Just back from END OF THE RAINBOW- Page 5

[hushpuppy]

Posted: 3/26/12 at 11:14pm

I have been looking forward to this show since the postcard arrived in the mail months ago.

I cannot recall hating a show so much in the last decade, maybe longer.

The book is an utter mess. The show is a bore. Ms Bennett sounds like a cross between Katharine Hepburn and Tallulah Bankhead, but almost never Judy Garland. Many of her lines are unintelligible.

If you're interested, see it now. Given the large number of walkouts at intermission, I predict it will be gone by Fourth of July, if not Mother's Day.

[FindingNamo]

Posted: 3/26/12 at 11:30pm

It's sold as a musical at tkts. I guess that means you can't go into the shorter play line for your discount.

[hermajesty]

Posted: 3/27/12 at 5:55am

I enjoyed the play and think Bennett does become Judy. Adirector posted further up the thread, that one would be better watching films of Judy but in the many films Judy appeared in, she was playing the sweet, all American young lady, a character and not being herself. This play depicts Judy as she was three months before she died. She was bone thin, her voice had deepened and she no longer had the mezzo-soprano voice she had in her younger days. It is not about failure, it is about her successful run at The Talk Of The Town, London.
It maybe for some; better seated; from midway to the back of the theater. I didn't sit at the front so don't know if it makes a difference.
If you watch the clip of Judy, her voice is deep and I think she sounds more English when she speaks, although she could have been trying to emulate the English accent when in England. She certainly doesn't have a full American accent. She also seems to struggle on some notes but detracts by talking to the audience.[the second link] But I do agree she sounds like Katherine Hepburn in the third link. Just my opinion of course.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PoykJi6xxuc
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rOQjMQx1Q8Y&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rD44UDrdKSM

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/01/arts/01iht-lon1.html?_r=1&scp=10&sq=end+of+the+rainbow&st=nyt#

Updated On: 3/28/12 at 05:55 AM

[PETAL6]

Posted: 3/27/12 at 7:17am

Just watching the 2 clips above, it is so obvious that Ms Bennett, is far better than the comments she is getting from a lot of purists out there.... Ms Bennet is not an impersonator, she his portraying the last few months of Judy Garlands life, and I must say, she does it with energy, humour, and sensitivity (Not Easy to be your best, when you are nearly dead, not many people are still around to say how it should be done)

There is not a second during the 2hrs + that she slips out of character...and that is what she is 'A Character' the same as all actors

PETAL6

[hushpuppy]

Posted: 3/27/12 at 9:48am

It's sold as a musical at tkts. I guess that means you can't go into the shorter play line for your discount.

I bought my ticket last night (3/26) at TKTS. It's designated as a Play and I was able to use the Play Express line.

[TalkinLoud]

Posted: 3/27/12 at 11:02am

Saw this last night. For those wondering, it is a general rush, $31.50. I was in the second row of the balcony.

I love, love, love Judy Garland so I was very excited for this show. At the same time I knew this was not about Judy's glory years. This is her at her absolute lowest. Obviously from this thread some people have issues with depicting this era of Judy's life. If that's you, you may as well skip this play. I personally don't mind it; it was the reality of the situation unfortunately.

While I enjoyed the play, I don't think it's particularly great. It definitely is better than something like Looped. Still, it's uneven and feels relatively trite.

Tracie Bennett, however, is magnificent. She definitely sings more like Judy than she speaks like Judy, but she gives an amazing performance throughout. Michael Cumpsty is fine, but Tom Pelphrey as Mickey Deans is terrible, almost distractingly so.

All in all, I think it's worth seeing, if for Bennett's performance alone. But I don't think it's particularly great.

[Lavieboheme3090]

Posted: 3/28/12 at 5:26pm

I was there this afternoon. I am someone who really knows Judy from her film roles that having been said the play seemed very sensational to me. If I can draw a parallel to My Weekend with Marilyn, where that movie succeeded in giving a us a well rounded view of the world surrounding the ailing star, this play seems to rely on the fact that you know more about Judy other than just having seen her movies. Maybe this isn't really a problem to the creative team, because they know 95% of their audience is going to be coming in with more knowledge of the subject just simply by living through it. That having been said Ms. Bennett really is force of nature, especially during the concerts.

