End Of The Rainbow- Los Angeles

[jackhammer91406]

I could have sworn there was a thread on this show already, but I did a cursory search back 2 years and couldn't find it so..

 

I saw this show last night with my good friend Oliver at the Ahmanson Theater here in Los Angeles.

It was great to finally see what everyone had been talking about.

 

Tracie Bennett is remarkable in portraying the larger than life persona of Judy Garland. This is a role she originated in London, then played on Broadway and now in Los Angeles. Clearly she owns the role and her performance is not really a performance but a channeling of all we remember about Judy in her last days; the voice long gone, the theatrics of her singing and the tragedy of her personal life wrestling with drugs, alcohol and love.

 

There are only four actors in the play and there is a small band onstage cleverly hidden behind the walls of the Ritz Hotel in London. The other actors playing her pianist, fiance/manager and radio host/bellhop/doorman all are just fine, but it is Ms Bennett's show from start to finish and she is marvelous.

 

We remember how Judy would wring every ounce of nuance and emotion from a song and give us everything she had. Ms. Bennett does the same portraying Judy. At the end we are just as exhausted as those who cared for her in her final days, but we are still in love with her as we always were. One of the lines in the play sums up her life so well. I'll paraphrase but it's pretty close; speaking of her audience, one character says to her "they love to see you fall, but they love you more when they see you get up." What an amazing, dazzling, talented and lonely person Judy was. Ms Bennett lets us see all of the person that was left.

 

The show is just the right length with a first act of about an hour and a second act of about 40 minutes. Watching Judy Garland crash to earth is hard work and I was grateful to be released to my own thoughts and memories at the end of the second act.

 

End of the Rainbow plays for 8 more performances. No plans announced for future dates and cities

http://endoftherainbowbroadway.com/

 

.

[+ Ace]

I JUST saw this show over my birthday weekend! To say that it was amazing & emotionally draining is an UNDERSTATEMENT!

Having previously seen it in NYC, I knew what to expect, but STILL was drained by the end of it.

BRAVO to ALL involved!

[+ sf westcoaster]

David and I saw the show in New York and loved every minute of it. Truly a "tour-de-force" for Miss Bennett. After the performance we stopped in a restaurant near the theatre. While waiting for our food to arrive Miss Bennet exited the theatre and was standing just outside the restaurant with no one around her. David stepped out of the restaurant and spoke to her. He said she was most gracious and engaging.

[edjames]

It's a fun show and I loved it. I'm glad to hear that you enjoyed it too.

 

I couldn't recall any thread titled End of the Rainbow but this thread started by Lucky in 2011 may have all the appropriate discussion about the NY production.

 

http://www.companyofmen.org/showthread.php?86464-Theater-Week-For-Lucky&highlight=Rainbow

 

ED

[jackhammer91406]

Thanks for posting that link ed. I knew I had seen it somewhere. I am not going crazy after all. (no comment Mr Oliver.)

[+ WilliamM]

 

 

Tracie Bennett is remarkable in portraying the larger than life persona of Judy Garland. This is a role she originated in London, then played on Broadway and now in Los Angeles. Clearly she owns the role and her performance is not really a performance but a channeling of all we remember about Judy in her last days; the voice long gone, the theatrics of her singing and the tragedy of her personal life wrestling with drugs, alcohol and love.

 

 

 

 

 

The show is just the right length with a first act of about an hour and a second act of about 40 minutes. Watching Judy Garland crash to earth is hard work and I was grateful to be released to my own thoughts and memories at the end of the second act.

 

 

 

 

 

I saw Judy Garland perform a number of time between Oct.1961 (at the high point of her career) and Dec. 1967 (when she had some voice left, and was still a viable singer). I give Ms Bennet much praise for her acting. But, her singing only vaguely resembles Garland's. Garland was a better actress than singer, and that does not come across at all, neither does her charisma (at least for me). Also, Garland's stage mannerisms were unique to her, and Ms. Bennet is far from the mark. But, the most confusing part of her performance is that she's singing as Garland did in the mid-1960s, not like she did in the last months of her life.

 

There probably are not a lot of people still around who saw Garland perform in 1961, shortly after her very famous Carnegie Hall concert, which was recorded and has never been out of print. Since I am still here (I saw Garland perform at Boston Garden when I was a freshman in college in 1961), I suggest people save money and buy the Carnegie Hall album on ITunes...the entire concert is now available, including her talking with the audience, and even the mistakes. Listening with earphones is almost the same as actually being at Carnegie Hall in 1961.