End of the Rainbow by Peter Quilter.
Directed by Elena Carapetis. Musical Director Carol Young. Musical
Arrangements Andrew McNaughton. Designer Ailsa Paterson. Lighting Designer Mark
Pennington. Sound designer. Andrew Howard. Assistant director. Adriana Bonaccurso.
Fight choreography. Ruth Fallon. State Theatre South Australia in association
wih the Adelaide Cabaret Festival. Royalty Theatre. May 31 – June 22 2019
Reviewed by Peter Wilkins
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| Helen Dallimore as Judy Garland Photo by Chris Herzfeld |
Fifty years after her death, Judy
Garland’s immortality lives on in the magnificent performance of Helen
Dallimore as the iconic legend of stage, screen and song in Peter Quilter’s End of
the Rainbow. Dallimore eerily inhabits Garland in every gesture, every
vocal sound, every moment of fragility, petulance ,loving tenderness and human complexity.
Director Elena Carapetis
End of the Rainbow recounts the final month of Garland’s life.
Recalling a disastrous concert tour of Melbourne a few years earlier, Garland embarks
with some trepidation on a season at London’s Talk of the Town in 1969 The play
is set in her suite at the Ritz, where she is accompanied by her fiancé/manager
Micky Deans (Nic English) and long time accompanist Anthony Chapman (Stephen
Sheehan). The curtain rises on a playful scene between the middle-aged Garland and the much younger, handsome Deans. Gradually,
as the pressure of the prospect of performing mounts, Garland’s life begins to
unravel as drug and alcohol dependency again takes hold. Tension mounts between
Chapman and Deans, both vying for Garland’s affection and favour.
Director Elena Carapetis skillfully guides the
play’s unfolding moments with an unerring instinct for the shifting moods. The
actors segue perfectly from one emotion to another as Deans and Chapman
navigate Garland’s unpredictability. Loving tenderness gives way to dissatisfaction
with the suite and argument with the hotel manager. Pleading provokes outrage
and sullen defiance. The stage becomes a battleground between the voice of
reason and stubborn willfulness. Sheehan beautifully plays the homosexual’s
adoration of the gay icon in scenes of gentle devotion and the familiarity of a
long time relationship. English’s fiery and frustrated lover flails before
Garland’s cantankerous will, and yet in English’s assured performance we see a
man driven not by self interest, but by a manager’s sense of responsibility and
a lover’s love. End of the Rainbow is
tragic in the inevitability of Garland’s fall. Alone in a spot at the end of
the show, Dallimore reminds us of the tragic consequences of Garland’s fate
with a soulful, moving and prophetic rendition of Dorothy’s innocent question “If happy little bluebirds fly beyond the
rainbow then why oh why can’t I?” And Ailsa Paterson’s design on the
Royalty stage lights up with the colours of the rainbow.
Stephen Sheehan, Helen Dallimore and Nic English
Photo by Chris Herzfeld
It is to the credit of the director
and the cast that the dramatic scenes between Dallimore, Sheehan and English
are not overshadowed by the classic numbers of Garland’s vast repertoire and Dallimore’s
remarkable rendition of the songs. Under the baton of musical director, Carol
Young, and her musicians, Eddie Morrison on Upright Bass, aswell as playing the
minor roles of Bellboy and BBC Interviewer, Warren Heading on Trumpet, Tom
Pulford on Alto and tenor Saxophone and Clarinet, Thomas Voss on tenor Trombone
and Steve Todd on Drums. It is the small
combo with the big band sound and cast us back to the era with songs such
as The Bells Are Ringing and Come Rain or Come Shine.
Nic English as Micky Deans and Helen Dallimore as Judy Garland
Photo by Chris Herzfeld
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Stephen Sheehan, Helen Dallimore and Nic English
Photo by Chris Herzfeld
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Photo by Chris Herzfeld
