a hurry, but I digress…) Read all about it.....
Joan Ellison sings "Over the Rainbow" as part of the “Judy at Carnegie Hall” concert recreation at the Paramount Theatre in Asbury Park, New Jersey. (Conducted by Michael Berkowitz.)
Joan Ellison sings selections from GET HAPPY! A Judy Garland Celebration, featuring Judy’s original orchestral arrangements.
PRESS
...Vocal prowess [and] organic grasp of the classic songs... Michael Feinstein
[Joan] doesn't just blow off the dust — she gets inside the raw material and inhabits it. Piers Ford, Cry Me a Torch Song
Another highlight…is Joan Ellison’s wondrous performance of ‘Over the Rainbow.’ Her voice strong and clear,…Ellison gives a master class in interpretation. Painting a picture with her talent and emotion, Ellison’s irresistible performance inspires an electric reaction from the crowd. New Jersey Stage
Judy Garland in an MGM still
For a singer who’s been obsessed with Judy Garland since childhood, who is Judy-esque in appearance, and who’s a near voice double for her idol, the path is clear: Don’t fight it. Thus, Joan Ellison’s cabaret homage to Garland proved to be a captivating evening of song…The voice is big and clear with plenty of range. Ellison can belt with the best of them, [and] is very personable and utterly likeable...New York deserves to see and hear more of Joan Ellison. Marilyn Lester, Cabaret Scenes
Ellison’s voice is tender and sincere, completely capable of the stunning vocal athleticism for which Garland is remembered. Emily Votaw, WOUB Public Media
Ellison is all freshness, vulnerability, and charm, singing up a storm (and, yes, a rainbow)…The singer brings a keen blend of vocal splendor and verbal crispness to every musical moment. She inhabits the texts as if living them anew. Donald Rosenberg, The Plain Dealer
Joan Ellison, on the other hand, is a ringer for Garland… — the voice, the mannerisms, the look. But this is more than an imitation. She conveys the authority of a superstar. "The Boy from Oz" was worth seeing just for her breathtaking performance. Bill O’Neill, Collier Citizen
The quality of Ellison's voice was perfect. Danielle Miceli, New York Cabaret Today