BWW Reviews: Peter Mac's Judy at Carnegie Hall Winning Entertainment

On April 20 and 21 Peter Mac repeated one of his most challenging shows honoring Judy Garland: Judy at Carnegie Hall. To sing all 26 dynamic tunes at the highest peak as well as to replicate in minute detail the deliciously droll Garland anecdotes about her encounters with a chic Parisian hairdresser or a disgustingly insincere London press woman ... this is a huge...no, daunting task to pull off. Only a truly gifted performer can do it, and there is literally no one who comes even close to Peter Mac, who sings the only sincere loving tribute to Judy Garland anywhere. Mac gave 150% this past weekend and will do so again this coming weekend April 27 and 28 at the French Quarter inside the French Market in Hollywood. The show is astounding from start to finish. Mac, like Garland, works at a harrowingly brisk pace throughout accompanied at the piano by wonderful musical director BRyan Miller and by Kevin Widener on percussion. Mac even manages to throw in a few of his own jokes like the one about Tallulah Bankhead wiring "Kisses on your opening" or talking freely about composer Noel Coward who never held back an opinion. Judy Garland would have been 90 years old in June of this year, and what devilish great fun to hear Mac shout out as Garland herself would undoubtedly say, "I'm too old for this shit!"

This show has an intermission, unlike other Peter Mac shows, but it isJudy at Carnegie Hall, which was performed originally in 1961 in two acts. Apart from all the classics that one would expect to be in the concert like "The Trolley Song", "The Man That Got Away", "Come Rain or Come Shine", "Swanee", "Over the Rainbow", Garland also included, as does Mac: "San Francisco", "Chicago", "A Foggy Day", "Do It Again", "Puttin' On the Ritz", "That's Entertainment", the lovely "You're Nearer" from Rodgers' and Hart's Too Many Girls and "You Go to My Head", among others. They're all here in the exact same order as performed in 1961. Judy proclaimed, "We'll stay all night and sing 'em all!" Audiences cheered. Peter Mac is now deservedly receiving the acclaim paid to Judy Garland. He is Judy Garland. Don't miss him!

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