{"id":109,"date":"2009-09-23T01:00:00","date_gmt":"2009-09-23T07:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.kidsfirst.org\/ranny\/2009\/09\/23\/judy-garlands-daughter-lorna-luft-to-celebrate-70th-anniversary-of-wizard-of-oz\/"},"modified":"2009-09-23T01:00:00","modified_gmt":"2009-09-23T07:00:00","slug":"judy-garlands-daughter-lorna-luft-to-celebrate-70th-anniversary-of-wizard-of-oz","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.kidsfirst.org\/ranny\/2009\/judy-garlands-daughter-lorna-luft-to-celebrate-70th-anniversary-of-wizard-of-oz\/","title":{"rendered":"Judy Garland’s Daughter, Lorna Luft to Celebrate 70th Anniversary of Wizard of Oz"},"content":{"rendered":"
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<\/a>On the evening of September 24, five of the original actors who played Munchkins in \u201cThe Wizard of Oz\u201d will make a rare appearance, their first ever in Manhattan; Lorna Luft will honor her mother\u2019s legacy with a special musical tribute performing \u201cRock-A-Bye Your Baby\u201d as well as a Wizard of Oz medley composed especially for the Gala; and Grammy Award winning singer\/songwriter and actress Ashanti, who recently played Dorothy in City Center Encores! production of The Wiz, will sing \u201cSomewhere Over the Rainbow.\u201d All this will take place at Warner Bros. Entertainment\u2019s highly anticipated Emerald Gala at Manhattan\u2019s historic Tavern on the Green in celebration of the 70th anniversary of The Wizard of Oz. At sundown, the famed lights of the Empire State Building will glow emerald green in honor of the American film classic\u2019s milestone. <\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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The exclusive event will also be highlighted by the auction of Warner Bros. Consumer Products\u2019 Ruby Slipper Collection and Inspirations of Fine Art Collection, benefiting the Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation (EGPAF), and the heralding of Warner Home Video\u2019s September 29 Blu-ray and DVD release of The Wizard of Oz 70th Anniversary Ultimate Collector\u2019s Editions. <\/div>\n
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The Emerald Gala will launch the last season of extravaganzas under the LeRoy family\u2019s ownership of the iconic restaurant, known and loved by patrons from New York and the world over since 1974. The entire restaurant and surrounding grounds will transform for a night into the Emerald City, replete with a winding \u201cYellow Brick Road,\u201d fields of poppies, and a special appearance by the seven-and-a-half story stunningly decorated Wizard of Oz Hot Air Balloon. <\/p>\n

Multi-platinum recording sensation Ashanti will grace the stage to perform Somewhere Over the Rainbow and The Way That I Love You at the star-studded gala event, highlighted by the charitable auction of Warner Bros. Consumer Products\u2019 Ruby Slipper Collection and select pieces from Inspirations of Fine Art Collection to benefit long time philanthropic partner, the Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation (EGPAF). Joining the stage with Ashanti will be a full band and four talented musical prodigies from a local New York high school. The orchestra members, Joshua Epstein, Kathryn Mattner, Joanna Rose-Gross and Jenny Yiu, were hand picked from North Shore High School by Musical Director, Marvin Floyd.<\/p>\n

The Munchkins \u2013 Ruth Duccini (Villager), Jerry Maren (Lollipop Guild Member), Margaret Pellegrini (Flowerpot Hat Dancer), Meinhardt Raabe (Coroner and oldest living Munchkin, who proclaims \u201cThe Witch is Dead\u201d); and Karl Slover (1st Trumpeter) — have not appeared together publicly since their 2007 Walk of Fame honors and prior to that at a 2005 screening at the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences in Beverly Hills, CA. <\/p>\n

In honor of the film\u2019s anniversary, Ashanti has recorded Somewhere Over the Rainbow as a single, which will be released through all standard online outlets, beginning September 24. \u201cIt\u2019s an honor to be a part of this great tribute to such an iconic American film classic,\u201d said Ashanti. \u201cTo be able to sing Somewhere Over the Rainbow is a way for me to pay homage to Judy Garland, a distinct pioneer of all time.\u201d<\/p>\n

Noted Ms. Luft, \u201cI am truly looking forward to performing at this historic event honoring one of the greatest movies ever made.\u201d<\/p>\n

Also making a special appearance at the grand affair will be the cast of the highly celebrated The National Tour of The Wizard of Oz, with Dorothy and Toto, Scarecrow, Tin Man and the Cowardly Lion, all adding fun and excitement down the \u201cYellow Brick Road.\u201d The cast will perform If I Only Had a Brain on the main stage in the Garden of Tavern on the Green.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are pleased to have our cast take part in the Warner Bros.\u2019 70th Anniversary celebration of The Wizard of Oz,\u201d said Seth Wenig, Executive Producer, The Wizard of Oz National Tour. \u201cThe movie is in its 70th year, and we will bring this beloved American classic to life on stage in more than 70 cities across the nation! Everywhere from Pittsburgh to Anchorage, we are thrilled to be a part of that!\u201d<\/p>\n

Warner Home Video\u2019s September 29 Blu-ray and DVD release of The Wizard of Oz 70th Anniversary Ultimate Collector\u2019s Editions will mark an historic benchmark in the Blu-ray format as the studio continues to maximize what Blu-ray can do for picture and sound. With six times higher resolution than standard DVD along with unparalleled sonic excellence, the film will be at its absolute pristine best, packed with treasured collectibles and brand-new bonus content.<\/p>\n

Guests at The Emerald Gala and around the world have the opportunity to bid on Warner Bros. Consumer Products\u2019 renowned Ruby Slipper Collection and select works from The Inspirations of Oz Fine Art Collection at rubyslipperauction.com, with proceeds benefiting EGPAF. The auction opened September 10, with final bids closing and tabulated on September 30.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

On the evening of September 24, five of the original actors who played Munchkins in \u201cThe Wizard of Oz\u201d will make a rare appearance, their first ever in Manhattan; Lorna Luft will honor her mother\u2019s legacy with a special musical tribute performing \u201cRock-A-Bye Your Baby\u201d as well as a Wizard of Oz medley composed especially […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":15,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-109","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/paSd8M-1L","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kidsfirst.org\/ranny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/109","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kidsfirst.org\/ranny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kidsfirst.org\/ranny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kidsfirst.org\/ranny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/15"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kidsfirst.org\/ranny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=109"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.kidsfirst.org\/ranny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/109\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kidsfirst.org\/ranny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=109"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kidsfirst.org\/ranny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=109"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kidsfirst.org\/ranny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=109"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}