- Fountainebleau Hotel - La Ronde Room -

She Had Them In Her Hands
Miami Beach Daily Sun

Judy Garland's opening number at the Fountainebleau's La Ronde Room Thursday night was "He's Got The Whole World In His Hands," but by the time she was half-way through the number it was obvious it was the petite singer who had the whole world in her hands.

Miss Garland, a fantastic showman, was a mature Judy Garland last night. There is a lot of the little girl quality remaining, but this is a better performer than we have ever seen in her.  She doesn't overdo the plays on emotions, but she has the timing down to perfection.

Miss Garland knows when to move, how long to wait off stage while the audience tries to rush her back for more, how long to pause between numbers for ultimate effect, which numbers to sing in sequence, building to her closing songs which all were waiting for.  In short, there is beneath the wonderful performance a knowledge that everything will go right.

While some performers have trouble staying in one key, Miss Garland switches keys with ease -- at one time making four key changes in two sentences. She uses her musicianship for the ultimate effect.

There are those who have found her tremolo a bit strong in the past, but she uses it now to advantage, not overdoing it and making it work for her all the time.

Preceding Miss Garland is difficult, the audience is charged with an electricity which builds long before you even enter La Ronde, but the Allen Brothers, Chris and Peter, were very well received.

They sing together, each taking short solos, and Peter plays the piano and Chris guitar on a couple of numbers.  They also dance, and they dance well. While no one had to bring an audience up for Miss Garland, the Allen Brothers had the audience keyed high for her entrance.

They opened with "You're Nobody Till Somebody Loves You," swung into a hot version of "La Bomba" and stayed in the folk vein with "They Called the Wind Maria."  With derby hats, they swung into a song and dance routine on "Hello Dolly!" and followed it with a song from another Broadway musical, "Don't Rain On My Parade" from "Funny Girl."

The Brothers did a very funny and well handled Kangaroo Twist, a comic dance on the down under version of our fads -- they're from Sidney, Australia -- and wrapped up their act with "Together."

Miss Garland followed her opener with "When You're Smiling," in an up-tempo arrangement, drawing able assistance from the Len Damson Orchestra which was led by Miss Garland's conductor, Mort Lindsey.

Looking svelte and lovely in a gown by Ray Aghayan, who did all the costuming for her television show, Miss Garland built up to her closing numbers by singing "His Is the Only Music Which Makes Me Dance," a medley of "It's Almost Like Being in Love" and "This Can't Be Love," and a bittersweet version of "Smile."

She turned in a beautiful rendition of "What Now My Love," a song which is handled only by singers with the guts to try it.  It's a difficult number and the audience caught their breath, then exploded with applause when she reached for, hit and sustained the final note.

After an exit, she returned for "Rock a Bye Your Baby," "The Man That Got Away," and "Chicago," but the talented star wasn't through yet.

The audience wanted "Over the Rainbow," her signature song, and they got it, full of nostalgia, but full of an endless charm and beauty.

If you can get in, go see Judy Garland.  This is one of those delightful show business experiences which don't happen too often.  When they do happen, you just feel lucky you were able to be a part of it.

Judy's back, and may she be around a long, long time.

There's magic about Judy Garland on a nightclub stage and her audience hangs on every note and every word she sings.  These are her people.  You look at this tiny woman in the vast La Ronde Room in the Fontainebleau and expect her still to bee the child of THE WIZARD OF OZ.  We, too, would like to be as young as when we first saw it, but time marches on.  Judy is 42.  Judy seems to be singing in a slightly lower range, she has a 25-piece orchestra behind her, marvelous arrangements and if the voice ever does waver the music carries her over the rough spots.  But this woman can still belt and shows it in her FOR ME AND MY GAL and other standards.  You feel for her when she does BY MYSELF and then you cheer her for ROCK A BYE.  When she closed with RAINBOW men and women were standing and cheering.  The opening act are the Allen Brothers, Peter and Chris, a song and dance team from Australia.  Peter is Judy's future son-in-law.  He and Liza Minnelli are engaged.  Their best number is the Kangaroo Twist.

Judy Garland is belting out the best show she's ever given on Miami Beach.  The sometimes unpredictable but apparently indestructible Garland is at the Fontainebleau La Ronde Room where Thursday night she performed for a sellout audience that paid premium price to see her.  She sang a full hour's worth of tunes -- some with her own trademark on them -- others as new as today's hit parade.  And she delivered each as though there was only today and tomorrow.  It wasn't so much that Judy was hitting every note in full-pear-shaped tones (in her style she never did that) -- her sensational victory over the Toronto Cassandra reports stemmed from the fact that she was giving every number heart-shape by the very dramatic vigor of her handling.  It was obvious that Judy Garland had some to the Fontainebleau to sing.  Not quite from the first number -- that was sort of invocative opening: THE WHOLE WORLD IN HIS HANDS.  But once past that spiritual beginning her voice danced, and her spirit did too, as she gave expressive and full blown phrasing to such oldies as WHEN YOU'RE SMILING, JUST IN TIME, MAKE SOMEONE HAPPY and BY MYSELF, especially the last, in wistful and meaningful mood.  But she also had two tremendous new numbers:  HIS IS THE ONLY MUSIC THAT MAKES ME DANCE and WHAT NOW MY LOVE."