Thursday, September 21, 2017

End of the Rainbow Sheds Light on Judy Garland's Troubled Twilight Years

Horizon Stage Presents ACEproductions: End of the Rainbow on Wednesday, October 11
                                                                                                                                                      
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! End of The Rainbow is a true account of Judy Garland’s twilight years; an all-too-mortal goddess on the eve of her destruction revealed in a way seldom found in the tabloids. See that perilous bipolar energy that so often animates great performers. Touch this woman at your own risk - she burns. Every chapter of Judy’s history is alive; she is foul-mouthed, flirtatious, erotic, childlike, unedited, manipulative, and supremely self-conscious as she makes both love and war with her keepers. She has a strong sense of herself as a human tragedy on a world stage, but her sense of humour, and 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.

Written by Peter Quilter and directed by Claude Giroux, ACEproductions: End of the Rainbow is the Canadian premier production of a show that was a huge hit on Broadway and in London’s West  End. This Canadian cast is led by award-winning Vancouver singer and actress Janet Gigliotti as Judy Garland, along with Jeffery Hoffman, Gordon Roberts, Matthew Simmons and Robin Clegg. After successful runs at Jericho Arts Centre and the Deep Cove Shaw Theatre in Vancouver the company is excited to bring their show to Alberta where they will make a stop at Horizon Stage in Spruce Grove on Wednesday, October 11, at 7:30 p.m.

ACEproductions was formed in 2003 by Damon Calderwood and Gordon Roberts to present the best small cast plays and musicals with the intention of creating an ongoing touring company using the finest professional talent available. They are a not-for-profit society with a mandate to reach communities and audiences that do not receive regular touring live theatre.

Electrifying, intense, and real, ACEproductions: End of the Rainbow will leave you breathless. It is must-see theatre for Judy Garland fans but due to the adult nature of its content it is not recommended for anyone under the age of 14. Tickets are $35 for Adults and $30 for Students and Seniors and may be purchased at the City Hall Ticket Centre (315 Jespersen Ave), by phone at 780-962-8995 or 1-888-655-9090, and online at ticketpro.ca.

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

Gigliotti is petite, but has big pipes and she delivers more than twenty classics including The Trolley Song, For Me and My Gal, Come Rain or Come Shine, Just In Time, You Made Me Love You and, of course, Over The Rainbow.”
- Jo Ledingham, Theatre Reviews

“What a great voice this Gigliotti has! 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.”

Karen Fitzgibbon, Review Vancouver

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