The END OF THE RAINBOW Love Thread.

[thetinymagic2]

(PJ, and others can start the hate thread if they like.)

If you like/love the show post here.

[TheatreDiva90016]

I love her wig.


Nice work, Jon!

[best12bars]

"The stage directions were lucid. Best I've ever seen... and the color of the binder. Good choice."

-- Helen Sinclair

[BWF]

I really enjoyed it. I acknowledge there are faults but I have to say Tracie Bennett turned in what was for me a mesmerizing performance.

I'm not a huge Judy Garland fan and I'm possibly one of the few people on earth at this time who disliked 'The Wizard of Oz' but Tracie opened my eyes to what a powerhouse Judy must have been as a live performer.

It was almost devastating at the end when the pianist walked out and announced she died two weeks later at the age of forty seven and I had to keep a tight grip on myself not to cry. Honestly, I've never been so moved in a theater before ...

[Joey.]

Wow, really? Are you so emotionally invested that you are incapable of reading mixed responses in a single thread?

[Bettyboy72]

When Tracy was impersonating, oops, inhabiting Judy Garland impersonating, oops, inhabiting a dog, I forgot I was watching an actor impersonating Judy Garland impersonating a dog. I only saw a dog. Bravo.

[Patash]

"It was almost devastating at the end when the pianist walked out and announced she died two weeks later at the age of forty seven. . ."

Damn you, BWF -- now you've given it away without a Spoiler Alert! You mean Judy ended up dying?

[newintown]

I truly enjoyed the scene in which Liza sprang, fully formed, from Judy's thigh, and belted out a rousing chorus of "Johnny One Note."

[themysteriousgrowl]

This is going very well.

[thetinymagic2]

Hook, line and sinker. Took the bait. How surprising.

[Theatrical Landladies]

Talent and star performance will ultimately win out! TB is magic in this despite the play's issues. Any objective viewpoint will acknowledge this (we can only hope) !

[FindingNamo]

Consumption. Consumers. Consume Judy. Tracie. Bennett. TB. Consume. Tracie.

[hermajesty]

@ best12bars. I am sure you find your comments very amusing. Tracie Bennett is a beloved UK star and I cannot understand the venom on here but your post has been reported.[and removed] I would hope no USA star would be treated like that when in the UK

[thetinymagic2]

It has nothing to do with the UK, Hermajesty. They just don't like the play...so what? ". We like it, they don't. Case closed. I agree with your opinion of Rainbow,

[PalJoey]

Michael Cumpsty was excellent. Tracie Bennett is obviously a talented woman.

I look forward to seeing them in other plays.

[Kristie-K2]

But did you like the play?

[thetinymagic2]

GAWD! You disapoint JOEY! I was looking forward to your 10 pg. diatribe.Luv, ~tiny.

[BWF]

PalJoey said, "Tracie Bennett is obviously a talented woman".

Thank you for your honesty, you've restored my faith in human nature a little bit with that remark...

[PalJoey]

Of course she's talented!

It's just a shame those talents weren't put to better uses. I wish for her a more worthy vehicle.

And I wish it for her very soon. The sooner the better, actually.

[hermajesty]

BWF said..
# PalJoey said, "Tracie Bennett is obviously a talented woman".

Thank you for your honesty, you've restored my faith in human nature a little bit with that remark...#
...................................

And totally restored mine, very noble.

[Theatrical Landladies]

PJ

Your warm heart is shining through! You even made me laugh with your good wishes for a new role for TB soon!

[theeatah]

Well, if Imelda Staunton concludes that Rose in GYPSY is too hard a sing for her, TB may have another tour-de-force role coming her way.

[thetinymagic2]

Holy **** - I was not ready for tonight's audience or Tracie's best perf yet.. Ok, I know it's more Rainbow Love, but honestly, I give a special award to tonight's audience at Rainbow AND it's a Saturday night. Shockingly fantabulous. If you were there,you know what I'm talking about.. And Tracie, you topped yourself by millions of miles, If that's humanly possible. Even PJ wouldv'e been sobbing!

[PalJoey]

Or not.

[Scripps2]

I think PJ has been perfectly objective throughout the threads on this subject and I think Tracie can be thankful that both the NY theatre critics and the posters on this site have shown the discernment to separate her talents from the unworthy vehicle that carries them.

Hermajesty lives in a seventeenth century cocoon of autocratic self-delusion when she professes to speak for all Brits. I have posted my reservations about this play (which is little more than a chapter of Hollywood Babylon become Hollywood Londinium) from the outset and I'm both relieved and surprised that matters have not turned out worse for all involved. I have no knowledge about who Judy Garland really was (and relatively little interest) but the play's portrayal of her did not provide the authentic voice that I seek in all drama.

The good writing there is in this play can be found in the pianist's role and I'd be interested to read more about Michael Cumpsty's performance.

I'm also curious as to why Tracie does not mention in her bio that she played Mary Flynn in the European professional premiere of Merrily We Roll Along back in 1984?! Surely that would have helped build up her street cred in an entertainment capital where she is unknown.

[hermajesty]

because to list everything would be to take too much space in the programme.

http://www.endoftherainbowtour.com/cast/tracie-bennett/