Get happy: Lady Gaga channels Judy Garland with jazzy standards on surprise ‘Harlequin’ album

nypost.com:

Lady Gaga arrived on the pop scene16 years ago, it seemed as if she were going to “Just Dance.”But, while she can still keep up in her platform heels, the 38-year-old superstar has done so much more than that — as both a singer and an actress.Gaga’s new surprise album “Harlequin” — which she just announced on Tuesday before releasing it on Friday — is a companion LP to her movie “Joker: Folie à Deux,” which hits theaters on Oct.

4. And the 13-song set finds the Grammy- and Oscar-winning diva shape-shifting into both her character of Lee, aka Harley Quinn — which she plays opposite Joaquin Phoenix’s Joker — and the classic vocalists of yore.Think of it as “Mother Monster Does the Great American Songbook.”Taking its cues from standards featured in the singing sequel to 2019’s “Joker” blockbuster, it’s a jazzy affair that harks back to the two collaborative albums Gaga did with Tony Bennett — 2014’s “Cheek to Cheek” and 2021’s “Love for Sale” — as well as her Jazz & Piano residency in Las Vegas.And right away, when she gets the album off to a swinging start with “Good Morning” — originally performed by Judy Garland and Mickey Rooney in 1939’s “Babes in Arms” — there’s no doubt that Gaga has the chops to pull it off.Gaga keeps the feel-good vibes going with a brassy “Get Happy,” another golden oldie associated with Garland.And by the time you get to “That’s Entertainment” — yet another vintage tune forever linked to Garland — it’s clear that Gaga is channeling her “A Star Is Born” predecessor.

When she brings “That’s Entertainment” to a big finish — belting out “The world is a stage, and the stage is a world of entertainment” — you just know that somewhere Judy is smiling.Elsewhere, Gaga gives a torchy sultriness to “World.