Judy Garland Musical "END OF THE RAINBOW" Headed To Broadway March 2012

Is this any good?

If Friend saw it in London and it blew him away!!

I liked it from the clips I saw...

I saw this in London in March and it was amazing. Tracie Bennett's performance is nothing short of a tour-de-force. It was like she became Judy Garland. The rest of the performers were excellent as well, but it's really Bennett's show. I'm glad she's going to Broadway with it. I was very impressed.

While I wonder what the show curtian will look like...

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As someone who does not pretend to know much about Judy Garland, I've surprised myself by seeing this both with Caroline o'Connor, at the Edinburgh Fringe, and Tracie Bennett in the West End (x2) and really enjoyed it, especially with Bennett, who is a powerhouse. Having seen it in two intimate venues, I'd be concerned about it transferring to a large-scale theatre.

I'm surprised it's being described as a musical - I'd have called it a play with music.

Ugh. Do we really need MORE Drunk Spastic Judy crap.

Do we really need to import this kind of overboiled melodramatic clap-trap from the UK, where their tabloid mentality likes this sort of misery-'n'-madness thing. It allows the middle-class audience to sit there smugly, saying, "Poor dear She was ever so pathetic. It's a wonder she didn't die SOONER."

Here in America, we have tacky drag queens who play Judy with more insight and wit. This one just bugs her eyes out at the end of Over the Rainbow, as if she were channeling Joan Crawfod's performance in TROG.

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Updated On: 9/4/11 at 12:06 AM

Yeah, American tabloid mentality is so much more humane.

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The Equity call describes it as a play with music, not a musical, though I guess we'll see what it ends up being billed at when it makes its way here. Very, very excited for this one.

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"...capture with accuracy the late-career madness..."

As I said before: Ugh.

Sounds like more "Drunk Spastic Judy" crap.

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Wow PJ, I would expect you more than just about anyone on this site to not judge a book by its cover. Why are you so intent on denouncing this show before even seeing it or really even knowing anything about it?

The night I saw it in London the audience went crazy for it - the biggest and most spontaneous response I have ever seen from a London audience. And certainly Tracie Bennett was spectacularly good. As for the play itself... not so much.

It has two other characters, Judy's husband, a cipher played, in this case, by a cipher of an actor and a worshipful piano player who rehearses Judy in her hotel room and then joins the band in the club moments. He's a fictional character and serves as a kind of everyman Judy fan and for me he was a caricature of sentimentality.

That said, the sudden transitions from the hotel room to the night club were thrillingly done and, as noted, Ms Bennett was awesome. It will be interesting to see how it's received on Broadway.

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Updated On: 8/12/11 at 01:01 PM

I am willing to give it a shot as a lifetime Judy fan (recently over the moon about the recent few weeks at the Paley Center and Lincoln Center). However, I do not like this fictional character thing (unless he represents a few real people wrapped into one). Judy had more than enough interesting real people in her life that they don't need to invent a fictional one. Uggghhh....but I do agree with Pal Joey's sentiment to a large degree. No desire to see a Drunk Spastic Judy show if that's what it is. Her life and legacy are not that to me at all (nor should it be to anyone).