Photo Flash: Janet Gigliotti Brings Stage Legend Judy Garland Back to Life in END OF THE RAINBOW

ACE Productions presents the Canadian premiere of End of the Rainbow. This gritty play with music is based on the true events of Judy Garland's last comeback attempt in England in 1968. There are moments in the theatre when you lean forward in your seat with shivers down your spine and realize there is nowhere on earth you'd rather be. This show promises to be one of them.

End of the Rainbow stars the luminescent Janet Gigliotti as Judy Garland, Jeffery Hoffman, GorDon Roberts and Matthew Simmons, with direction by Claude Giroux. The show runs April 26-May 20 at the Jericho Arts Centre.

Electrifying, intense and real--this production will leave you breathless. End of the Rainbow is a true account of an all too mortal goddess on the eve of her destruction and is revealing in a way seldom found in the tabloids. End of the Rainbow surrounds the events of Judy Garland's last comeback attempt in 1968, and gives the audience a glimpse into her relationship with her fifth husband Mickey Deans.

Touch this woman at your own risk- she burns. Every chapter of Garland's history is alive; she is foul-mouthed, flirtatious, erotic, childlike, unedited, manipulative and supremely self-conscious as she makes love and war with her keepers. Judy has a strong sense of herself as a human tragedy on a world stage, but her sense of humour, of the absurdity of it all, is just as sharp and appallingly funny-and then, she sings and all those disparate elements coalesce into a coherent riveting whole.

"It is Gigliotti leading the entire production with a voluminous voice and verve." - Sharon DeMarko Gordon, Downtowner

Director Claude Giroux is currently the Artistic Director at First Impressions Theatre and prior to that was the Artistic Director at Keyano Theatre Company for six seasons! At KTC, Claude directed All Shook Up, The Farnsworth Invention, Hometown The Musical (co-writer and creator), Les Miserables, On A First Name Basis and the farce Ladies Night. Other directing credits (over 200) in Canada and in the USA include Catch Me If You Can, The Full Monty, Oklahoma, The Odd Couple, The Producers, Frankie And Johnny In The Claire De Lune and All Shook Up (four productions). Mr. Giroux has been an artistic director for five theatres (Theatre New Brunswick, Playhouse Merced, The Allenberry Playhouse, Northern Lights Playhouse and TheatreK) spanning over 17 seasons. Claude is also an avid adaptor of plays and has written two recently produced adaptations of A Christmas Carol in addition to Sleeping Beauty, Cinderella and Hometown The Musical. Next up he directs On a First Name Basis at First Impressions Theatre.

End of the Rainbow by Peter Quilter Presented by ACE Productions, directed by Claude Giroux | Venue: Jericho Arts Centre, 1675 Discovery St., Vancouver, BC (Map). | Box Office: www.brownpapertickets.com/event/2875967 | 1-800-838-3006. Run: April 26-May 20 - 8:00pm, 2pm matinees on May 6, 13 & 20. More information at www.aceproductions.ca.

Janet Gigliotti
Janet Gigliotti