Judy Garland Musical "END OF THE RAINBOW" Headed To Broadway March 2012 — Page 3

I happen to know PalJoey was in a drug-induced haze during the last year of Judy's life, he emulated her that much. He was taking it all. Restoril, Ambien, Xanax, the whole nine. He finally snapped out of his stupor on the day he heard Judy died. He was so angry that night he started a riot at his favorite watering hole.

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@Reginald...thanks.
But not all the review has been 'shown' here is some more of it. Billington states that it is not explained how Judy got there....yes it is; 'Judy' explains to Mickey how the studios initially got her on drugs [not class A drugs.] and how her mother fed them to her as well. Then 'Judy' goes on to list them all. Don't know how Billington missed that part.
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Quilter's play, however, deals in symptoms rather than in causes. It shows us Garland as a walking casualty without ever explaining how she got there: it says virtually nothing about a Hollywood studio system that in the 1930s pumped its child stars with amphetamines in order to maximise their working potential. The play also offers few insights into performance psychology. "It's a terrible thing," says the heroine, "to know what you're capable of and never get there"; but all the evidence suggests that Garland, at her best, was perfectly capable of achieving her goal.

The play's main virtue is that it does at least show Garland could be funny: discovering that she has inadvertently swallowed capsules intended for a cocker-spaniel, she gleefully does canine imitations and rolls over on her back to have her tummy tickled.

And, of course, there are always the songs, which Bennett delivers with the right mixture of emotional intensity and vocal bravura. She even manages to move with great dexterity from a Garland slumped on the hotel room floor to one defiantly delivering The Trolley Song or The Man That Got Away.

Are those last two paragraphs you posted, juggles, supposed to be good things?

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She rolls on her back to have her tummy tickled?

Oh for crap's sake.

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@Findingnamo.....It gives Bennett a good review. All I can say is go see it and find out for yourselves.
To others who think West End audiences aren't as discerning as American ones, makes me howl with laughter.

What a shame that all the criticism is, before anyone has even seen the play, which at one point has men blubbering into their handkies; it is so sad that the world lost a most wonderful icon and that's part of what the play is saying. Must dash, I have a plane to catch.

Negative Sells...The preview looks like a bad production of "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf"

Why can't they do a show about Judy starting in 1960, starting with Carnegie Hall.

I don't want to see a drunk, pill taking, crawling on the floor Judy...

The Greatest Entertainer of all time does not deserve that!!!

beagle, I understand your points and respect them. However, to people who are Judy fans and even those only acquainted with her work there is a valid question. Do we need another histrionic, scenery chewing ode to Garland. Let's face it-she's pretty easy to nail behaviorally and vocally-any number of drag queens and actors worth their salt could do it with enough study time.

It does irritate me that so many people are so easily impressed. An actor hits a few broad brushstrokes physically or vocally while re-creating a person who actually lived and people just gasp in awe. That statement is not to denigrate Bennet-I have not seen her.

Now I hope I don't get crucified for this but let me say first that I adore the performance of Ebersole and the show Grey Gardens. It's my #1 favorite musical. However, I am also a devout Little Edie/Grey Gardens fan and was long before the musical was born. Ebersole doesn't "nail" Little Edie-she hits a few of the trademark Edie-isms and blends them with her own performance. I think Ebersole's is an iconic, masterful performance but I don't think I'd go so far as to say she is channeling Edie. There are moments in the musical where she sounds nothing like Edie and morphs into various vocal terrains (Long Island Jewish mother among them.)

I think being known for a striking impersonation of a person who lived is hard, but its much easier when the person has a colorful canvas of physicality and vocal style to draw from. I hold judgment on Bennet but do wonder if she isn't going to be Isabel Keating re-dux. It's hard not to "do" or "be" Judy without appearing as campy as the drag queen at the corner bar.

Also, there is validity to someone who says "that isn't Judy." If Liza were to see any of these shows, I imagine she would know firsthand that these constructed case studies of her mother are inherently false and hurtful. Most of these shows tends to play, again, on very pronounced, dysfunctional aspects of the singer but may entirely miss the boat on who she is.

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How is her impersonation of the Cocker Spaniel?

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juggles, PalJoey didn't say West End audiences are less discerning, he said they are composed of necrophiliacs.

I suppose a lack of discernment might inadvertently lead one to necrophilia, but as a rule they are different attributes.

gaveston2 all I can say is hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha

I would rather see Judy's sense of humor portrayed another way, thank you very much.