End of the Rainbow

At Uptown Players.

A show well worth seeing.  A good story - with  Judy Garland near the end of her career - a great cast and production.

Extraordinary leading lady!  Janelle Lutz.  Just... wow.

Opening was Friday night, so I've caught my breath again after the last mad rush that always happens.  I'm pretty happy with the set - a suite at the London Ritz in 1969.   With maybe a little secret tucked away.  Thanks big-time to TD / wiz carpenter Dennis Canright, set dresser Kevin Brown, prop designer Jane Quetin (who found great furniture), lighting designer Jason Foster (who made it look so good), and director Cheryl Denson (who, besides being fun to work with, talked me off a small ledge re: miss-matched fabric wall covering).

Special thanks to Ella Forester, fashion blogger of Els Chamber who kindly allowed us to use one of her photographs as the view outside Judy's window.  I'll attach a better photo with Judy at the window looking at that view when I get my hands on it, meanwhile...

End of the Rainbow at Uptown Players, photo (I think) by Dennis Canright

Here you can see the hotel room set, window closed, under theatrical lighting.  Just a hint of the view...

End of the Rainbow under construction - 

photos by Clare Floyd DeVries

The view as BIG copies.  Added bonus: a view of

building Judy's fantastic vintage Louis Vuitton style trunk

And here the view is at earlier stages.

Top above, newly installed view outside the window.  (And wasn't that a nasty tight triangular cubbyhole to work in filled with ladder, lighting equipment, speakers, and cables!  Imagine unrolling 3' wide x 10' high photos on crinkly paper, then - on a ladder with a stapler - trying to line up the architectural railings etc.  Arrrgh!)   

Above, the lower photo, see the view as four separate rolls of giant photocopies, getting trimmed and ready to hang.  

Because the original photo had very muted color, I was able to economize by getting black & white copies and then tinting them a little by hand, rather than paying much more for color copies.  The difference between under $40 and over $200.

That fantastic piano?  Another kind and very lucky loan.  If you notice the floor pattern... that was me, a week earlier, with a brush-onna-stick.

Come see End of the Rainbow.

ADDENDUM:

Here's a photo of that window view as used in the show.

Uptown Player's production of End of the Rainbow -

Mike Morgan Photography

And here's that surprise...

Uptown Player's production of End of the Rainbow -

Mike Morgan Photography