Judy Garland’s legacy has loomed large in Angela Ingersoll’s life since childhood.

“I can’t remember a time without Judy Garland,” said Ingersoll, whose passion for the legendary singer-actress provides the heart and soul of Get Happy: Angela Ingersoll Sings Judy Garland, a concert event celebrating the iconic performer. “Like many people, I met her as a young child. First, in The Wizard of Oz. Growing up in Indianapolis, Indiana, I was a big dreamer, and Dorothy is the quintessential dreamer. So, I identified with her early on, but it didn’t stop with Oz. I had an uncle who collected Judy’s films, television specials, and records, and that’s where my real education began.”

The Chicago-based actress brings her Emmy-nominated performance seen on PBS to Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park for an intimate evening of lively banter and timeless standards. Backed by a dynamite band, Ingersoll shares stories of Garland’s life between such classic tunes as The Trolley Song, The Man That Got Away, Make Someone Happy, and Over the Rainbow.

“I do around 25 songs in the show, and I’m always swapping in new numbers to keep things fresh,” Ingersoll said. “The marvelous composers of the Great American Songbook — like Harold Arlen, Irving Berlin, and George and Ira Gershwin — pulled our hearts in so many directions. The yearning of The Man That Got Away is delicious and cathartic. Come Rain or Come Shine has an exhilarating arrangement that really shows off my outstanding small orchestra of musicians. I dig deep for Stormy Weather and find tenderness in As Long As He Needs Me.”

Critics have raved about her distinctive ability to capture Garland’s captivating essence and vocal finesse. “She’s got it all,” noted Times Square Chronicles. “She has a voice as truly beautiful as Judy’s, with equally big pipes. She is a great actress who is as passionate, sensitive, and heart wrenching as Judy was. If anyone was ever meant to reincarnate Judy in performance, it’s undeniably her.”

Broadway World particularly praised her authenticity. “She’s likable, charming, fiery — like Judy, she has that spark of something you just can’t fake. The honesty with which Ingersoll shares her own story as it weaves with Judy’s, the sincere gratitude she shows for the chance to step into her icon’s shoes night after night — this is what makes Get Happy such a sensation in every way.”

Ingersoll values Garland’s authenticity as well while admiring her perseverance in the face of great adversity. “Judy was authentic and authenticity endures,” she said. “Judy was the first American pop culture child star who lived and worked her whole life publicly in the spotlight. And goodness knows American entertainment is often a consumer sport.

Judy survived being chewed up and spit out over and over again. She held onto her spark, her passion, her purpose. Through the long and winding roads of our lives, we never forget her as a companion, the child Dorothy. Her anthem, Over the Rainbow, continually reminds us to keep reaching, keep dreaming, keep asking, through the tempest of life, ‘Why, oh why, can’t I?”

Throughout her career, Garland, born Frances Ethel Gumm on June 10, 1922, experienced triumphs and pitfalls. Her accolades notably include the Academy Juvenile Award (The Wizard of Oz), two Academy Award nominations (A Star Is Born, Judgment at Nuremberg), and becoming the first woman to win the Grammy Award for Album of the Year (Judy at Carnegie Hall). In 1999, the American Film Institute ranked her the eighth-greatest female star of classic Hollywood cinema. In 1969, she died from an accidental barbiturate overdose in London at age 47.

Ingersoll hopes audiences are moved and uplifted by the sentiment and songs within this special tribute. “As I sing her music, I hope her spirit shines through. I tell stories about her and about my love of her. I mess around and act a fool, I cry and pour my heart out, all with the goal of bringing people as much genuine joy as possible.”

"As I sing her music, I hope her spirit shines through." – Angela Ingersoll