BROADWAY WORLD: A star is born as award-winning dynamo Angela Ingersoll celebrates American icon Judy Garland. Tune in to WTTW Chicago Public Television on Sunday, March 18, 2018 at 5:30pm for the Chicago premiere of Get Happy: Angela Ingersoll Sings Judy Garland.

Ingersoll’s concert special packs an emotional punch… (She’s) shining a compassionate light on Garland’s legacy while unmistakably establishing herself as the icon’s artistic descendant.

In a festive ceremony at Drury Lane Theatre, Angela Ingersoll received Chicago’s Jeff Award for Leading Actress in a Play for her star turn as Judy Garland in END OF THE RAINBOW at Porchlight Music Theatre. Ingersoll also received a nomination in the Supporting Actress in a Musical category for her scene-stealing, dumb-blonde Hedy LaRue in Marriott Theatre’s HOW TO SUCCEED IN BUSINESS WITHOUT REALLY TRYING. Congratulations to all the exemplar nominees, representing the finest of Chicago’s diverse theatre community. SEE ALL NOMINEES AND WINNERS

“I’ve been a devoted fan of Judy’s for as long as I can recall. I don’t remember a time without her. So many of us meet her as children, when she’s a child as well, and her Dorothy stays with us. Yet even as a child, I was most attracted to 60s Judy, to TV Show Judy, to Carnegie Hall Judy. I saw a self-possessed woman and artist and knew that’s what I wanted to be. Now that I’ve just turned 40, I feel I’ve come into the time of my life I’ve always dreamed about.”

The Rage Monthly caught up with Angela during the rehearsal process at La Mirada Theatre for the Performing Arts… Ingersoll finished beautifully with these sage words, “I do hope audience members find their experience an opportunity to cultivate greater peace with their own pain. Because you know, none of us has a monopoly on heartache. Hopefully through laughter and music we can, all of us, feel less alone.”

DISCOVER LA MIRADA: If you have been fortunate to see Angela Ingersoll recently on stage or in concert, you already know what the big buzz is about. She is smart, sassy, sexy, and above all, a natural born talent.

About 18 months ago, singer/actress and lifelong Judy Garland fan Angela Ingersoll made a wish. Fearing for Garland’s legacy, Ingersoll wished for the opportunity to excise the kitsch that sometimes dimmed Garland’s star. “I wanted to commit to shining a positive light on Judy,” Ingersoll said. And since then, “the universe has been nonstop green lights.”

The latest comes Tuesday, Oct. 10, when PBS will film a performance of her tribute concert “Judy Garland: Come Rain or Come Shine” at the Arcada Theatre in St. Charles for broadcast next year.

Ask anyone lucky enough to have caught Angela Ingersoll’s performance as Judy Garland in last year’s Porchlight Music Theatre production of “End of the Rainbow” and you are guaranteed to hear superlatives. The voice, the look, the roller-coaster emotions: Ingersoll captured them all to uncanny effect in a performance that was an unqualified tour de force, and recently earned her a Jeff Award nomination.

As an encore, Joey, who was so enthralled with Angela’s live portion of the show, allowed her to fulfill the audience’s wish of her doing that famed song… She sat on the edge of the stage, the way Judy did, and broke out into what appeared to be the performance of her life. The audience once again erupted with a combination of cheers and tears, as did Angela herself, overtaken by emotion at the prized opportunity.