Let Her Sing and She's Happy. A Talk with 'White Christmas's' Lorna Luft

In the big, holiday cheer-filled "Irving Berlin's White Christmas" (at the Wang through 29) Lorna Luft steps forward and blows the roof off the cavernous hall with the song "Let Me Sing and I'm Happy." And with it, Luft connects with a legacy that dates back to when her mother Judy Garland sang in Boston over her four-decade career, culminating most famously with a free concert on Boston Common two years before her death in 1967 before a crowd of 100,000.

But for Luft, an encore of another show business survival song – Stephen Sondheim's "I'm Still Here" – may be in order. The 67-year old Luft has careered from career to career since appearing on her mother's CBS television show in 1961 and continues to thrill audiences, currently as the Mermanesque Martha Watson in this stage re-imagining of the 1954 film "White Christmas." What some may or may not know is that Luft does so as a cancer survivor, most recently having successfully survived an operation nearly two years ago to remove a brain tumor.

Luft addresses her health issues with the same cheerful, matter-of-fact way that she discusses other aspects of her life and career on a recent Sunday morning as she prepared for both a matinee and evening performances of the show she has been involved with, on and off, for more than a decade now.

A gig at Christmas

EDGE: How did you get the role of Martha Watson?

Lorna Luft: I started this role 11 years in England, so it has been on and off over the years. It is one of my favorite parts to do. It's like coming home because I know all the cast members, the producers are fantastic and the crew is amazing. So whenever they ask me and I am available, I am right there. I feel I have been very fortunate to play her for a long time. It is like putting on your favorite cashmere sweater and it fits.

EDGE: You have had a tumultuous last couple of years with health issues. Where do you find the strength, emotionally and physically, to perform at such a demanding pace?

Lorna Luft: Everybody knows that I have been battling cancer for seven years. I have fantastic, amazing doctors that look after me. I have always trusted them about everything I do. And when they say, 'Go do it. You're okay.' I do it. I follow my medical advisors. When they say it's a bad idea, I don't do it; but they usually say do it. Be normal. Go live your normal life. Yes, you are battling, and are on chemotherapy and immune therapy and all these fantastic drugs we have now, this is part of my normal now. You know I had breast cancer that spread to my brain, and had a brain tumor last year. It hasn't effected my voice. I have an amazing vocal teacher in New York, and I do what I am supposed to do to keep my body in check. I eat differently than before this happened to me. You just follow the rules.

EDGE: Is there any hope of seeing you on Broadway any time soon?

Lorna Luft: That would be nice. I don't know. You never know what is around the corner. You never know what you are going to be offered. You never know what is going to be happening. I have booked concert dates for 2020, and I am grateful for that. So I can't say we expect to see me on Broadway – I don't even know what's going to Broadway, never mind am I going to be in it. I am grateful to work. I am grateful to be able to do eight shows a week. I am grateful to the cast and the crew that make "Irving Berlin's White Christmas" so special for me. And I hope to do it next year because it is always so great to have a gig at Christmas.

EDGE: Irving Berlin was defined as 'American music' in the first half of the 20th century. What do you think of his legacy?

Lorna Luft: Irving Berlin is a great American treasure, and he has had a long association with a great number of talented people in Hollywood. He had a great relationship with Bing Crosby and Fred Astaire and Ethel Merman. He had a great relationship with my mother when she did "Easter Parade." You are never going to be able to go into a store from here to China without hearing Irving Berlin's music being played on the intercom of a store you are in. I knew Irving Berlin's two daughters. They use to come for the meet and greets when we did the first rehearsals of "Irving Berlin's White Christmas." They were very hands-on. They were very protective of their father's legacy, and I love that. I think it was Linda who came to my door a couple of years ago after a show and said, "My father loved my mother and I love you." And I said, "Well, the circle goes on."

EDGE: Your mother was a constant visitor to Boston, especially in the 1960s when I believe she lived here for a short while. Do you have memories of Boston when you were growing up?

Lorna Luft: I remember when my mom played the Boston Common in 1968, I think, and 100,000 came to see her. It was the biggest crowd that ever came to the Common. My mom adored Boston. But I didn't know Boston that well when I was a kid, but my mom rented a house one summer next to the Kennedys in Hyannis Port. I remember that. And later I did "Guys and Dolls" here in '92 and '93 for eight weeks and got to know Boston. I have so much love for the city and the state of Massachusetts. I love the people and I love the accent. I love the fact that it feels like New York at times, then all of sudden it feels like England, where I have spent a lot of time because my husband is British, so you get the best of both worlds.

Not home for Christmas?

EDGE: You live in Los Angeles. Is it difficult not being home for Christmas?

Lorna Luft: I haven't had a Christmas at home in 11 years. I was talking to the little girl who plays Susan in the show, and she said she hadn't been home for Christmas in two years. And I said I haven't been home, on and off, for 11 years, then told her that we made a deal in my family to have Christmas in January. That's what we do. It's not about the certain day. Every day should be Christmas. You should be filled with the wanting to give back. You should be filled with the emotion of Christmas all year long. So it doesn't matter if you are not there actually on the day. It is the emotional being that you feel to give back to others, and you should feel that every day.

EDGE: You come from a show business family. In fact, about the time you were born, your parents were developing your mother's comeback film, "A Star is Born." Did you ever feel pressured into a career in show business?

