Judy Garland Musical "END OF THE RAINBOW" Headed To Broadway March 2012- Page 8

[algy]

Posted: 9/29/11 at 3:30pm

PJ - I haven't seen Judy Davis, I'm going to try and look it out.

And I look forward to hearing your thoughts on it if if makes it to your shores. I'm definately of the school that I'll go and see anything (however bad) once... I've seen some real stinkers on that basis mind - recently "The Syndicate" with Ian McKellan, which I was really looking forward too, but would probably have walked out of if the interval had been between Act 2 and 3 rather than after act one. I've only ever walked out of one thing - and that was a play called "Mrs Pat" - about Mrs Patrick Campbell, which my mother and I left at the interval (thank god the tickets weren't expensive) beause the first act covered about 20 years and seemed to consist of the lead actress repeatedly changing outfit and hats behind a screen on the stage.
Updated On: 9/29/11 at 03:30 PM

[Reginald Tresilian]

Posted: 9/29/11 at 3:53pm

Algy, here's a clip of one of my favorite scenes from the TV movie starring Judy Davis as Garland.

Davis as Garland Updated On: 9/29/11 at 03:53 PM

[algy]

Posted: 9/29/11 at 4:39pm

Ooooh. That is really good. Must try and watch more.

As far as Bennett -> Davies comparasons (I know, I know, 6 minutes on screen vs stage performance, not fair etc) I'd say that Bennett's Garland is on edge in a more obvious way. Weather that's because she's at a more desperate part of her life, or whether it's the writing I don't know - but I'm sure as monkeys going to try and find more of the Davies so I can see!

BTW - there's a drama on here at the moment about Shirley Bassey. Why do all these things descend in to tears of the tortured artist?

[Reginald Tresilian]

Posted: 9/29/11 at 4:53pm

And of course, I wasn't setting up a competition between the two.

As I said earlier, I'm looking forward to seeing Bennett.

[Gaveston2]

Posted: 9/29/11 at 5:01pm

"...would probably have walked out of if the interval had been between Act 2 and 3 rather than after act two...."

I know you Brits have ways that are inscrutable to us colonial yokels; no doubt you use an entirely different numbering system. But what, pray tell, is the different between an intermission after Act II, and an intermission between Acts II and III?

(I apologize in advance for the lack of tone of voice and facial expression in internet posts. Please believe I am asking this in a tone of bemused curiosity and not trying to give you a hard time. :) )

[hermajesty]

Posted: 9/29/11 at 5:12pm

I assumed Judy Davies mimed [that's lip sync in the USA] to Judy Garland in the film, which is excellent..... it lists the soundtrack numbers in the link below.


http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0250581/soundtrack

Updated On: 9/29/11 at 05:12 PM

[algy]

Posted: 9/29/11 at 5:12pm

sorry - should've been after Act 1... Aka, there was one interval, and it was after the first act. I blame nightshift brain...


I've just been back and changed it.

Epic fail...
Updated On: 9/29/11 at 05:12 PM

[ClapYo'Hands]

Posted: 9/29/11 at 5:18pm

Whilst Judy Davis is good, Tracie Bennett's interpretation of Judy Garland, both physically and vocally is in a whole different league, in my opinion.

Davis plays Garland.
Bennett IS Garland.

[Gaveston2]

Posted: 9/29/11 at 5:25pm

You needn't apologize to me, algy. There is no reason I shouldn't have figured that out for myself, but for some reason I wasn't able to do so.

Your error was basically a typo. In my case it seems I may have lost all understanding of basic mathematics. (Part of the problem is that plays with two intermissions are increasingly rare over here.)

Thanks for recognizing there was no malice in my question.

[algy]

Posted: 9/29/11 at 5:40pm

Gaveston - it was a kind of typo, I've no idea how my brain came to write two instead of one - it would've been more understandable if I'd been working in numbers - and probably easier for you to work out!

When the boredom set in in Act two, I remember checking the programme to see if there was a 2nd interval and getting that sinking feeling in my stomach when I realised there wasn't. The couple next to us did leave at the break - he'd slept through most of the first act, and she'd looked distinctly unimpressed with the whole thing!

[FindingNamo]

Posted: 9/29/11 at 5:46pm

The listings are referring to it as "a play with music."

[PalJoey]

Posted: 9/29/11 at 5:46pm

Bennett IS Garland.

Nonsense. Bennett is Bennett.

Only Garland was and is Garland.

[algy]

Posted: 9/29/11 at 5:49pm

Namo - I'd agree with the listings. The songs don't further the plot, which is what I expect songs to do in musicals. They happen, and they arrest your attention, and they've picked the songs to fit with what's going on in the script, but the narrative arc (such as it is) would not be missing anything without them. The play would be the poorer for it, but you would still know what's going on.

[ClapYo'Hands]

Posted: 9/29/11 at 5:52pm

It is definitely a play and not a musical.

PalJoey, I disagree. Bennett becomes Garland in a way I've seen no other performer become a character. I stand by my original statement that Bennett IS Garland.

[hermajesty]

Posted: 9/29/11 at 5:53pm

@Algy of course the songs further the plot; for instance she sings The Man that Got Away when she thinks Mickey is walking out on her. The songs have to be in the play as it's about Judy's time in London when she performed at The Talk Of The Town.

[ClapYo'Hands]

Posted: 9/29/11 at 5:56pm

Yes, the songs are in the play, but they don't further the plot. The Man That Got Away is the only song in the piece that is not in the formal nightclub performance setting. However, it does not further the plot. Mickey has just left, that part of the story has just happened. As Algy said, it's just a matter of her performance REFLECTING her life (i.e The Plot).

[hermajesty]

Posted: 9/29/11 at 5:58pm

yes you're right Clap, I should have said, the songs are appropriate to a scene but they need to be in because it's about the talk of the town too.

[algy]

Posted: 9/29/11 at 5:58pm

Her majesty - Sure they fit the plot at the time they are used - they are topical to what's going on, but they don't advance the plot.

If the Man that Got Away wasn't there, you wouldn't miss the fact that she thinks Mickey is walking out on her. It's not like a song like "I Could've Danced All Night" in My Fair Lady, where you find out how the Ball went through the song. If it wasn't there, you would need more dialogue to explain what the song does. THat's probably not a very good example, but it's all I could've come up with to explain it.

[hermajesty]

Posted: 9/29/11 at 6:01pm

Algy...agreed see my post before this one.

[ClapYo'Hands]

Posted: 9/29/11 at 6:01pm

Take Everything's Coming Up Roses. Without it, Act I and II of Gypsy wouldn't connect. You would need to write dialogue that explains that Louise will become the next star etc.

If The Man That Got Away wasn't in End of the Rainbow, it would still work. Act I and II would still fit together and the story being told would not differ.

[algy]

Posted: 9/29/11 at 6:03pm

Her Majesty - I think we cross posted - your post wasn't there when I started replying - and they're both timed 05:58...

[ClapYo'Hands]

Posted: 9/29/11 at 6:06pm

Glad we all seem to be of one mind!


(Bonkers...)

[Scripps2]

Posted: 9/29/11 at 6:07pm

Clap: neither you nor I are old enough to have seen Judy Garland at the Talk of the Town or to have known her personally - so what evidence do you have to substantiate your comments about Tracie's performance?

[ClapYo'Hands]

Posted: 9/29/11 at 6:09pm

The amount of her performances I have seen over the years. That's what informs my personal opinion at least.

[Scripps2]

Posted: 9/29/11 at 6:14pm

"The amount of her performances I have seen over the years."

But what performances?