CD Review: Judy Garland at Carnegie Hall

When Judy Garland sang at Carnegie Hall in 1961, it wasn’t merely the best performance of her career. Many critics argue that her performance that night was one of the best in show-business history.

More than 3,000 fans, many of them celebrities, crammed Carnegie Hall on April 23, 1961 to listen to Judy sing 26 songs over two and a half hours. Judy was 38 years old, and her voice was better than it had ever been. This was no small feat, considering Judy had nearly died one year earlier. A liver disorder caused the tiny, four-foot-eleven star to balloon to 180 pounds. She spent months recovering and having fluids drained from her body. At the time, doctors gave her just a few years to live and told her she’d never sing again.

By early 1961, however, Judy Garland had bounced back. In the biography Get Happy, author Gerald Clarke reports that 1961 was the best year of Judy’s life. She began a successful concert tour in January, and in March she spent two weeks shooting her first movie in six years, Judgment at Nuremberg. She had a small role in the film, but it earned her an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actress. Her April performance at Carnegie Hall was the high point of an already triumphant year.

The live recording of this performance, released by Capitol Records, went on to become Judy’s most successful album. It spent 94 weeks on the charts, including 13 weeks at number one. The album won five Grammy Awards, including Album of the Year – the first time this award had ever gone to a female performer.

Judy Garland at Carnegie Hall is now available as a two-disk CD set and is a must-have for any Judy Garland fan. While the first disk contains classics such as "Puttin’ on the Ritz", "When You’re Smiling", and "The Man That Got Away," my favorite CD is disk two. This one features a snappy, upbeat version of "Zing! Went the Strings of My Heart", a medley of tunes from her early MGM musicals ("You Made Me Love You" from Broadway Melody of 1938, "For Me and My Gal" from the Gene Kelly movie of the same name, and "The Trolley Song" from Meet Me in St. Louis), and, of course, a perfect, emotional rendition of "Over the Rainbow".

Between songs, Judy proves she's an engaging storyteller and comedian as she recounts her experiences with the British press, tells of past mishaps on stage, and even pokes fun at her appearance.

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