End of the Rainbow: See Judy Crawl

Thank you for your review. I am trying to understand the mind set of those defending this crap. And I can only imagine it's a mix of schadenfreude and a sort of OCD in the public these days for verisimilitude. Gee this is exactly what it's like to have a mental breakdown. This is exactly how Judy was in her last day. Completely without context. And without empathy. Vultures picking at a dead carcass. And Steve, you are quoting some else's subjective metaphorical take on Judy Garland. That is not research; And something a critic need not draw from to form an opinion or to analyze.

According to Mickey Deans' book, Bennett is getting the role exactly right. I suppose none of you have taken Ritalin. Here's how Deans describes Judy's performances at the Talk Of The Town in his book Weep No More My Lady...."Sometimes she wielded the microphone cord like a lion-tamers' whip. She did dance steps. She strutted, arms akimbo. Her movements were suddenly grotesque, like a marionettes. She threw her arms up stiffly, her legs came together at the knees."......A reviewer of the time, Derek Jewell said ..."No logic, no analysis, no judgment in the world can completely explain the phenomenon of Garland's performance at Talk Of The Town. She walks the brim of the volcano each second. At time her voice is flawed."Doesn't sound as though she was too frail to be big on stage then....'walks the brim of the volcano??? That sounds a very energetic performance to me.You should have done more research and have been less personal.

This review sums up the way I felt as well. Tracie Bennet works very hard but is one-dimensional. She lacks that one most important quality mentioned in the review: soul. The writing in the play is offensive and amateur. The only saving grace in this mess is the wonderful actor, Michael Cumpsty.

JUDY

My mother, a classicly trained singer, was a huge fan of Judy Garland. I grew up listening to Garland's records and to my mother singing the songs. I learned all the songs by heart myself and consider both Garland and my mother to have been my first singing teachers. Aretha was right.

At once a vivid tribute to Garland and an eloquent analysis of the play. Thank you.

Although Tracie Bennett has been hailed by several theater critics for her performance in End of The Rainbow and the play was something of a sensation in London and now on Broadway, this theater/movie enthusiast and an unabashed fan of Judy Garland will resist the urge to see this production. A number of biographies, past Hollywood news items etc. have recounted Garland's demons, her struggles with pills and weight, her triumphs and failures, her supposed banishment from Hollywood (The "Annie Get Your Gun" debacle) only to rise like a phoenix from the ashes(first, "A Star Is Born", then her legendary Carnegie Hall Concert). There have been a select number of performing geniuses in the history of 20th Century Hollywood: Charles Chaplin, Buster Keaton, Marlon Brando. Judy Garland belongs on this list. Her performance in "The Wizard of Oz" alone places her securely in the firmament of Hollywood's Legendary Galaxy of unforgettable performances. Garlands was a brilliant, intuitive actress and singer, one of those enormous talents who come along once in a lifetime. Her life was full of struggles. She was human, and human frailty can often bring a person down to unfathomable depths. But Garland will live on untarnished because of her overwhelming talent.