Lorna Luft: It was just the family business. If you come from a family of lawyers, you become a lawyer. If you come from a family of doctors, you become a doctor. It is sort of the way it is. Either you love it and succeed at it, or it is not for you. A lot of show business children don't go into the business. It's just not for them. My children have no interest in any of this. They think it is great and wonderful. My daughter called me last night and said she is hearing a lot of grandma in every store she goes into and I said, "yeah, it's the family business." There was no pressure. It was just something I evolved into doing.

About 'A Star is Born'

EDGE: You recently wrote a book about "A Star is Born." What prompted that?

Lorna Luft: When the fifth one was being made, I decided to write a book about all five movies, not just the one my mother and father made. It starts out with "What Price Hollywood," then goes into the Janet Gaynor-Frederick March "A Star is Born"; then my mom's one, then Barbra's. It doesn't go into the Lady Gaga and Bradley Cooper one that much because while I was writing the book, they were shooting. But when I finished and their movie came out, they were so generous and so wonderful. We went through the award season together and I can't tell you how much love and respect I have for Lady Gaga and Bradley Cooper. They have been nothing but fantastic for me.

EDGE: Do you remember the first time you saw the film?

Lorna Luft: I was on the set when I was really little and remember seeing the pictures of me there. But I didn't see the film until I was a teenager and remember it confused me a lot. The reason was that it had been taken away from my parents and cut up. Scenes didn't make sense. Jack Warner (the executive at Warner Brothers) gave orders for people in theaters – the actual projectionists – to cut up the film. So I have never seen the original and it does not exist. It was so sad. I have never seen the original and it does not exist. Trust me. I have been searching for it. It came out in the movies for one solid week uncut and you would think someone would have a copy. But it is like the Holy Grail and it doesn't exist. I had a long talk with Bradley Cooper about it and he also searched and agrees that it doesn't exist. If it hadn't put in a vault by now, it is likely just dust. So I don't think we will ever see the true, three-hour version.

EDGE: You were one of the Pink Ladies in "Grease 2." It was a movie that was much maligned when it was released in 1982, but has gone to become a cult classic. Was it fun to make?

Lorna Luft: It was fun and we had a great time making it. I made life long friendships. I know it is a great cult classic and every time it is on television, it makes me happy to watch. And I had something amazing happen to me on this tour that dealt with the movie. The movie studio wouldn't allow us to take any of our costumes from the film. And I wanted to take my Pink Lady jacket, but couldn't, which was sort of sad. And about ten years later, the studio went on auction and auctioned it all of. And my Pink Lady jacket was bought by this lovely girl who came backstage at a concert I was doing in South Carolina and showed me that she had bought the jacket. I told her to take care of it and if she ever wanted to part with it, to contact me first. Then when I was in Durham last month with the show and she came to the show and said, it is time for this jacket to come home and she gave me back my pink lady jacket. I have my jacket back.

EDGE: You are part of the Stonewall Initiative Gives Back. The Stonewall riots have long been associated with your mother since it is thought that they came about in reaction to police harassment at the bar when its patrons were mourning her death. Can you talk about why you got involved in the group and why Stonewall is important for you?

Lorna Luft: I think Stonewall Initiative Gives Back is such an important educational and much-needed organization that sends people out to rural areas to talk to young LGBTQ people that there is support for them. Young people in these situations are often scared and don't know how to come out to their families or come out to a friend. But SIGB gives them a hotline for them to call; a place for them to go to talk. SIGB sends people to schools to let people know that there is someone out there that they can contact. I am a huge advocate in the campaigns to stop bullying and that protect our young people. To let them know that they are not different. That we love them. Just say, "We love you and you have a place you can call and go to." This is very important because it is a very scary out there.

I am incredibly proud of my family's legacy with Stonewall. When I was on the Stonewall float at the Gay Pride Parade, I did nothing but cry practically all the way through the entire parade. It was magnificent. Then we passed Stonewall and everybody on the float and the street, everyone started singing "Over the Rainbow." Well, I was a mess. And I was with my friend Randy Rainbow, and he was a mess. I adore Randy. He is a really good friend of mine. And I am on his Christmas album. We do "Santa Claus is Coming to Town." We have been on the Billboard charts for three weeks now.

EDGE: > Speaking of your mom, why does her legacy endure?

Lorna Luft: Because everybody grew up with her. Everybody grew up with one film or another with her. So they knew her. They were emotionally given joy by her films, by her recordings, by her television show, by her concerts. I think that when you have talent like that that will go on forever because it becomes iconic, and because she did pass away so incredibly young, people will automatically have a place in their hearts for someone like my mother. She just wanted to entertain. All she wanted to do was sing and entertain. That is why people loved her. Because of her talent. By the time she was 35 years old and had made 37 movies. The people that really did know her knew her incredible sense of humor. She was so self-deprecating and warm and a brilliant conversationalist. You can watch those interviews on YouTube and see what a captivating person she really was. And can you believe that my mother has a song on the Billboard charts right now. This great dance version of "The Man That Got Away" and it is on the Billboard charts right now, which is amazing and makes me very happy.

"Irving Berlin's White Christmas" continues through December 29 at the Boch Center Wang Theatre, 270 Tremont Street, Boston, MA. For more information, visit her Facebook page.