BWW Reviews: There's No There At END OF THE RAINBOW

Chase as one may for the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow, at the end of the day one has only the journey and the pains and rewards that come with it along the way. For Judy Garland, "Immortality might make up for everything" ~ for all the pain and pressures of imposed fame, the drug-induced falls from grace, the celebrated comebacks, the multiple marriages, the loneliness of celebrity.

The rise and fall and rise and fall of Judy Garland is a familiar narrative, a tale multiple times told, but always ripe and ready for new insights and anecdotes that might shed light on the legend. Would that Peter Quilter's End of the Rainbow, just opened at Phoenix Theatre and directed by Karla Koskinen, filled the bill more fully on this opportunity.

Instead, there's a good deal of clamoring, stomping and pacing (with an overdose of profanities that serve as a poor excuse for a bland and unimaginative script) built around the ebbs and flows of Ms. Garland's moods and cries for a fix as she prepares for her run at the Talk of the Town nightclub.

Ensconced in the Ritz London and defying management's duns to pay her bill, she is self-pitying, petulant, coquettish, cynical, and altogether erratic ~ all the while negotiating a balancing act of affections between her future hubby #5 Mickey Deans (Caleb Reese) and Anthony, her accompanist (preciously portrayed by Jeff Kennedy).

Deans reveals his true motivations as he morphs from protector to enabler of her addiction. After all, the show, come hell or high, must go on!

On the other hand, Anthony (who may be the avatar of Roger Edens, Judy's long-time mentor) is the adoring guardian of her evaporating sanity. In a tender moment, in a last ditch effort to extricate her from her life's madness, he offers a proposal, a yellow brick road of sorts to another and better life. Sadly, the audience knows what path she chose, and it is Anthony who, in an elegiac postscript, reports on her tragic demise.

It is the all-out smashing performance of Jeannie Shubitz, however, that makes every moment of this production worth watching. Shubitz captures Garland's mannerisms ~ the flightiness, fidgeting, and foot kicks; the one hand wraparound of her elbow; the arcing of her body as she belts out and sustains every loving note. More importantly, Shubitz carries the play with a powerhouse voice that drives straight to the audience's heart and gives extra special meaning to her signature songs. When Shubitz lights the torch to The Man that Got Away or Come Rain or Come Shine or, of course, Over the Rainbow, her riveting and inspired portrayal renders them extra meaning.

Douglas Clarke's design of the suite at the Ritz, complete with fainting couch and a Steinway, is an elegant backdrop to the drama ~ stately and refined, in marked contrast to the turbulence that it houses.

When all is said and sung, at the end of Judy Garland's rainbow is our shared adoration of a musical legend and our sadness for the pains she endured. Garland may say, "I gave them everything. There's nothing left." Kudos to Ms. Shubitz for reminding us that this is not at all so.

End of the Rainbow runs through May 17th.

Photo credit to Erin Evangeline Photography