‘Get Happy’ Brings Judy Garland to the Stackner Cabaret

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Photo courtesy Angela Ingersoll

Get Happy: Angela Ingersoll Sings Judy Garland

Get Happy: Angela Ingersoll Sings Judy Garland

“Funny, I have hard time recalling a time without Judy Garland in my life,” says Angela Ingersoll, the star of “Get Happy,” coming to the Milwaukee Rep’s Stackner Cabaret in May. Ingersoll earned an Emmy for the PBS broadcast of her production and won acclaim—and several awards—for her performance as Garland in Peter Quilter’s musical End of the Rainbow. In “Get Happy,” she will sing a bevy of songs from Garland’s repertoire, including the melancholy “The Man that Got Away,” the jolly “Trolley Song” and—of course!—the yearningly hopeful “Somewhere Over the Rainbow.”

“I must have been incredibly small when I first met Dorothy in an annual television broadcast of The Wizard of Oz,” Ingersoll continues. “That’s the case for so many of us, isn't it? Nearly all of us meet Judy when we’re children, and there she is, a child herself. But soulful beyond her years.”

As a child star, complete with a pushy stage mom and careless handlers, Garland was damaged by her stint in the dream factory of 1930s and ‘40s Hollywood. She was fed pills to sleep and pills to stay awake, and as she grew, she gained an additional addiction to alcohol. She had problems with men, bills to pay and, by the end of her life in 1969, was deemed by many as a tragic figure. And yet, she remained ever young and resourceful as Dorothy, singing a lyric that insisted on a better future for those who felt misplaced in a society that didn’t understand them.

Does Ingersoll find that for some in the audience, the tragedy of Garland’s life story gets in the way of appreciating her artistry?

“Hopefully this show combats the urge to paint Judy as purely tragic figure,” she says. “In my stories, I strive to be brave about the darkness, in order to make room for the light. I think Judy is often cast in a garish light because she was such a fascinating person. She was a sensitive artist and a multifaceted talent, so funny and quick, and I suspect sometimes the smartest person in any given room. With humor and heart, I hope to invite people to a deeper understanding, beyond the sensationalism, in which they can see a bit of themselves. No one has a monopoly on heartache, not even Judy Garland.”

Ingersoll calls “Get Happy” a “special style of storytelling concert,” with songs “contextualized by my understanding of her inner psychology” through stories and monologues. “I invite the audience to her inner world, while the music connects them to their own. My job, really, is to connect people.”

Throughout her public life, even after her career in Hollywood faltered, Garland sang songs that became part of—integral to—what’s become known as the Great American Songbook. Do the songs in themselves remain meaningful or is it the way Garland performed them?

“My goodness, what a lovely question,” she begins. “Judy Garland’s version of ‘Over the Rainbow’ must be the greatest union of singer and song ever, mustn’t it? And ‘Over the Rainbow’ is arguably the greatest song of the 20th century, though it was nearly cut from the film!

“Oh, I'll tell you more about that in the show. The song is also a perfectly marvelous existential poem. As we grow, ‘Rainbow’ grows with us. Judy shows us that in performances throughout her life. She allows herself to be just as she is and sing the song each time anew.”

That is the artistry that attracted Ingersoll to Garland’s catalogue. “So yes, to answer your question, it’s ultimately the way she performed, her truth telling. Judy taught me to be in the moment. I learn from her ability to harness her power while staying in touch with her sensitivity, like in her masterpiece ‘The Man That Got Away.’ It feels like my heart is leaping from a cliff, and I must trust the musicians to be my wings and the audience to make us soar.”

Each song in “Get Happy” had special meaning for Garland. “Judy always sang ‘Zing! Went the Strings of My Heart’ for her father, I talk about that,” Ingersoll explains. “It is utterly exhilarating how the band devours Judy's dynamite version of ‘Come Rain or Come Shine.’ And you can feel the sheer joy that erupts in the audience when we launch into ‘The Trolley Song.’ I love seeing people sing along. I hope this a musical experience that's cathartic for all of us”

As for Ingersoll’s presentation at the Stackner, it will be an intimate encounter in a space the size of a classic nightclub. “The musicians you’ll see are superb Chicago jazz players, with one exception, who is based in Milwaukee,” she says of her accompanists. “I love meeting musicians in new cities. It’s amazing how quickly we realize mutual friends. And the musical theater/jazz aficionados I’m able to play with always have great stories. They’ve been around! Maybe it’s silly, but I lovingly refer to my band as The Emerald City Orchestra.”

The Milwaukee Rep’s production of “Get Happy: Angela Ingersoll Sings Judy Garland” will run May 5-July 1 at the Stackner Cabaret, 108 E. Wells St. For tickets and more information, visit milwaukeeerep.com or call (414) 224-9490.