AND NOW LADIES AND GENTLEMEN, MISS JUDY GARLAND
Area favorite Kathy St. George channels the Wizard of Oz star in this new theater piece adapted from Garland’s hard-to-get-hold-of recorded memoir, Judy Speaks, and directed by Tony McLean. The first part of the 90-minute show is set in 1964 in a London hotel suite, where a forlorn and angry Garland sets out to tape her reminiscences for an autobiography that never materialized; that’s followed by an ebullient mini-concert in which St. George pours herself body, voice, and vibrato into Garland’s signature songs, from a clanged-out “Trolley Song” to an aching “The Man That Got Away” and “Over the Rainbow,” all accompanied by pianist Tim Evans with deference and sweep. (The arrangements are by Catherine Stornetta.) The point is that the love of Garland’s life was her audience, and St. George serves up every trademark gesture, tic, and stance as she sings Judy’s heart out. | Lyric Stage Company, 140 Clarendon St, Boston | 617.585.5678 | Indefinitely | Curtain 8 pm Wed-Sat | 3 pm Sun | $45-$50

JUDGE JUDY
Diminutive singing dynamo Kathy St. George has always felt an affinity for the star of The Wizard of Oz (without the Lindsay Lohan propensities), and she’ll be channeling her in AND NOW LADIES AND GENTLEMEN, MISS JUDY GARLAND, a show put together and directed by the former vice-president of Disney Theatrical Productions, Tony McLean. St. George delivers selections of the infamous 1964 recorded memoir Judy Speaks, then applies her considerable tonsil power to the trademark Garland tunes, from “The Trolley Song” to “Over the Rainbow,” at Lyric Stage Company, 140 Clarendon St, Boston | indefinitely | $45-$50 | 617.585.5678 or www.andnowjudygarland.com.