End Of The Rainbow at The Ahmanson Theatre

Just got back from Seeing Tracie Bennett in End Of The Rainbow and i gotta say i personally was blown away- i know alot of people did not enjoy the play but i personally was extremely impressed. Tracie is truly spectacular as Judy, and performed one hell of a show that makes me wonder just how she is able to do it 8 times a week LOL!! It made a personal theatre first for me- i cried, not just watery eyes but crying! I seen SOOO many shows and this was the first where i actually cried. i am going back to see it tomorrow! I would greatly recommend this show if your in town!!

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I just got back from seeing the show and was blown away. I heard Nina Arianda was great in Venus in Fur but I cannot believe Tracie didn't win the Tony. She was astonishing

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I agree that Nina was better, but then so was Stockard Channing.

It was sad not to see Nina and Stockard tie for the award. In my mind Tracie wasn't even in the running.

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I saw Saturday night's performance and was amazed and overcome with emotion. Can't get this show out of my mind.

Updated On: 3/19/13 at 09:04 AM

Tracie was outstanding, in my opinion. I was rooting for her to take the Tony until I saw "Venus in Fur" the week before the actual ceremony. Nina Arianda delivered the kind of performance that an actress would sell her family to the gypsies to be able to do. She rightfully won.

Random question about the Ahmanson: do they have different-sized Playbills than the standard? I thought one of my friends said something about them not fitting her Playbill binder, and I just was reminded of it when I saw your post (and btw, I'm hoping to see the show in a couple weeks!!)

Saw this last night. Stunning performance, truly stunning!

The difference between Nina and Tracie was that Nina had amazing writing. Tracie had that nonsensical junk to recite every night. That play is trash. Tracie is far better than the material.

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Gaveston-don't fret. You will be seeing a remarkable performance by an incredible actress. There's nothing to second guess. Enjoy youurself!

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I disagree, I think she sounded very much like Judy. And I loved that line from Mickey, it was an ironic nod to the majority of the fans, and epitomised his lack of sincerity and awareness.
And while I agree that the crawling around on the floor was sensationalist, Judy did become a parody of herself during the pill-popping later years.
Personally, I thought Bennett was incredible, one of the greatest performances I've seen on the stage.

I'm sorry, Bettyboy and others. I forgot this thread was here, so I posted in the LA room.

Yes, I saw the show and absolutely agree about Tracie Bennett. I thought her performance was magnificent. I wrongly had thought the play took place even later in Garland's life and expected the entire evening to be "bad Garland". It is not. There is one example of Garland performing after taking too much speed, but otherwise Bennett sings very well indeed! If anything, she sounds closer to 1963 than to 1968.

I don't know what you mean by a "lack of dignity", lovebwy. This particular play chooses to show us the breakdown of a personality under the influence of addiction. Unless you just want the theater to stage fairy tales, why isn't that a fair subject for a play? The language may be more graphic, but the way characters treat one another has nothing on STREETCAR, for example.

I DO think the play itself is mediocre and not helped by filling Garland's world with nothing but archetypal characters. Michael Cumpsty survived even the most cringe-worthy sentimentality, but the actor playing Micky Deans was stuck playing the most cliched "brutish heterosexual".

The line you mention, lovebwy, may have stood out because, in NYT critic's Ben Brantley words, it was "signpost" language (intended to announce Garland's cultural significance more than sound like an actual person speaking). But the basic idea wasn't out of character for a husband growing increasingly frustrated as he tried to keep his wife sober AND on stage at the right time.

Thanks for the encouragement, everyone. I'm very glad I saw Miss Bennett in this role. (For anyone in LA who hasn't seen it, closing day is tomorrow, April 21.)

Updated On: 4/20/13 at 04:45 PM

lovebwy, if it disgusted you the way they talked, perhaps you should limit your theatergoing to Lion King and Annie. Whatever you do, don't ever see Mamet.

Tracie was magnificent and as far as the play having no dignity...what the hell does that even mean? Sorry the last few months of her life couldn't be portrayed as an uplifting Hallmark movie of the week but that's life sometimes. The theme and tone of the play was pretty widely known. Were you not aware of this?

To the poster who wrote that Bennett "overplays" the role, it's a matter of opinion of course, but what I took from the performance was that Garland had largely lost the ability to distinguish between public and private events. So she was much the same in an intimate conversation as she was in playing a 2,000-seat house.

I thought that was a very important point to make in a play about someone who was on a stage more or less every day from the time she was 5.

Updated On: 4/20/13 at 06:38 PM