Updated On: 3/28/12 at 05:26 PM

[themysteriousgrowl]

Posted: 3/28/12 at 5:36pm

Wait. She stays in character the WHOLE TIME?

I'm so there.

What's "My Weekend with Marilyn"? I'd like to check it out.

[Lavieboheme3090]

Posted: 3/28/12 at 5:37pm

Pardon?

[themysteriousgrowl]

Posted: 3/28/12 at 5:40pm

Well, I'm certainly not going to re-type it.

That would be the height of silliness.

[Lavieboheme3090]

Posted: 3/28/12 at 5:41pm

Haha opps my bad... "My Week With Marilyn."

[thetinymagic2]

Posted: 3/30/12 at 5:57pm

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/04/01/theater/tracie-bennett-as-judy-garland-in-end-of-the-rainbow.html

[PalJoey]

Posted: 3/30/12 at 10:10pm

What an odious article.

[FindingNamo]

Posted: 3/30/12 at 10:56pm

I was turned off by the end of the second paragraph and went on to other things.

[PalJoey]

Posted: 3/30/12 at 11:39pm

It starts with the writer referring to "men of a certain age" who are "holding their collective breath," which I gather is supposed to imply that old-gay-men-are-loving-this-show-just-like-they-loved-Judy.

Ugh.

Then it goes on to make more generalizations about gays and Judy by saying that the "gay men who revere her as a fellow traveler in oppression"...

Ugh, again--didn't that old canard become a cliche the day after Stonewall?

"...will be taking to blogs and Twitter in the coming weeks to assess every twitch and fidget, every cadence and high note in Ms. Bennett’s performance."

Which I guess refers to we old fellow-travelers-in-oppression who are holding our collective breath and posting in threads like this one.

And then the article ends with Ms. Bennett herself bashing drag queens as "bitter" but saying they are somehow brilliant and better than she is--but brilliant and better only at "impersonating Judy," which is something, the article seems to be saying, that she would not stoop to do.

Y'know, because that would be tacky.

Updated On: 3/30/12 at 11:39 PM

[PETAL6]

Posted: 3/31/12 at 7:55am

Updated On: 3/31/12 at 07:55 AM

[PalJoey]

Posted: 3/31/12 at 12:10pm

Huh?

[CarlosAlberto]

Posted: 3/31/12 at 12:14pm

Petal6 wants us to focus on Barack Obama who she/he feels is not doing their job as President of our great nation as opposed to continually bitching about Tracie Bennett's impersonation performance as Judy Garland

[FindingNamo]

Posted: 3/31/12 at 12:15pm

I've never seen a Judy impersonator
I never hope to see one
But I'll tell Petal Prevaricator
I'd rather see than be one

[followspot]

Posted: 3/31/12 at 5:07pm

Thanks for having joined us, Petal6. The house manager will show you to the exit.

Updated On: 4/1/12 at 05:07 PM

[thetinymagic2]

Posted: 3/31/12 at 10:32pm

NO... i'ts not the drag queens that are bitter. :)

"The NIGHT IS BITTER,
The stars have lost their glitter,
The winds grow colder
And suddenly you're older...

[broadwaybabytn]

Posted: 3/31/12 at 11:15pm

I'm interested in the fact that Caroline O'Connor originated the role in Australia.

[FindingNamo]

Posted: 3/31/12 at 11:32pm

He was so great in All in the Family.

[thetinymagic2]

Posted: 3/31/12 at 11:41pm

Uh-oh. Bette Midler in Priscilla.
Traci in Rainbow.
Cool. Now, change roles

(excellent, Blaxx!).


Updated On: 3/31/12 at 11:41 PM

[iluvtheatertrash]

Posted: 4/1/12 at 7:29am

Did this show make anyone else viscerally angry? From her chewing the scenery and the playwright's clear disdain for Judy, I found it to be tasteless, cruel and disgraceful.

SPOILER: Judy was far from a saint, but to have her crawling around like a dog lifting her legs to pee? Give me a break. She deserves more respect than this.

Maybe if you closed your eyes she maybe sort of sounds like Judy. Maybe. Beyond that, she mugs it for two hours.