Sat 1/21 @ 8PM
Expect a large gay contingent in the audience for the next Cleveland Pops Orchestra concert at Severance Hall “A Date with Judy.”
Judy, of course, is Judy Garland, the ultimate 20th-century gay icon, whose precocious talents won her early fame but also early pressure that set her on a lifetime of health problems and drug use. She was just 16 when she played one of her best known roles, Dorothy in the 1939 film The Wizard of Oz. Throughout in the 40s, in her early-mid 20s, she starred in a string of successful move musicals that produced many of the songs she was associated with her entire career such as “The Trolley Song” and “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas” from 1942’s Meet Me in St. Louis and “Get Happy” from her 1950 film Summer Stock (along with, of course “Over the Rainbow” from The Wizard of Oz.)
Sadly, by 1950, she was suffering from mental and physical health problems, the second of her five marriages was on the ropes, and while she still had career peaks including Oscar nominations, they were intermittent. She died in 1969 at the age of 47 of an accidental drug overdose.
Joining the orchestra will be Cleveland vocalist Joan Ellison who is known for her cabaret show paying tribute to Garland’s music. Get tickets here.