Judy Garland Musical "END OF THE RAINBOW" Headed To Broadway March 2012 — Page 2

It's not very encouraging to keep hearing that her performance is "energetic." That energy level on the clips comes across as frenetic mannerisms over-exaggerated to the point of hysteria. Her ending of "Over the Rainbow" is so animalistic sound that she looks rabid ("...blue...birds...flahhhhh...").

The whole endeavor seems even worse when you hear things like the husband is a "cypher played by a cypher of an actor" or that the fictional piano player is a "caricature of sentimentality."

And the clips on YouTube seem to be primarily Ms. Bennett singing Garland songs at slow tempi, holding on-the-rocks glasses and making goo-goo faces that look more like Red Skelton than Judy Garland.

Nowhere do we hear that the show or Ms. Bennett display anything like the depth or complexity that Judy Davis displayed in the Garland miniseries.

It seems like a freak show, basically. With songs.

It sounds more like this is a show for people who like to see celebrities foam at the mouth and pathetically self-destruct.

Ugh.

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I hope it doesn't get stuck in the Lyceum and die a quick death. It looks really thrilling. It looks like the kind of bravura performance Rylance gave all season. Americans need to step it up!

There are a lot of Garland purists and loyalists around here. Be ready for pointed letters to the Times when this crosses the Pond.

On the other hand ... if it's nothing but sensationalism, I'm not interested either. But I won't judge that from these clips alone (which understandably emphasize the drama).

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It's not sensationalism, at least from my perspective. I am not a Garland purist or loyalist, but tabloid sensationalism doesn't appeal to me at all, so if the show was about that I wouldn't have enjoyed it. Those clips show a very small percentage of the show. For those of you who haven't seen it, don't judge it by a few clips that want to emphasize the more high-drama moments. Watch the whole show and decide for yourself.

This show reduces Garland to a pathetic caricature. I'll pass.

Those clips don't show the half of it.

First thing to say is that I've followed Tracie's career since she played Mary Flynn in the European premiere of Merrily We Roll Along back in the 80s. She is someone who always puts her heart and soul into a performance and fully deserves the two Olivier awards (She Loves Me, Hairspray) on her mantelpiece. And in this she gives a shocking, involving and moving portrayal of someone going over the edge.

Whether that someone is Judy Garland, I don't know: I'm not familiar enough with Ms Garland's body of work or personal life to comment.

What I do know is that this play is nothing if not iconoclastic. I also know how revered Ms Garland is in New York and it crossed my mind when I saw it that it may go down like a tonne of bricks for that very reason.

And I hope Liza didn't see it when she was in London (and she's been over a lot this year) because I would hate to see my own mother portrayed in this way.

Updated On: 8/15/11 at 05:31 PM

PalJoey, I admire the way you seem to have come to all these conclusions about the show having not yet seen it, I really do!

PalJoey, I admire the way you seem to have come to all these conclusions about the show having not yet seen it, I really do!

Gee, thanks! But I really have to give all the credit to the clips they've released from the show itself.

They totally made my mind up for me!

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"I hope it doesn't get stuck in the Lyceum and die a quick death. It looks really thrilling. It looks like the kind of bravura performance Rylance gave all season. Americans need to step it up!"

I wouldn't worry about that. It looks set for the Broadhurst, unless Bonnie and Clyde closes at the Schoenfeld early enough (the producers apparently wanted the Schoenfeld).

Each description seems to make this wrongheaded show sound more and more repulsive.

Judy did not "burst with energy" because she took drugs. She burst with energy because she was uniquely talented.

"Come Rain or Come Shine" is not "manic" because of amphetamines. It is "manic" because of the arrangement and orchestration and a conscious decision on the part of Judy and a brilliant arranger (Nelson Riddle, actually, on that number) to sing it up tempo with bongos.

In most concerts, "Come Rain or Come Shine" was followed by a ballad, Rodgers and Hart's "You're Nearer," on which Judy was accompanied by piano only, and in which she was quiet and contemplative. I suppose, in this show, there's another pill for that?

And in other songs, you say that she forgets her lines and is drunk and singing another song?

More and more, this doesn't even sound like "just another drunk Judy show." It sounds like the Ultimate Drunk Judy Show.

Gross.

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What Pal Joey said....and Pal Joey knows all.

juggles, you obviously don't know much about PalJoey.

@Reginald Tresilain. That's true, does he/she always slag off productions he/she hasn't seen? LOL
Some of us are old enough to remember Judy at The Talk of The Town. Bennett is Judy on the stage, in this production.