CABARET REVIEW : Luft Melds Garland Touches Into Own Style

Lorna Luft’s return engagement at the Cinegrill in Hollywood was billed--with classic hyperbole--as a triumphant return. One suspects that the hard-working, ever-practical Luft may have blanched somewhat when she saw the marquee’s overblown announcement.

Her performance Tuesday night, however, was somewhat less triumphant than it was reminiscent. Singing with a far more relaxed and assured manner than had been the case with her earlier Cinegrill engagement, Luft looked and sounded strikingly like her mother, Judy Garland.

The similarity seemed especially fascinating in the light of a recent performance by Jim Bailey at the Cinegrill in which he devoted an entire evening to a Judy Garland “illusion.” But Luft’s appearance was the real stuff. Her moves, her manner, even the occasional crack in her voice, were the very essence of Garland.

To her credit, Luft has molded this natural resource into a variation which is, despite the familiarity of its source, uniquely her own. On songs like “Who Will Buy” and “Right as the Rain,” her warm, jazz-like phrasing and powerful ability to tell a story begged comparison with no one. A medley of “I’m Nobody’s Baby” and “My Buddy”--a familiar item in her show--was once again a highlight.

Luft’s only problem was an occasional tendency to overestimate the dimensions of the room. Too many numbers climaxed in brassy, oversized endings that were appropriate enough for a Las Vegas venue, but far too large for the intimate confines of the Cinegrill.

Luft continues at the Cinegrill tonight through Saturday. She returns next Tuesday, Wednesday and Oct. 14.