Rufus Does Judy

When I first stumbled across this item I thought it was a joke. Rufus Wainwright has announced tour dates for his reinterpretation of Judy Garland's famed Carnegie Hall concert. Backed by a 40-piece orchestra, Wainwright will re-create the concert Garland performed back on April 23, 1961.

Wainwright performs his own vocal interpretations, but the song set list and orchestrations will be identical to that of Judy's 1961 concert. On paper, this sounds like a really bad idea. Sort of like Gus Van Sant "reinterpreting" Hitchcock's Psycho.

But Wainwright has already gotten strong reviews for two sold-out performances back in June. He's also got a lot of talent backing him up on the tour, including Broadway musical director Stephen Oremus (Wicked) and director Sam Mendes, who is filming the concerts for an upcoming documentary on Wainwright.

Check out this YouTube clip to see Rufus' doing Judy doing "Chicago". Crazy as it sounds, the show could be worth checking out. Wainwright's official site has tour dates and links to buy tickets.