Review: Laura Kyro offers a warm and rich Judy Garland tribute

Most folks go to cabaret to embrace the songs of yesteryear—those we grew up with, those we heard from the lips of our teen-age idols, those that made that marvelous movie really marvelous—songs we just couldn’t resist.  

Laura Kyro is a significant St. Louis musical theater talent.  Last night, at the Blue Strawberry, she gave us a warm and rich evening of the songs that flowed from and around the unforgettable Judy Garland. 

Ms. Kyro has been treading this town’s musical boards for a long time.  As she says, “I’ve been doing musicals for almost [indistinguishable little cough] decades.”  And the gorgeous evening she gave us shows the result of a very fine natural gift, together with long experience and deep investment in the art of show tunes.  “Musical wisdom” is, I guess, what I’m trying to describe.

This “tribute evening” is certainly not just an impersonation of Judy Garland for Ms. Kyro makes each song her very own.  She, like Judy, is a contralto, so all of Judy’s songs fit her voice as comfortably as old shoes. 

She began her evening with “You Made Me Love You”, an old Al Jolson song rewritten for Judy when she was seventeen for a movie with Clark Gable.  Only after this do we get what we all expected to be her opener (or closer)—“Somewhere Over the Rainbow”.   In this we see a feature of her voice that we are to meet again and again throughout the evening:  Ms. Kyro can “belt” with the best of them—but beyond the simple power and projection that belting requires, her voice conveys a deep sensitivity to all the emotional subtleties that lie under every lyric.  Her “Rainbow” is, if anything, smoother than Judy’s and less brassy.

“Zing Went the Strings of My Heart” is a Broadway tune from 1935.  In this Ms. Kyro shows a touch of the boldness of Ethel Merman.

1944, of course, had Judy appearing in Meet Me in St. Louis.  We are given the title song, with the audience happily singing along on the choruses.  “The Boy Next Door” and “The Trolley Song” show Ms. Kyro again finding not just adolescent romance or a building excitement, but the real musical beauty of these songs.

She makes “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas” warm and secure. 

Her phrasing is impeccable, her understanding of and respect for each lyric is superb.

“Maybe This Time” was sung in Cabaret by Judy Garland’s daughter Liza Minelli.  It’s a desperate/hopeful song, and Ms. Kyro injects just the right pain into her voice.

George Gershwin wrote “Swanee” at 20, and with Al Jolson it became an enormous hit in 1920.  Judy Garland recorded in 1939.  Laura Kyro sings it way better than Jolson (and without the surface noise), and possibly better than Garland. 

Jolson recorded “Rock-a-bye Your Baby (with a Dixie Melody)” in ’32.  Garland did it in ’55.   Again, Ms. Kyro is right up there with those stars.  Such power, such sentiment, such passion. 

She gives us “Forget Your Troubles, C’mon Get Happy” from Summer Stock.  From Oliver she sings Nancy’s song of desperate dependence, “As Long as He Needs Me”.  Then in joyous contrast we get “I’ve Got Rhythm” from Girl Crazy (1930), “Just in Time” from Bells Are Ringing (1956), and “Jitterbug”—a song written for, but not included in, The Wizard of Oz. 

Her “Can’t Help Lovin’ That Man of Mine” from Showboat (1927) again showed her amazing ability to go from fierce to gentle in a single line.  From the film Dick Tracy she gives us Sondheim’s “Sooner or Later” and deftly navigates that genius’ plethora of rhymes.  From Mame we get a rendition of “If He Walked Into My Life Today” that will make you cry.  We get Styne, Comden and Green’s “Once in a Lifetime” and from A Star is Born that overwhelmingly sad “The Man That Got Away”. 

After  a standing ovation Ms. Kyro graces us with a lovely, happy “Smile” from Charlie Chaplin and Nat King Cole.

All in all it was a rich and varied evening, by St. Louis musical theater veteran Laura Kyro.