Melanie visits Crumbly – I mean, Carnegie – Hall


My dream is to sing one day at New York City’s legendary Carnegie Hall, or “Crumbly” Hall, as I called it when I was a mere kidlet. Recently my author, Melanie Jackson, stopped by Carnegie Hall – can I be far behind? Not according to a mysterious, if slightly scattered, fortune teller named Madame Sosistris, who in Queen of Disguises definitely sees the famous performance venue in Dinah’s future.

Millionaire philanthropist Andrew Carnegie – Scottish-born, BTW, like Melanie – donated $2 million for the concert hall’s construction, finished in May 1891. Famous for its rich, precise acoustics, Carnegie Hall seats 3,000. Its début concert was conducted in part by none other than Russian composer Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky, also a noted swan enthusiast. But the Carnegie Hall performance I like to hear about – and listen to – is Judy Garland’s, from 1961, called “the greatest night in show business history.”