End of the Rainbow

Judy Garland is staying in London, along with young new fiancé Mickey Deans and loyal friend and pianist Anthony, preparing for her five-week run of shows at The Talk of the Town. Garland hopes that her act will help her maintain her star profile, especially considering a recent string of bad press against her. However, she still struggles with both her drug addictions and her strained relationships with the men around her.

End of the Rainbow evolved from an earlier Peter Quilter play entitled Last Song of the Nightingale which had starred Tracie Bennett as a fictitious past-her-prime diva: premièring as a London fringe production in the spring of 2001, Last Song... had encored (with Bennett) in 2003 at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival and also Off West End. Although Quilter would state the play's protagonist was a gender-switch on an alcoholic male cruise ship performer of the playwright's acquaintance,[1] Last Song... would be viewed by theater-goers and critics - and its star Tracie Bennett - as a theatrical Judy Garland roman à clef:[1][2][3] Quilter eventually decided to revise his original play to overtly focus on Garland, with the resultant End of the Rainbow premièring in August 2005 at the Sydney Opera House in Australia with Caroline O’Connor as Garland,[4] a role O'Connor reprised first in a May 2006 production at the Theatre Royal, Sydney[5] and then at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival engagement of End of the Rainbow in August 2006.[6] O'Connor won three Best Actress awards for her performances.

End of the Rainbow was then performed from February 5–20, 2010 at Northampton's Royal & Derngate Theatre. This production was directed by Terry Johnson and starred Tracie Bennett as Judy Garland, with Hilton McRae as Anthony and Stephen Hagan as Mickey Deans.[7] End of the Rainbow ran in the West End from 16 November 2010 to 21 May 2011 at Trafalgar Studios, starring Tracie Bennett.[8][9] The West End production received nominations for four Olivier Awards, including Best Actress for Bennett, Best Actor in a Supporting Role for McRae and Best New Play. The show then toured in the UK from 25 August and ending in December 2011 at Richmond Theatre. .[6]

End of the Rainbow had its American premiere at the Guthrie Theater in Minneapolis, running from January 28 to March 11, 2012. Directed by Terry Johnson, Tracie Bennett repeated her role as Garland.[10] The play opened on Broadway at the Belasco Theatre on March 19, 2012 in previews and officially on April 2. In addition to Bennett, the cast featured Michael Cumpsty as Anthony, Tom Pelphrey as Mickey Deans, and Jay Russell.[9][11] Bennett and Cumpsty received Tony Award nominations for their performances. Bennett also received the Outer Critics Circle Award and Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Actress in a Play. The show ran 176 performances on Broadway and subsequently played a critically acclaimed season at the Ahmanson Theatre in Los Angeles.

• End of the Rainbow toured the UK for a second time in 2016, with Lisa Maxwell in the role of Judy Garland.

End of the Rainbow (Al final del arcoíris) premiered in Madrid, January 2011, at the Teatro Marquina with Natalia Dicenta as Judy Garland, Miguel Rellán as Anthony and Javier Mora as Mickey Deans.

• End of the Rainbow (O Fim do Arco-Íris) (pt) had its Portuguese première in Lisbon in January 2012 at the Teatro Politeama[12] in Lisbon. The cast was led by Vanessa Silva as Judy Garland with Carlos Quintas as Mickey Deans and Hugo Rendas as Sidney Luft.
• The show was presented in Brazil on 11 November 2012 at the Fashion Mall shopping center's entertainment court in Brasília, DF with Cláudia Netto as Judy and Igor Rickli as Mickey Deans.
• End of the Rainbow (Al final del arcoíris) was premièred in Buenos Aires, Argentina, on 5 February 2014, starring Karina K as Garland, Antonio Grimau and Federico Amador as Mickey Deans.
• The show had its Canadian première in April 2015 at the Compagnie Jean Duceppe Theatre in Montreal. In the same year, the show had a second run in Los Angeles, playing at the International City Theatre.

End of the Rainbow (El final del arcoíris) was premièred in Mexico City on 29 May 2015, at the Foro Cultural Coyoacanense Hugo Argüelles, with Alejandra Desiderio starring as Judy Garland, José Antonio López Tercero as Anthony and Mario Sepúlveda as Mickey Deans directed by Rosa Alicia Delain and is a production of Re-Crea Teatro under the supervision of Alis Ortega and Fernanda Prado. There was a revival at Foro Shakespeare in 2016 and another revival at Teatro Rafael Solana in 2018.

• In 2015, the show had a new production in Tokyo Japan, which was revived in 2016.
• In December 2016, the show had a new production in Moscow, Russia. The show also returned to Rome for a 2nd run, at the Teatro Sistina.
• Ace Productions presented a new Canadian production in Vancouver in April 2017.
• The Berlin production returned to the Schlosspark Theater for a second run in September 2017.
• The play returned to Los Angeles in 2017 for a run at the La Mirada Theatre. In summer 2018 it played its 4th LA run at Laguna Playhouse.
• In 2019 The State Theatre Company of South Australia commemorated the 50th Anniversary of Garland's passing. As part of the Adelaide Cabaret Festival, this production of End Of The Rainbow was directed by Elena Carapetis and starred Helen Dallimore as Judy, Nic English as Micky, Stephen Sheehan as Anthony; it concluded its run on June 22, 2019.

• "I Can't Give You Anything but Love, Baby"
• "Just in Time"
• "For Me and My Gal"
• "You Made Me Love You (I Didn't Want to Do It)"
• "The Trolley Song"
• "The Man That Got Away"
• "When You're Smiling"
• "Come Rain or Come Shine"
• "Over the Rainbow"
• "Get Happy"
• "By Myself"

End of the Rainbow
Studio album by Tracie Bennett
Released	January 31, 2011
Genre	Showtunes

A cast recording of the London production was released on January 31, 2011 by Angel Recording Studios featuring Tracie Bennett's renditions of both the play's songs and other Garland numbers.[13]

4 Olivier Award nominations in London's West End in 2011 - Best New Play, Best Actress, Best Sound, and Best Supporting Actor.[14]

• Official website
• ​End of the Rainbow​ at the Internet Broadway Database
• About the Artists Production History