CityLife

Lorna lays ghost of Oz to rest

WICKED ROLE: Lorna Luft

WHEN it was announced that Lorna Luft was going to be starring in The Wizard Of Oz, this year’s Lowry Christmas show, there was tangible astonishment, as well as excitement.

Even if Lorna is taking on the role of the Wicked Witch of the West (pictured), as played in the film by Margaret Hamilton, Luft had spent so long, as she puts it, ‘running away from’ the long shadow of her mother, Judy Garland, that it initially seemed inconceivable that she would take part in a show so closely associated with her.

I mean, who can think of that wonderful classic film The Wizard Of Oz without seeing a mental picture of Garland as Dorothy, over the rainbow? 

“You know, you’re right, I ran away from all of this for a really long time,” she candidly admits.

“I’ve always tried to stay away from that one piece of history in my family, because it’s so iconic. But, when they offered it to me, they, as Mario Puzo said, ‘made me an offer I couldn’t refuse’!

Cool city

“The last time I checked, she doesn’t sing. It’s only five weeks. It’s outside of Manchester, which I’m thrilled about, because Manchester’s a cool city. It has had such an incredible blooming since I used to come up in the '70s.

“My first husband was in a group called The Arrows and they used to shoot their TV series in Manchester. So I used to come up here quite a bit when I was living in London.

"You didn’t have any of the shopping or whatever then but it’s a really cool place to be right now! I’ve been in England for the last two Christmases, so another Christmas won’t hurt me!

“I’m going to have fun with it,” she chuckles, adding that “I was lucky enough to know the real Margaret Hamilton, who was an absolutely wonderful, fabulous, really lovely lady.

"When I lived in New York, I’d sit and talk with her in Ted Hook’s restaurant and she was one of the nicest, sweetest women I’ve ever known. And I do remember that my mum said to me the hardest thing in The Wizard of Oz was being afraid of her, because she was a lovely woman.

"And she was wonderful as that character, so I’m pleased to be putting on a pointy hat for her.”

What, I wondered, did she make of Wicked, in which her character is, in a sense, the hero?

Problem

“I have a problem taking the Wizard Of Oz and doing other material from it, turning it into other things, if you know what I mean.

"Maybe I’m a bit of a purist but I like the story of The Wizard Of Oz rather then Wicked or The Wiz.

"But a lot of people have seen Wicked, which, to me, just goes to show that people are still fascinated by the original.

“The trick to doing The Wizard Of Oz is always to be honest. If the characters aren’t honest, then it becomes a caricature of itself – and you don’t ever want that. But my witch will be different to what everyone is expecting.

"The script is the RSC version. You can stretch the look a bit but can’t stray too far from her intentions and she is not a happy person. There’s not a lot of laughs with her.”

She has also recently taken on her mother’s legacy in her touring show Songs My Mother Taught Me and joined Rufus Wainwright for his recreation of Garland’s classic Carnegie Hall show.

“Everybody kept wanting me to sing my mother’s songs and I wouldn’t do it. It was too painful, it was too hard, it was too scary, it was too devastating.

Me and My Shadows

"But once I had written the book Me and My Shadows and done the film based on it, I was comfortable enough to take on this amazing library that I was left.

“A lot of people have stars as parents, but it’s a very odd thing to have a legend as a parent. It takes a while to find out how to react, how to behave, how to deal with it all, and deal with it the right way.”

Her involvement with the Rufus Wainwright show happened, she says, after ‘he called me up and said he was going to do it.’

“I basically said ‘are you nuts?’ But there was a whole generation of people, young people, that did not know my mum’s concert work, only her movies.

"To take her name and likeness into pop culture you have to keep moving forward and that was what he was going to do.

"He was saying ‘thank you’ to her for creating that concert, so I think that’s a cool thing.

Pulled it off

“Of course it was crazy but we pulled it off.

“Because I came from a show business family, and that kind of theatre training that I went through, I want to give 110 per cent.

"That, to me, is really important, especially today.

“People pay a lot of money, so you have to show up and do your job and you don’t want to screw up. That’s frightening. The day that you’re standing in the wings and you’re not frightened is the day you go home.

“There’s that wonderful thing between the audience and the performer and that’s what my mum taught me.”

The Wizard Of Oz is at The Lowry from Friday, November 28 until Sunday, January 4. £14 - £26. Call 0844 847 8000.