chicago tribune: angela ingersoll devotes herself to keeping judy garland's legacy alive

Angela Ingersoll has a special place in her heart for Elgin Community College. That’s where she first started performing the music of Judy Garland in her own show, “I Gotta Right to Sing the Blues,” featuring the music of Garland, Patsy Cline and Ella Fitzgerald, back in 2014.

“My idea was born there in that show and the response was so overwhelming I followed that star,” she said. “The night we drove home from that show in Elgin and I could not believe the overwhelming audience to this thing that I created … I looked out and made a wish on a star and said ‘I want to dedicate my life to being the foremost interpreter of Judy Garland’s legacy in the world.’ Ever since I said that out loud, looking at that star that night, my life has been nothing but green lights.”

Ingersoll is bringing her show “Get Happy: Angela Ingersoll Sings Judy Garland” to Elgin Community College Sept. 22 for a 3 p.m. performance. This is the show that aired on PBS in March.

“It’s lots and lots of Judy and lots of personal stuff from me how I got to be this person in the world who seems to have pulled the lot in life to carry on Judy Garland’s legacy in the 21st century,” she said. “It’s lots of music and lots of storytelling. I talk a lot about Judy because so many of the folks in the audience only know her from ‘The Wizard of Oz.’ And I like to talk about how much she shaped pop culture throughout the mid-20th century. I could talk about her all night long.”

She’ll bring a six-piece band, that she lovingly calls The Emerald City Orchestra — with her.

Garland’s role in American history is exciting and moving, she said.

“There’s a serious, heartfelt section about her relationship with John Kennedy and her reaction to his assassination and how she used music to help heal the country at that moment,” Ingersoll said. “She happened to have a TV show at the time on CBS and she performs a really stunning tribute to him by singing ‘Battle Hymn of the Republic.’ I tell the story leading up to that moment and perform that live for people. And nearly every time I do, service men and women in the audience stand throughout. It’s a really exciting moment.”

Ingersoll has practically had a lifetime of research to put her show together, but it was in 2015 she decided that what she wanted to do with her life was to tell stories about Garland and keep her music and memory alive. “She was a very strong female artist who stood on her own two feet and I wanted that to be recognized and respected,” she said.

She’s not surprised people still love Garland after all these years. So many Americans were introduced to her as a child and carry that vision of the girl trying to get back to Kansas, she said. “That dreamer is in all of us,” she said.

The show is two acts of music and storytelling that traverses her career, Ingersoll said. “I talk about her coming up in vaudeville and then becoming America’s sweetheart throughout the ’40s with her outstanding moving career at MGM — she was the top grossing musical artist for them for many years,” she said. “After her split with MGM and the drama of that, she goes on to re-create herself on the concert stage in the ’50s. And then television and the great triumph at Carnegie Hall — this Grammy-award winning gold album that’s never been out of print. All the comebacks she had — decade after decade. People think she’s down and out and then she comes back a bigger star than ever.”

Since the PBS special was cut for time, she gets to sing a lot more songs in the live show, she said. “The best thing about these songs is they’re classics. They grow as we grow,” she said. “They’re not disposable. They’re a way to connect with one another because they’re all songs we know.” Some of the songs you’ll hear include “Over the Rainbow,” “Man That Got Away,” “Rock-a-Bye Your Baby with a Dixie Melody,” “When You’re Smiling,” “Swanee” and “Smile.”

Her favorite part of the show is talking to the audience — she asks them for questions about Judy. “Some will have seen Judy live and will tell stories about having seen her, then I feel one degree closer to her again,” she said.

Would Judy approve of the show? What would she say if she were here? “I think if she were here she would tell me, ‘Move over — I ain’t done singing yet.’ I would certainly move out of the way if she were in the room.”