Rogue Valley Symphony will play original orchestrations of the singer’s classic songs at the Bowmer Theatre; Joan Ellison, who specializes in restoring and performing Garland’s tunes, will be the vocalist

By Jim Flint for Ashland.news

The holidays are about to get a little more glamorous — and a lot more tuneful — when the Rogue Valley Symphony presents “A Judy Garland Christmas” Dec. 19-21, at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival’s Angus Bowmer Theatre in Ashland.

A musical journey stretching from Technicolor Hollywood to the modern stage, the concert will feature vocalist Joan Ellison. The singer has made it her life’s work to restore and perform Judy Garland’s original symphonic scores — the very arrangements audiences first heard on television, in films and at Garland’s legendary 1961 Carnegie Hall concert.

Singing Garland’s original orchestrations with a full symphony is both exhilarating and surreal for Ellison.

“It’s just the biggest thrill imaginable,” Ellison said, of performing with a symphony orchestra. “It feels like I’m standing in the recording studio at Capitol Records in 1955!”

A time capsule

Under the baton of Music Director Martin Majkut, the RVS will perform an array of lush orchestrations — a blend of beloved holiday standards and Garland favorites that span from the 1930s to the 1960s.

The orchestra began offering holiday concerts on the OSF campus three years ago.

“We are having so much fun coming up with new projects that are unlike the ones we’ve done before and that delight our audiences,” Majkut said. “Nobody saw us bringing in a gospel choir last year.”

Ellison’s Judy Garland show was on the RVS radar for a while.

“The music is of high quality,” Majkut said. “The tunes are as nostalgic as they are immortal, and the arrangements are exactly as they were on the Judy Garland show. It is a perfect time capsule moment.”

The evening’s program will open with Leroy Anderson’s “A Christmas Festival” and weave through selections such as “It’s the Most Wonderful Time of the Year,” “The Christmas Waltz” and “Carol of the Bells.”

Garland signatures like “Zing! Went the Strings of My Heart,” “The Trolley Song,” and “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas” are highlights — along with a few surprises.

“Our concert will feature original orchestral arrangements of songs that people grew up hearing on recordings, so I hope they’ll feel like they’re time traveling,” Ellison said. “It will also include a handful of Miss Garland’s songs like ‘The Trolley Song,’ which aren’t particularly holiday-themed but are certainly nostalgic.”

The restoration project

Ellison’s work as editor of the Judy Garland Carnegie Hall Concert Restoration Project began in 2016. That’s when she met Michael Feinstein, longtime trustee of the Garland Heirs Trust.

“I was already performing a Garland concert with arrangements I’d commissioned,” she said. “Then I met Michael in person after years of correspondence, and by the next week he had sent me copies of the orchestral parts for a couple of Garland’s original arrangements to restore.”

What began with a few scores has grown into an ongoing mission to revive the full body of Garland’s orchestral legacy.

“These arrangements were created during a golden age of American popular music by masters of the art form such as Nelson Riddle, Conrad Salinger, Johnny Mandel, Don Costa and others,” Ellison said. “They are simply spectacular. Some modern arrangements are great, too, but I have always particularly loved time travel!”

The process, she explained, is painstaking.

“If I’m lucky and there is a full set of instrumental parts and a score, then I just copy them note by note into a music notation program and check for errors,” she said. “But sometimes there are parts missing, and then I have to transcribe whatever is missing note by note from the recording. It’s definitely a labor of love.”

Ellison attended Oberlin Conservatory of Music in Ohio. She earned a bachelor of music in voice performance and a master of music in teaching.

Fun fact: She was born in Grand Rapids, Michigan — not to be confused with Grand Rapids, Minnesota, where Judy Garland was born.

Garland, the artist

Ellison’s admiration for Garland runs deep — stretching back to her own childhood.

“When I was 2, my parents bought me the ‘Wizard of Oz’ album. I was extremely taken with Judy’s singing and decided I wanted to be a singer when I grew up,” she said. “Something about the longing I heard in her singing of ‘Over the Rainbow’ really spoke to me, even at age 2.”

Over the years, she’s come to appreciate Garland’s artistry not only for its emotional truth but for its technical demands.

“It’s very athletic singing,” she said. “Judy had a lifetime of vocal conditioning, singing without a microphone in theaters beginning at age 2. Since I didn’t grow up in Vaudeville, I really have to condition my voice to sing these concerts. It’s not for the faint of heart.”

Ellison is careful to honor Garland’s interpretive spirit without imitation.

“Judy was utterly unique and I don’t impersonate her. I try to sing with the highest level of athletic vocal technique, as she did, but channeled through my own instrument,” she said. “She is always inhabiting the songs live and in-the-moment, which is what I try to do as well.”

Echoes of America

The music of midcentury America has long held a special fascination for Majkut, who was born in what is now Slovakia.

“American pop culture became a global phenomenon in the 20th century,” he said. “This soft cultural power seeped under the Iron Curtain too. Even though music of many American artists was suppressed, local artists could not resist the pull of new trends, and so you ended up with a lot of music that sounded like the contemporary American music.”

So, even for a Slovak boy, the style of these songs is familiar, if not the actual tunes.

Majkut is equally excited about the visual and theatrical flair the symphony will bring to the stage.

“Our holiday shows lean more into nonmusical production aspects,” Majkut said. “We enhance the music with lighting, acting, wardrobes — whatever we can do to make the experience one of a kind. Seeing Joan perform in Judy Garland’s dresses is like having a direct line to that time period. To me, it is also a nice reminder of the importance of preserving one’s culture, appreciating one’s heritage and learning about the past.”

A growing tradition

The orchestra’s holiday pops concert has quickly become a favorite among Rogue Valley audiences.

“There is a section of our classical music loving audience that really enjoys them,” Majkut said. “And every year, we meet new people who have not been to the symphony yet. We are strengthening old relationships and forging new friendships.”

The performance will be a premiere for Ellison — the first time this particular holiday program has been performed anywhere.

“Actually, ‘A Judy Garland Christmas’ was the idea of the folks at the Rogue Valley Symphony,” she said. “I hope we can allow the Rogue Valley audience members to forget their troubles for a couple of hours, and then go home and pull up a Judy Garland playlist or their favorite holiday album on Spotify, or watch one of Judy’s movies. I think we could all use more beauty and joy in our lives.”

In addition to the Garland tunes, the program will feature four instrumental selections — two per half — and a handful of holiday favorites popularized by other singers.

“Judy didn’t actually record a full Christmas album,” Ellison said, “so we’re also including ‘The Most Wonderful Time of the Year’ (the Andy Williams arrangement), Sarah Vaughan’s ‘Snowbound,’ and some holiday tunes recorded by Ella Fitzgerald, Lena Horne, Eydie Gormé and Peggy Lee.”

Performances are at 7:30 p.m. Friday, Dec. 19, and at 1:30 p.m. Saturday and Sunday, Dec. 20-21. Ticket prices start at $45. For more information and to purchase tickets, visit rvsymphony.org.

Reach writer Jim Flint at [email protected].