2018 Issue 4 Jul/Aug - Focus Mid-South Magazine

arts+entertainment
ANGELA
INGERSOLL
story by Kevin Shaw | photo courtesy of Angela Ingersoll
Back in the early 1990s
Angela Ingersoll came to
Memphis to work as an acting
intern at Playhouse on the
Square where she earned
next to nothing to hone her
craft. I had the privilege of
directing her in I Love You,
You’re Perfect, Now Change,
and I knew she was something
special. When she announced
she’d be moving to Chicago
to further her career, I had
high expectations, but then
Ingersoll exceeded everyone’s
expectations (except possibly
her own) after starring in
End of the Rainbow at the
Porchlight Music Theatre
and winning the Jeff Award
for Best Actress in a Play.
After rave reviews detailing
her frighteningly uncanny
resemblance to Judy Garland
(both physically and vocally),
Ingersoll has taken the show
to Los Angeles, shot a PBS
special and will be bringing
Get Happy: Angela Ingersoll
sings Judy Garland to the
Germantown Performing Arts
Center in September.
So, how did Judy Garland
enter your life?
Ingersoll: This was
completely of my own making.
This is me deciding that I’m
not going to censor the thing
inside of me that I have wanted
to do more than anything in
the world. This is me saying,
“If I’m going to show you my
real heart, I just want to do
this!” I’ve been compared to
Judy Garland since I was 4 or
5 years old because I learned
to sing by singing along with
her and imitating her. I’ve just
been compared to her my
whole life because there are so
many physical similarities—she
was 4’11” and I’m 5 feet tall; I
have the exact same overbite
with the same crooked teeth;
we even have the exact same
skull and a hump on the backs
of our necks.
feel like Judy Garland is a part
of me because she was just so
damn talented, and who am I
to announce that I come close
to that talent?” So, I hid from
that...that thing that was in my
heart for many, many years.
me around. I do believe she
talks to me sometimes and
I try to listen. I have had the
good fortune of becoming
good friends with her only son,
Joey Luft. When I first met
him, I could sense that Judy
was a part of this cosmically
and I could hear her saying,
“Take care of my son, Joey.
Be kind to him.”
I know your concert recently
aired on WKNO as part
of their fundraising drive
and now you’re bringing
your show to the GPAC in
September!
Correct! It’s a show I put
together myself. It’s not a play,
it’s a concert. I’m very much
myself in that I tell stories
about my life and I tell stories
about Judy’s life. People will
get to know Judy Garland
through the lens of me. Not to
‘toot my horn’ too loudly, but
I’m an expert on everything
Judy. I’m like the “tour guide”
of her life and music.
Can you ever see yourself
moving to Las Vegas and
being a Judy Garland
impersonator?
I don’t think of myself as an
impressionist or impersonator,
but if there’s an audience for
people who get goosebumps
hearing me sing like Judy
Garland, then absolutely I’d do
that. But, I wouldn’t do it as a
“magic trick” just trying to fool
people. I’m me. In the concert,
the lines blur a lot whether
I’m being her or I’m being me
and I think that’s even more
enchanting for an audience to
witness.
I’ve known you for 15 years Your resemblance to her
and It wasn’t until recently now—physically and vocally—
that I realized just how eerily is a bit shocking. Do you
you do actually resemble her. believe in reincarnation?
That’s because I kept it
People have asked me that.
hidden. I always thought, “How I believe her spirit is definitely
dare would I tell people that I sitting on my shoulder kicking Tickets: gpacweb.com
Star is Reborn
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