INTERVIEW: In NJ concert, Lorna Luft plans to honor, protect her mom’s legacy
Photo: From left, Lorna Luft and Julie Benko will appear in Two of a Kind: From Hollywood to Broadway. Photo courtesy of the Bell Theater at Bell Works / Provided by press rep with permission.
Lorna Luft has had quite the career — and then some. The daughter of Judy Garland and Sidney Luft, the entertainer was essentially born into Hollywood royalty and has been appearing on stages, television and film since she was a little girl. Today, she often sings songs that honor (and protect) the legacy of her mother. Garland, of course, is known for everything from The Wizard of Oz to Meet Me in St. Louis to Easter Parade, among many other credits.
Luft will bring a tribute to her mother and Hollywood in general to the Bell Theater in Holmdel, New Jersey. On Sunday, Sept. 15, she’ll appear on a double bill with Broadway performer Julie Benko (Funny Girl) in a show called Two of a Kind: From Hollywood to Broadway. The 3 p.m. show promises many trips down memory lane, with Luft singing Hollywood classics, many of them associated with her mother, and Benko singing Broadway standards.
Recently Hollywood Soapbox talked with Luft about her career and how she views her family’s legacy. As a performer, Luft can be seen in numerous TV specials and films, including Grease 2, My Giant and Where the Boys Are ’84. On stage, she’s been seen in Promises, Promises; White Christmas; and Follies, among many others. Here’s what she had to say …
On what it’s like to work with Julie Benko …
“It is a special show. I’m so looking forward to working with Julie. We’ve been friends, and I met Julie when she was in the Broadway show Harmony, which my husband was assistant musical director on. But I had also seen her do Fanny Brice [in Funny Girl] and was just mesmerized and completely blown out of the water by her vocal ability and her incredible acting choices, and then when we met each other, she came to me, she said, ‘I’m the biggest fan of Grease 2.’ And I started laughing, and then we just had this wonderful relationship of just being real, real fans of each other.”
On what the show at the Bell Theater will entail …
“It’s really all about the Hollywood music that not only I grew up with, but I have the stories that go with them. Then I have a very wonderful piece of special material that was written for me called ‘Not Even Nominated,’ and it’s all songs that were never nominated for Academy Awards. And so I’m sort of the Hollywood part, and then Julie is the Broadway part. Then we both come together, and we are Hollywood and Broadway.”
On having a mother who was an icon to so many people …
“I grew up with a person that was my mother, but to the world, she was their legend, their icon, their everything in the movies. And I only know her as my mom, and I come at it from a real protection and personal point of view, not only for her name and likeness, but for the music that was written for her in those movies. Everybody has seen them, and God only knows how many different types of storylines they’ve made from The Wizard of Oz. It’s just that I’m real protective. … [I’m] adamant about how she is looked at, how she is perceived by the public now. I have to tell you, I have not had very many instances where I’ve had to be vocal in that sense. People just love her, and people just worship her movies. And I wind up doing nothing but being grateful and thanking them, and they always have a story of when they saw a certain film and what it meant to their lives. And I’m grateful to hear it.”
On what she’s feeling right before a performance …
“It looks like, ‘Don’t screw up a lyric.’ Both of us, Julie and I had a rehearsal yesterday, and at one point we both stopped. And we both started laughing because we both looked like two deer in the headlights at each other. Listen, that’s the wonderful thing about live theater. We still get nervous.”
On finding the joy in her mother’s songs …
“Julie and I at the end of the show do the ‘Hooray for Love’ medley that my mom did with Barbra Streisand because, of course, Julie having that incredible attachment to Funny Girl and, of course, me being the daughter and the fact that Barbra was 19 years old when she was on my mom’s television show. … There’s a thread to all of this. It’s not just two people getting out on a stage and not really knowing each other and not having any connection. These songs are real personal to us because her connection to the Broadway theater and, of course, her amazing talent, and just because of my heritage. The bottom line is we really like each other.”
By John Soltes / Publisher / John@HollywoodSoapbox.com
Lorna Luft and Julie Benko will appear in Two of a Kind: From Hollywood to Broadway at the Bell Theater at Bell Works in Holmdel, New Jersey, on Sunday, Sept. 15, at 3 p.m. Click here for more information and tickets.
