judy, what were you thinking??



 To tell the truth, I wasn't particularly in the mood to go to the theater last night, but I had these tickets and, well, you know...  But I was lucky enough to get my niece Ruthie to go with me, and doing something with Ruthie is always an momentary-crisis adventure that somehow ends in laughs:  her losing her driver's license in the lobby, losing her debit card under the seats in front of us, that sort of thing...

But how quickly I got in the mood!  The play is End of the Rainbow, and it turned out to be one of the best shows I've ever seen at the Guthrie.  The Guthrie is the venue for the American premiere of the play, which started with a successful run in London.  From Minneapolis, it moves on to Broadway.

End of the Rainbow is about Judy Garland in 1968, the last year of her life, when she is a drunk, drugged-up, foul-mouthed emotional disaster, when she is making an extended appearance at the Talk of the Town club in London.  The set goes back and forth (very effectively) between her London hotel suite and the stage at the Talk of the Town.  The most amazing part of the show, as you will also be saying afterwards if you go to this play, is Tracie Bennett as Judy.  First of all, she is a convincing Judy Garland, but you will be in awe at the sheer energy it must take to play this manic role night after night.  She is on stage for practically the whole two hours, and none of that time is restful.  How she cannot be totally exhausted after each performance is beyond my imagination.  Or maybe she is.

Highly recommended! This is a hot show, man!

After we double-checked to make sure Ruthie had all her belongings, we went back out into the chilly night.