Lorna Luft, the daughter of the legendary Judy Garland, has expressed her admiration for a heartfelt tribute by Wicked stars Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo. This homage celebrates her mother’s enduring legacy.

Judy Garland is best remembered for her iconic role in the 1939 film, The Wizard of Oz. This classic movie, inspired by L. Frank Baum’s novel, eventually led to the creation of the blockbuster Broadway musical Wicked, which premiered in 2003.

In anticipation of the upcoming release of Wicked: For Good, the second installment of the movie adaptation of the musical, Grande and Erivo took a moment to honor Garland in a special way.

The duo recreated a memorable performance originally by Garland and Barbra Streisand. This performance aired on Garland’s CBS variety show in 1963, just six years before Garland’s untimely death at 47 due to a barbiturate overdose.

The original duet featured a medley of “Get Happy,” a song Garland popularized in the 1950 film Summer Stock, and “Happy Days Are Here Again,” a track Streisand included on her debut album released shortly before the show.

Grande, aged 32, and Erivo, aged 38, brought this medley to life once more during the Peacock special Wicked: One Wonderful Night. The performance received high praise from Lorna Luft, now 72, as reported by TMZ.

On the Peacock special Wicked: One Wonderful Night, Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo paid a touching homage to the late Judy Garland

Specifically, they recreated a famous performance by Garland and Barbra Streisand on an episode of the former’s CBS variety show in 1963

Luft praised Grande and Erivo for selecting the duet they did, sharing that she feels ‘incredibly grateful’ when other singers perform Garland’s numbers.

‘I love those two and they’re incredibly talented,’ added Luft, whom Garland had by Sid Luft, the third of her eventual five husbands.

As for the upcoming film, Luft said: ‘We are grateful for Wicked, but we always have to know if it wasn’t for The Wizard Of Oz, there wouldn’t be Wicked.’

In her memoir My Name Is Barbra, Streisand wrote heartbreakingly about performing Get Happy/Happy Days Are Here Again with Garland.

‘I’ll never forget singing that duet. We sat next to each other (me in my white middy blouse), and I noticed she was shaking,’ Streisand recalled. 

‘She grabbed my arm, as if to steady herself, and then clasped my hand and held on to it tightly. She never let go of me until the end of the song. I couldn’t believe it. I thought: “This is Judy Garland! Why is she frightened?” My heart went out to her.’

Streisand noted: ‘She was only 41 years old, and I was 21. Now, many years later, I understand. Somehow you become more scared as you get older. And the more successful you are, the more the pressure increases…there seem to be more people out there just waiting for you to fail.’

Garland, who by the 1960s was battling addictions to both alcohol and drugs, fortified herself backstage with a German wine called Liebfraumilch.

Garland’s most enduring film was the 1939 classic The Wizard of Oz, based on the L. Frank Baum novel that also inspired the book from which Wicked is adapted 

Last year when the first Wicked movie came out, Garland’s daughter Lorna Luft fired up her social media to heap praise on the movie and its two leading ladies 

‘I don’t like the taste of wine, so I didn’t join her,’ continued Streisand in her autobiography. ‘And I didn’t need anything to take the edge off, because I wasn’t nervous. I was simply delighted to be singing with her.’ 

Luft is also a singer and has frequently covered her mother’s well-known numbers over the years, in contrast to her elder sister Liza Minnelli, who has only rarely waded into the territory of reprising Judy Garland songs.

Last year when the first Wicked movie came out, Luft fired up her social media to heap praise on the movie and its two leading ladies.

‘This movie is astounding! It’s epic, brilliant, touching and honest. It is breathtaking to look at,’ she rhapsodized after seeing a screening of the picture in New York.

She added that ‘the sets, costumes, makeup, performances, choreography, and the entire scope of the movie, is everything I wanted it to be. I told the genius Director Jon Chu, that he had picked up the torch, the broom, and the wand, and carried it forward; and thanked him, for adding to the family.’

Regarding the stars, she wrote: ‘Cynthia and Ariana are nothing short of magnificent! They take you on an emotional roller coaster, and you better hold on tight. Vocally, they both are phenomenal and jaw dropping! Their performances are honest, subtle, funny, and absolutely perfect.’

The Hollywood ‘nepo baby’ also vaunted the ‘phenomenal’ rest of the cast, singling out Michelle Yeoh and Jeff Goldblum in particular. 

Meanwhile Minnelli, who has withdrawn from the public eye in recent years, has not publicly commented on the Wicked movies but is known to be working on an upcoming memoir, in which she may express her opinion of the project.