ACE Productions
End of the Rainbow by Peter Quilter

Director Claude Giroux Cast Janet Gigliotti (Judy Garland), Jeffrey Hoffman ( Mickie Deans),Gordon Roberts (Anthony Chapman/ Pianist), Matthew Simmons ( Porter/Interviewer/ASM)

Dates and Venue April 26 - May 20, 2017 – 8pm (2pm matinees on May 6, 13 & 20) | Jericho Arts Centre, 1675 Discovery St.

Reviewer Karen Fitzgibbon

What a great voice this Gigliotti has! If you haven’t seen End of the RAINBOW then please do so. Gigliotti’s voice is sultry and beautiful. Judy Garland would be proud to know that this lady would play the role of Judy one day.

The stage design is colorful and well designed. The setting is 1969 in a London Hotel (for which they have not yet paid the bill).

The performance begins with Anthony who is there to tune the piano. He is wonderfully entertaining for the audience and takes us back in time with some oldies on the piano. Roberts’ portrayal of Anthony as a Scottish, gay pianist was absolutely adorable and tender.

I am impacted at the extremes in emotions by Judy. She is loving and gentle one minute and a raging hothead, to the point of being dangerous in the next. Gigliotti’s portral of the out of control Judy is very believable. It certainly saddens us to see such a great superstar on drugs and alcohol that at times has caused her career to crash. She goes down and comes back up and then goes down and comes back up over and over again.

Judy’s physical aggression was something that I was unaware of. If she wasn’t yelling then she was slapping. It is her expression of frustration of not being able to be in control and in need of a protector. That protector she saw in Mickie Deans (Hoffman) her manager and fiancé. He played his role well trying to stop her from finding prescription drugs but eventually succumbing to her demands.

The costumes were really lovely and Judy’s dresses were very elegant. She even wore red shoes with one. (Now that takes us back when.)

The audience really liked the up front and moves when Judy sang. She came within only feet from the us which made us feel like an audience in the 60s. The sound was so professional: great volume and acoustically perfect. The musicians were fabulous: Bass – Matthew, Simmons, Drums – Colin Parker.

The only thing I would like to mention is the script at the beginning was not very interesting. Something was lacking but I could not put my finger on it. Thankfully it did pick up pace and we enjoyed the rest of the show.

© 2017 Karen Fitzgibbon