Customer Reviews

On Broadway Tonight

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The latest entry in the Savoy Jazz label's series of "Judy Garland Show" releases brings more of Garland's rare TV performances to CD, many for the very first time.

Judy singing the best of Broadway and musical theatre remains a fantastic combination. It's just a shame that she never actually had the chance to dazzle audiences in a great big show (for example, replacing Angela Lansbury in "Mame" was an assignment she campaigned heavily for, but producers feared that the singer would buckle under the strain). At the end of the day, Garland's best role was probably as Garland herself, so here she is once again, in these classic excerpts from her 1963-64 TV series.

Things kick off with Garland's energetic "Give My Regards to Broadway", before the sublime "Any Place I Hang My Hat is Home" (from one of Harold Arlen's best scores, "St. Louis Woman"). In "Whispering", Judy finds herself harmonizing with the Kirby Stone Four; whilst Vic Damone joins her for a dramatic medley from "West Side Story".

Ethel Merman remarks "We're the last of the big belters!" before joining Judy in a medley of Merman's great musical theater duets; and seventeen year old Liza Minnelli pairs with "momma" for "Together, Wherever We Go". One of the more delicate jewels on this CD, "If Love Were All" (from Noël Coward's "Bitter Sweet") is making it's official CD premiere with this release, along with the disc's finale, "There's No Business Like Show Business", which sees Ethel Merman and a rather flabbergasted young Barbra Streisand joining Garland in what is probably the ultimate showbiz mantra.

The sound quality on this disc is Terrible. Judy Garland's talents are not shown off and this disc offers nothing for the performers who sang with her.One time listening to this disc was enough. What a waste of her talent and my money.