Garland musical earns top grade
PHOTOS CONTRIBUTED BY AMY PASQUANTONIO
TGIF Magazine, The Palm Beach Post | FRIDAY, JULY 26, 2013
Cover photo/blurB
Cover photo/blurB
'Beyond the Rainbow' channels Garland
Norah Long and Peter Moore in "Beyond the Rainbow."
'BEYOND THE RAINBOW:
GARLAND AT CARNEGIE HALL'
A-
Where: The Theatre at Arts Garage, 180 N.W. First St., Delray Beach
When: Through Sun., Aug. 18
Tickets: $30 to $40. Call: 561-450-6357
The verdict: Garland's tumultuous life and career, as seen through the lens of her legendary Carnegie Hall comeback concert, superbly sung by Briskey and acted by Long.
GARLAND AT CARNEGIE HALL'
A-
Where: The Theatre at Arts Garage, 180 N.W. First St., Delray Beach
When: Through Sun., Aug. 18
Tickets: $30 to $40. Call: 561-450-6357
The verdict: Garland's tumultuous life and career, as seen through the lens of her legendary Carnegie Hall comeback concert, superbly sung by Briskey and acted by Long.
Garland's tale of adoration and inner struggles is told.
By Hal Epstein
Special to The Palm Beach Post
Songs about men who got away and other tales of unrequited love come rain or come shine. With meteorological ballads of stormy weather and yearnings to escape over the rainbow, Judy Garland put her indelible stamp on so many musical standards of pain and regret.
As she once put it, "My life is in my music."
That life, riddle with ill-advised marriages, skirmishes with movie studio executives and her own self-destructive, suicidal streak fueled by drugs and alcohol, is the tabloid fodder of an involving biographical musical, "Beyond the Rainbow: Garland at Carnegie Hall," now on at the Theatre at Arts Garage.
If that title sounds familiar, perhaps it is because the show first appeared locally in 2006 at the present company's precursor, Florida Stage. Its success there led to other popular bio-shows on such entertainment icons as Ginger Rogers and Ella Fitzgerald, but none was as dramatic nor as tuneful as "Beyond the Rainbow."
No wonder artistic director Louis Tyrrell has brought it back, particularly since it again features the uncanny musical mimicry of Jody Briskey, a force of nature delivering more than two dozen songs from Garland's 1961 Carnegie hall comeback concert.
Also prominently featured is the almost-as-remarkable Norah Long as a younger Judy, who re-enacts the often bitter memories swimming through the show business legend's mind mid-concert as she pledges to her adoring fans to "sing 'em all and stay all night."
For it was the inspired notion of playwright William Randall Beard to capture Garland in that moment of fleeting triumph 52 years ago, and to view his subject from a twin perspective where the two Garlands occasionally meet, shoot one another knowing glances and even lift their voices in eerie harmony.
The show is good, but these two performers are awesome. Diminutive Briskey has a big voice built for endurance, and her ability to evoke Garland visually and vocally is stunning.
With her flat Midwestern accent, frequent slurred diction, stutter-step movements and nervous touch of her hair, she is completely convincing as Garland.
Seven years ago, Briskey totally dominated the production, but now Long has grown into her role with greater assurance and "Beyond the Rainbow" is more of a shared event. Seen early on in Dorothy Gale pigtails and pinafore, a child-woman trapped in the Hollywood machine, Long is now the soul of the show, and a very credible singer in her own right.
If this productions falls short of the earlier experience, it is because of director Ron Peluso's decision to restage the show environmentally, in and around the cabaret-style tables of the Arts Garage. That choice fights the illusion of the more theatrically formal Carnegie Hall and diffuses the focus of many of the scenes.
Still, "Beyond the Rainbow" is a powerful portrait of one of the consummate, if tortured, stars of the 20th century.
To miss it would mean missing two stellar performances of this, or any, summer in South Florida.
[return to Beyond the Rainbow press page]
By Hal Epstein
Special to The Palm Beach Post
Songs about men who got away and other tales of unrequited love come rain or come shine. With meteorological ballads of stormy weather and yearnings to escape over the rainbow, Judy Garland put her indelible stamp on so many musical standards of pain and regret.
As she once put it, "My life is in my music."
That life, riddle with ill-advised marriages, skirmishes with movie studio executives and her own self-destructive, suicidal streak fueled by drugs and alcohol, is the tabloid fodder of an involving biographical musical, "Beyond the Rainbow: Garland at Carnegie Hall," now on at the Theatre at Arts Garage.
If that title sounds familiar, perhaps it is because the show first appeared locally in 2006 at the present company's precursor, Florida Stage. Its success there led to other popular bio-shows on such entertainment icons as Ginger Rogers and Ella Fitzgerald, but none was as dramatic nor as tuneful as "Beyond the Rainbow."
No wonder artistic director Louis Tyrrell has brought it back, particularly since it again features the uncanny musical mimicry of Jody Briskey, a force of nature delivering more than two dozen songs from Garland's 1961 Carnegie hall comeback concert.
Also prominently featured is the almost-as-remarkable Norah Long as a younger Judy, who re-enacts the often bitter memories swimming through the show business legend's mind mid-concert as she pledges to her adoring fans to "sing 'em all and stay all night."
For it was the inspired notion of playwright William Randall Beard to capture Garland in that moment of fleeting triumph 52 years ago, and to view his subject from a twin perspective where the two Garlands occasionally meet, shoot one another knowing glances and even lift their voices in eerie harmony.
The show is good, but these two performers are awesome. Diminutive Briskey has a big voice built for endurance, and her ability to evoke Garland visually and vocally is stunning.
With her flat Midwestern accent, frequent slurred diction, stutter-step movements and nervous touch of her hair, she is completely convincing as Garland.
Seven years ago, Briskey totally dominated the production, but now Long has grown into her role with greater assurance and "Beyond the Rainbow" is more of a shared event. Seen early on in Dorothy Gale pigtails and pinafore, a child-woman trapped in the Hollywood machine, Long is now the soul of the show, and a very credible singer in her own right.
If this productions falls short of the earlier experience, it is because of director Ron Peluso's decision to restage the show environmentally, in and around the cabaret-style tables of the Arts Garage. That choice fights the illusion of the more theatrically formal Carnegie Hall and diffuses the focus of many of the scenes.
Still, "Beyond the Rainbow" is a powerful portrait of one of the consummate, if tortured, stars of the 20th century.
To miss it would mean missing two stellar performances of this, or any, summer in South Florida.
[return to Beyond the Rainbow press page]