RUFUS DOES JUDY AT CARNEGIE - RUFUS WAINWRIGHT
![Rufus Does Judy At Carnegie Hall [2 CD]](http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/21oI00fdSaL.jpg)
This song-by-song re-creation of Judy Garland’s iconic 1961 Carnegie Hall performance, staged there by Rufus Wainwright in 2006, seems better-suited to a cabaret act. Wainwright tries valiantly, but his persona is too affected to do what Garland did with this material: all standards, but rearranged for maximum drama and sung by the troubled star like battle songs. But really, could anyone pull this off? The performance was a time and place — in America, in music, in Garland’s life and career — and making an interesting redo would require either very creative thinking or total theater, neither of which Wainwright supplies. The highlight is Lorna Luft, Garland’s “other daughter,” joining Wainwright on “Swanee” and providing a more fitting tribute to her mother’s legacy.
