Coming from a family of A-list performers, it’s understandable that Lorna Luft feels comfortable on the stage. The daughter of Judy Garland and showbiz producer Sidney Luft has been able to cut a very successful career on the stage and screen for herself, despite living in the shadow of the Hollywood empire into which she was born.
Not that she sees it as a shadow. She wears her heritage proudly as a badge, as anyone would.
“I’m fortunate enough to have an extraordinary catalogue of songs that mean something to me,” said Lorna, talking about her forthcoming performance in Aberdeen.
She will be one of the headline performers at An Evening of Movies and Musicals, at the Music Hall tomorrow night, alongside a veritable feast of music industry, west-end and Broadway talent. Among her co-stars in tomorrow’s extravaganza will be X Factor winner Joe McElderry, musical starlet Kerry Ellis and rock singers Nathan James and Jai McDowall. A choir comprised of talented local singers will fill out the ranks.
Lorna has a large enough oeuvre of songs to easily satisfy her ongoing international touring schedule. Some of them were hits for her mother, such as The Man That Got Away, and others are from her own stage career, such as numbers from Promises, Promises and Follies.
“Basically, I pick and choose when I know what show I’m going to be doing,” she explained.
“I do three different variations of concert shows. So, when a promoter says to me ‘this is what we want’, I go away and really think about what that audience wants to hear. Not just what I like.”
Her reason for this springs from Lorna’s strict understanding of where she fits into the picture in a concert. For her, the audience is king.
“They buy the tickets; they’re my boss,” she said with a hearty laugh.
So what can the “king” expect at Lorna’s section of tomorrow night’s concert?
She said: “It’s movies and musicals, and paying tribute to a world I grew up in. Everybody has their own favourite song from their own favourite movie. What people want to do is get themselves back to when they first heard these songs in their lives. Everyone’s going to have a different take on it.”
A particular set-piece which Lorna is increasingly famous for is her mother and daughter medley, in which she is able to accompany Judy in a duet, thanks to the wonders of modern technology. In comparison to Judy, Lorna’s voice is fuller and more mellow, but with equal crowd-appealing qualities.
However, she probably wouldn’t be comfortable with being considered the vocal equal of her iconic mother, who to this day she idolises.
“The words I would use to explain my mother would be unfathomably talented, extraordinarily funny, and one of the most generous human being’s I will ever know. And she loved us and she was our mum.”
Similarities which she is happy to acknowledge are the “sense of humour” and “self-deprecation” which she has inherited directly from Judy.
“It’s about not taking things seriously, and certainly not taking yourself too seriously. And to find humour in everything, even when it’s really rotten. Even when you feel that nothing will make you laugh again, you will find humour in something,” she said.
It’s a characteristic which has seen Lorna through some tough times, from losing her mother to an accidental overdose of barbiturates when she was only 16, to battling breast cancer – the latter which she only got through a year ago.
With so much of her life in the media revolving around her relationship with her mother, I was curious about Lorna’s relationship with her own daughter. What has been her own approach to motherhood?
“My daughter would describe me as her mother first, and then her best friend. Because I’m not into mothers saying: ‘I’m your best friend.’ No, I’m your parent first and then I’m your friend. And I think my daughter and I have gone through ups and downs, as all mothers and daughters do, and, now that she’s 23, we understand one another, and we’re really close.”
And with that, we shift back to speaking about her professional life. When it comes to picking out a highlight of her career, Lorna has real difficulty. After all, she made her debut aged 11 singing Santa Claus is Coming to Town on the 1963 Christmas episode of her mother’s CBS television series, The Judy Garland Show. Now aged 61, and with singing, acting and producing successes to her name, she’s reluctant to choose just one experience above the rest.
“I can’t pick just one as it makes the others not highlights,” she agonised.
“So I would say every time I step on stage. That’s when I understand why I’m here, and that people are coming to see me sing. They’re buying tickets and I’m incredibly grateful for that.”
But while she much prefers the instant gratification of live performance, Lorna agrees that some of her film work comes close. Take, for example, her role as Pink Lady Paulette Rebchuck in Grease 2.
“It’s funny because, last night, I was on the phone to the director of the movie,” she said with a note of glee in her voice.
“It was a fun experience. I mean, it wasn’t Shakespeare we were making. But we had a great time; it was a fantastic time making that movie and we all remain close friends. It just makes us smile and giggle that it’s such a cult classic.”
Lorna Luft will perform in An Evening of Movies and Musicals at the Music Hall, Aberdeen, tomorrow at 7.30pm. Tickets are available from www.aberdeen performingarts.com or by calling 01224 641122.