Just back from END OF THE RAINBOW- Page 7

[hermajesty]

Posted: 4/8/12 at 2:43pm

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=38YZLtRARiA

Updated On: 4/8/12 at 02:43 PM

[FindingNamo]

Posted: 4/12/12 at 1:47pm

New York's best critic asks:
Isn’t there a law against trafficking in human corpses?

[PalJoey]

Posted: 4/12/12 at 2:23pm

In that review, Michael Feingold says everything I've been feeling:

The notion of attending a show in hopes of watching the artist crash and burn gives off a stench of pettiness. The petty sensibility behind End of the Rainbow, along with its ineffectuality as a play, only makes its cheesy exploitation of gossip-mill material seem that much more depressing.

I'm going Tuesday, but not with any joy. I'm going the way one attends a funeral or a wake.

[Bettyboy72]

Posted: 4/12/12 at 2:25pm

Feingold writes so eloquently what I was too emotional to articulate.

See PJ, we do agree on some things. :)

[FindingNamo]

Posted: 4/12/12 at 2:29pm

I dread the day the Village Voice whittles away Michael Feingold the way they have so many of their longtime writers. Compare the careful way he constructs his reviews to the cable access quality of what Ben Brantley burps out in the paper of record. No offense intended to actual cable access critics.

[hermajesty]

Posted: 4/12/12 at 3:12pm

Extract page 42 from 'Weep No More My Lady' by Mickey Deans on Judy's performance at the Talk Of The Town. What does Feingold know.
..
'Sometimes she wielded the microphone cord like a lion- tamer's whip. She did little dance steps. She strutted, arms akimbo. Her movements were suddenly grotesque, like a marionette's. She threw her arms up stiffly, her legs came together at the knees, she walked uncertainly to the conductor, she leaned down to speak to him, she blew kisses to the audience, all the while singing out her heart to them. The pants suit with its brilliance emphasized her little-girl body.
At the climax of the evening she sat quietly, cross legged at the edge of the stage, and with a single spotlight on her sang 'Over The Rainbow.'
..............................
Then from page 98.....

"The English audiences are the warmest and best in the world, " Judy said.

..........................................................
Sounds to me like Quilter has done his research.

http://manhattan.ny1.com/content/ny1_living/theater_reviews/159178/ny1-theater-review---end-of-the-rainbow-

Updated On: 4/13/12 at 03:12 PM

[FindingNamo]

Posted: 4/12/12 at 3:15pm

For one thing, he might know that Mickey Deans could be considered an unreliable narrator.

[hermajesty]

Posted: 4/12/12 at 3:23pm

Just won't reconsider eh?

Updated On: 4/12/12 at 03:23 PM

[PalJoey]

Posted: 4/12/12 at 3:34pm

Sounds to me like Quilter has done his research.

Actually, according to Quilter himself, he didn't.

===

INTERVIEW WITH PETER QUILTER

Technically, how did you prepare to write End of the Rainbow? Did you do a lot of research?

PETER QUILTER: No, I didn’t research hugely because I wanted to keep the play focused on the characters and emotions. Bio plays so often get bogged down in facts and figures and a desperate need to be precise. I was more interested in a dramatic play that is inspired by these events rather than being a factual documentary of them.
INTERVIEW WITH PETER QUILTER, AUTHOR OF “END OF THE RAINBOW”

[hermajesty]

Posted: 4/12/12 at 3:43pm

How do you reconcile the robust Judy Garland of Girl Crazy or Carnegie Hall with the wilted Judy Garland of her Talk of the Town run, as depicted in End of the Rainbow? Are they the same person?

She was a fascinating, charming, compelling and incredibly funny woman – always. Life, love and fame just got the better of her.
..................
Perhaps he knew her personally. He says he did do some research.
Regardless, Mickey Deans married her and was with her during her performances at The Talk Of The Town.
Drag queens impersonate her as she was in her 20s/30s, not when she was in her final weeks of life. They don't act either; just do numbers.
I can't understand the animosity on here or why negative reports are uploaded rather than the positive ones as in this one. No one so far has commented on the good reviews.
http://www.broadway.com/buzz/161122/squigs-goes-over-the-rainbow-with-tracie-bennett-and-the-cast-of-end-of-the-rainbow/

Updated On: 4/13/12 at 03:43 PM

[Reginald Tresilian]

Posted: 4/12/12 at 3:50pm

I'm not sure what your point is about drag queens, but most impersonators depict Judy in her 40s (though not usually in the last few weeks of her life).

At least most of the ones I've seen.

[hermajesty]

Posted: 4/12/12 at 3:53pm

My point is valid. There's a most famous one [American] but his name fails me, its James someone or other and he is spot on but as Judy was, not how she was at 40 odd years old.
There's a video on youtube of her at the London palladium with Lisa, her voice was so 'lost' she had to ask the audience to help her sing 'Over The Rainbow'.
The play is not about her hay days, its when she was haggard, voice deepened. Her music had to be rewritten to a lower key.
One shouldn't go to watch this play expecting a drag queen act.

