Wednesday, October 13, 2010
Rachel and Kurt, Barbra and Judy
I really enjoyed the duets on Glee last night, especially Rachel (Lea Michele) and Kurt (Chris Colfer) singing "Happy Days Are Here Again" and "Get Happy." It was so beautiful. You can watch their performance here.
But clueless me, I had no idea they were paying tribute to an iconic duet by Barbra Streisand and Judy Garland, from Garland's short-lived TV show.
The program was taped on Oct. 4, 1963, and CBS executives were so impressed they edited it quickly and broadcast it two days later. Streisand ended up receiving an Emmy nomination.
In 1991, she recalled:
"Extraordinary talent went into the making of this show. The director was Norman Jewison, the musical director was Mort Lindsey and Mel Torme did special musical material. There's also a brief visit by the wonderful Ethel Merman — but most of all there was Judy Garland. Miraculous ... soulful ... divine ... Singing these duets with her was sheer bliss. I was 21 years old."
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4 comments:
I didn't know either until two of my friends tweeted about it. I think I need to give back my gay card.
Well I'm sure it went right past a lot of people! Yeah, I think I saw someone mention Barbra or Judy on my Twitter feed and then I Googled it. I guess I should have known, given Lea Michele's love for Streisand. ;-)
I have this episode of the Judy Garland show on DVD, and treasure it greatly.
Oh -- and I just remembered that I blogged about it here: http://chitheatreaddict.com/2005/03/09/this-business-we-call-show/
Glad the youngins are (hopefully) rediscovering these treasures due to Glee.
Thanks, Bob! I will have to put the show in my Netflix queue. Hopefully the Glee homage sent people in search of the original.
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