Judy Garland Tribute Set For Sydney

Finally it seems someone else has remembered that 2011 is the fiftieth anniversary of Judy Garland’s seminal cultural Carnegie Hall concert!

Sydney is set to receive a long overdue treat in the form of the 2011 World AID’s day concert. The star studded concert is to be a tribute to Judy Garland and her music and will feature performances from Simon Burke, Paul Capsis, Mark Trevorrow, Ricki-Lee Coulter, Tim Draxl, Lucy Maunder, Marika Aubrey and Margi de Ferranti.

Trevor Ashley, creator of the World AID’s day concert series, will direct, while Craig Renshaw will provide musical direction for the forty-piece orchestra on Monday November 21, 2011.

The Sydney World AID’s day concerts have proved phenomenally successful, with recent tributes to Peter Allen, Elton John and Stephen Sondheim raising close to $100,000 for ACON – an organisation the Australian people as a whole are irrefutably indebted to for their efforts.

Judy Garland and Australia go way back – the diva toured here in 1964. We took her drugs at customs and then complained when she walked off the stage in Melbourne. The fiasco that resulted made international headlines and remains the one notable occasion when Judy Garland did not exceed her own high benchmark in performance.

At this point I will gleefully note (to Melbourne’s endless chagrin) that by all accounts Garland’s Sydney shows blew the roof off Sydney Stadium (the Rushcutters Bay located stadium was destroyed in 1973) and left the audiences overjoyed – which they expressed very, very vocally.

In short, Sydney gave the star royal treatment in 1964, and we will again come Monday, November 21st when Trevor Ashley’s line-up tackles the endless list of incredible standards that Garland called (and still calls) her own at the Sydney Conservatorium’s gorgeous Verbruggen Hall.

If I were to quibble about the event at all – and how dare I given what a rare treat this is! – I would say that the cast of singers for the tribute does lack a trifle bit the star power one would have liked. For instance, where is Rhonda Burchmore? And where is Caroline O’Connor?

But by virtue of the sheer delight that can only be had from a Garland concert in the undeniably skilled hands set to tackle it – I’ll still be in attendance, overjoyed just to hear those songs.