Updated On: 4/12/12 at 03:53 PM

[Reginald Tresilian]

Posted: 4/12/12 at 3:59pm

Tommy Femia, Craig Russell, and Jim Bailey are the most famous Garland impersonators I know, and they all portray her in her 40s (though, again, not with one foot in the grave).

[hermajesty]

Posted: 4/12/12 at 4:02pm

Yes Jim Bailey, that's the one; stunning. He impersonates her before Judy's voice deepened....no one seems to get that this happened to Judy, she was no longer a mezzo soprano at the end.
Jim Bailey wears clothes [Judy] from the early 60s not 1969

Updated On: 4/13/12 at 04:02 PM

[Reginald Tresilian]

Posted: 4/12/12 at 4:11pm

Right, he portrays her around the time of the Carnegie Hall concert up to around the time of her televsion series. And she was 40-42.

I'm not sure why you think no one knows what Judy was like in her last few years. I assure you I do (as do others). The first album I had of her when I was a tot was "Judy at Home at the Palace," from 1967.

[hermajesty]

Posted: 4/12/12 at 4:26pm

Ok Reginald, I'm just saying when I listen to Jim, he's spot on with Judy how she was and how 'we' all remember her in her hay days.

[PalJoey]

Posted: 4/12/12 at 4:47pm

The play is not about her hay days, its when she was haggard, voice deepened.

In that same review, Feingold addresses the idea of writing about anyone's "haggard" days:

...this preoccupation with the final throes of her collapse can only seem embarrassing or stupid. It’s like saying you would rather watch a great ballerina twist her ankle, or a great actor forget his lines, than actually witness a great performance.

[FindingNamo]

Posted: 4/12/12 at 4:50pm

Also, it's "heyday."

[hermajesty]

Posted: 4/12/12 at 4:55pm

Then there's this of course..

Then she sings some of Garland's most famous tunes backed by a terrific five-piece band. It's uncanny how she channels Garland's voice and inflections. More than that, she fuses the music into the character so that it's not just a song we're hearing, it's an extension of Garland's gloriously sad life.

Michael Cumpsty offers a fine counterpoint as a gentle gay man who sincerely loves the fallen icon. Tom Pelphrey captures the shades of an exasperated partner whose motives aren't entirely pure.

Terry Johnson's direction allows Bennett to own the stage and somehow by the end, she manages to make all that crazy, self-indulgent, contradictory behavior seem absolutely real.

Garland died of a drug overdose several months later. "End Of The Rainbow" isn't a pretty play but it does allow one rising mega-talent to remind us of the greatness of another..
...........
then there's this for Finding namo
http://wiki.answers.com/Q/What_is_the_meaning_of_hay_day
Its either/either

Updated On: 4/12/12 at 04:55 PM

[Reginald Tresilian]

Posted: 4/12/12 at 5:01pm

I'm afraid not.

From "The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology":

heyday (arch.) excl. denoting gaiety, surprise, wonder. XVI (heyda). The earliest form agrees with LG. heida, also heidi hurrah! Hence sb. state of exaltation or excitement XVI; prime, bloom.

(In other words, nothing to do with hay.)

[hermajesty]

Posted: 4/12/12 at 5:03pm

Its either/either, must be UK/USA but guess nitpicking is a pastime for some on here.

Updated On: 4/28/12 at 05:03 PM

[Reginald Tresilian]

Posted: 4/12/12 at 5:08pm

Including you!

At any rate, I quoted from the Oxford Dictionary. You can't get more UK than that.

[hermajesty]

Posted: 4/12/12 at 5:22pm

I don't nitpick Reginald. I come on here with rational comments and what happens? Posters pick on one phrase, ignoring any compliment about this play. I am bound to react but maybe that's my problem trying to defend myself against catty sarcastic posters.

And as I said PJ, what does Feingold know as opposed to Deans?

Updated On: 4/12/12 at 05:22 PM

[Mister Matt]

Posted: 4/12/12 at 5:41pm

This thread is exactly why I will not speak to any Judy Garland fan about anything Garland-related face to face. I had one particularly INSANE reaction when I said I wasn't a huge fan and from then on, I will either immediately change the subject or excuse myself. People bitch and moan about the tween girl fans on this site, but that is NOTHING compared to a rabid Judy fan. I'm happy people love her and love Liza, but...well, never mind. *shudder* Just agree with whatever the Judy fans say and walk away and nobody gets hurt. I have no interest in the show and I'm not going to see it, so I'll just say it's all garbage and lies and there is no reason why anyone should like it or see it or produce it or be in it.

When at a party, never talk about religion or politics. When around hard-core musical fans, never talk about Judy Garland or Liza Minnelli. It's just a lot more pleasant for everyone.

[PalJoey]

Posted: 4/12/12 at 5:45pm

It's not called Judy-ism for nothing.