Analyse Judy Garland's Liza Musical Effect

Liza (All the Clouds’ll Roll Away)

In the summertime that has just recently passed by this year, there was a musical stage show that opened on Broadway called An American in Paris that won four Tony Awards including Best Orchestrations and Best Choreography and was inspired by the classic Gershwin movie musical of the same name. One of the numbers that was added into the show was the piece known as Liza. This was sung by the protagonist to the love interest known as Lise. This essay will explain where and when this musical number originated, with the context of what happened at the time that it was written, analyse Judy Garland’s version of the song and how I would arrange this piece for me to perform.

The number Liza was first introduced by Ruby Keeler who played Dixie Duggan in the musical Show Girl in July 1929, with the music written by George Gershwin and lyrics written by Ira Gershwin and Gus Kahn based on the novel by J.P. McEvoy. This collaboration came about because Ziegfeld needed the song to be completed quickly in order for it to be

During the Philco Radio Time Show with Bing Crosby on the 12th November 1946, eight months after Liza was born, Judy Garland sang her own version of this piece. In this version the orchestra plays a lost verse with a swaying, dreamy, atmospheric introduction with the string section adding to the expectation of the lullaby to follow. Judy picks up the thread with a tempo rubato and seamlessly carries it forward. In the bridge of the song she had alternative lyrics referring to the Sandman instead of Parson Brown as she changed the context of the song into a lullaby for her daughter. The emotion in the performance shows that she is expressing love for her child and that Liza is the light in her life that makes her happy. With the final lyrics she