Judy's End of The Rainbow at the Royal and Derngate
Stunning opener for the venue's Addicted to You season
HOLLYWOOD icon Judy Garland died as she had lived, high as a kite on a cocktail of drugs, washed down with copious amounts of alcohol.
When she took one tablet too many in June 1969 her bank account was empty, her career hung by a thread, her mood-swings - from showbiz diva to little girl lost - would have tried the patience of a saint, and her taste in husbands was, as always, highly dubious.
To see those final months played out on stage should have been sobering stuff but the official first night audience at the Royal & Derngate could barely contain their enthusiasm for Peter Quilter's absorbing and remarkable drama, End of The Rainbow, and it received a well-deserved standing ovation.
West End theatres should be chomping at the bit to get their hands on this incredibly poignant story of Garland's last performance. The American tourists would love it, the singer's gay following would adore it, and those of us who remember this flawed and fragile legend, would once again be swept up in the magic of her voice.
The success of the drama rests entirely on leading lady and two-time Olivier award winner Tracie Bennett who can only be described as astonishing. She gives a five-star, award-winning, performance from the first pithy wisecrack to the musical encore.
It's hard to believe that the little girl who I remember as Sharon Gaskell in Coronation Street 28 years ago has matured into such a vibrant and mesmerising leading lady of the West End stage.
She won Celebrity Stars In Their Eyes playing Judy and, while she looked alarmingly thin and frail (compared to Garland's quite overweight appearance towards the end of her life), there's no mistaking the powerhouse voice.
The wig goes on and the face lights up. Tonight, Matthew, she really is Frances Gumm, aka Judy Garland.
The story is set in 1960s London when the singer was booked for a five-week gig at the Talk of the Town. Her new manager (and soon to be husband number five) Mickey Deans was a young street smart hustler who hoped to make his name and a few bucks off the emotionally unstable star.
He promised abstinence but after a lifetime of pills and booze – first given to her as a child by her own mother – the insecure, deeply neurotic and addicted superstar, was unable to perform without chemical assistance.
Bennett gives a compelling and highly physical performance of a woman teetering on the edge of a nervous breakdown, an artiste so incredibly talented but incapable of recognising her own brilliance.
She's aided by Quilter's razor-sharp script that is incisive, viciously funny, and fast-paced. It changes mood in a heartbeat, reflecting the star's torment of a woman wracked by depression and lack of self esteem but at the same time revered by the public as a Hollywood god.
Acting as referee to her fights with Deans was her confidante, pianist, and gay best friend (at least in the UK) Anthony, played with compassion by Hilton McRae.
There are times when his campness is laid on a little too thickly but his character's ability to see behind the mask of the troubled singer added emotional depth to the tale.
Anthony's apparently genuine love for Garland (he offered her escape from her life to one of domestic bliss in a cottage on the coast) starkly contrasted with that of Deans (Stephen Hagen).
Hagen looked right and sounded right and his performance was more convincing than that of Deans. Was he a celebrity hanger-on? We'll never know.
You could have heard a pin drop in the auditorium when Bennett finally got to perform "Over The Rainbow". It was lump-in-the-throat time for everyone.
Outstanding.
End Of The Rainbow, the first of The Royal's Addicted to You season, runs until February 20. For tickets call the box office 01604 624811 or online www.royalandderngate.co.uk
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Tuesday 07 February 2012
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