JUDY GARLAND “World’s Greatest Entertainer”

Book by Greer Firestone

When Dorothy Gale entered Oz, Judy Garland entered immortality. The movie has been seen by almost every child who has seen a movie and therefore Judy will live forever in our hearts. ‘Rainbow’ is the most popular song ever; a mystical, lyrical and melodic story of a child’s spiritual passage from adolescence to adulthood. ‘Rainbow’ never fails to evoke emotion. ‘Trolley Song’ and ‘Boy Next Door’, ‘The Man That Got Away’ are canonized in motion picture history and are included.

'The Chairman of the Himself thought Judy ‘The World’s Greatest Entertainer’. Her incandescent movie and stage career AND her incomparable gift for touching peoples’ souls with her magical voice are set against her tumultuous personal life. But hardly is this a melancholy show. Judy’s personal life was unstable and lonely – even being the brightest star in the firmament. Your audiences will be shared facts about her life that are stunning in respect to her great achievements. They will admire Judy even more by fully understanding her singular perseverance.

1

Having Liza, Frank and Dean around to sing their signature songs won’t hurt either. The three of them loved and admired Judy – and it shows.

The setting is a 1960’s television studio. Framed around the TV show, ‘This Is Your Life’, Judy and Liza enter the studio and are surprised by an unnamed entertainment columnist. He will emcee the proceedings and set up the legendary tunes. Halfway through the first act, two of Judy’s greatest celebrity friends, Frank and Dean, join in the act. They celebrate Judy’s life through song and croon some fan favorites while providing Rat Pack shtick.

Act II has very little dialogue. Your audience sits back and enjoys.

Four iconic figures sung by singer/actors who channel their music; two dozen legendary tunes; one set; minimal costumes and tech.

I would suggest that a producer/director obtain DVD’s of This Is Your Life. Additionally, there are many resources to research Judy. I have personally cast my own production to have the performers impersonate the sound, style and mannerisms of the four legendary performers.

With Best of Broadway Productions World Premiere in May of 2007, there will be valuable notes from the director and added shtick amongst the characters that will find it way into the final script. The Judy, Frank & Dean material is from their 1962 TV spectacular, “Judy, Frank and Dean – Once in a Lifetime”.Should your own theatre company license JUDY, consultation from the writer/director are at no charge and welcomed.

Characters

Judy – at age 39; the more mature JudyFrank – classic persona of the late ‘50’s and ‘60’sDean – same as aboveLiza – hyperactive persona – The Liza we know and love from the ‘70’sEmcee – NY Times columnist

2

Costumes : Multiple costumes for the two women, reminiscent of their different periods and their performances. Pictures/representations to be part of rental/royalty package. (E.g. Judy: Classic Judy in tights, short coat and fedora for first two numbers w/ black hose; sequin half jacket w/ toreador pants for end of Act I and more glamorous sequin gown for Act II. Hobo outfits for women for “Couple of Swells” ( see EASTER PARADE with Fred Astaire) Liza: White suit for Act 1. Short spangled mini skirt for Cabaret “Sally Bowles”, etc. Frank and Dean – period suits in Act I; tuxes for Act II..

Set: In the premiere production I will be using two spot lights. In many of the videos available on Judy, spots were utilized with much drama. Blown up graphics of Judy pr shots flown around set and highlighted during appropriate numbers. Liquor bar SL stocked with bottles. Two bar stools.

Music : Combo OR fully orchestrated CD. Venue’s choice. CD is added cost. BoB Productions Premiere show incorporated synthesizer and drums.

Atmosphere : 1960’s TV station. Intimate, interactive conversations with Emcee, Judy and Liza. All parties speak directly to the audience and, if possible, play the audience. Dean & Frank do their shtick with atmosphere of ‘spontaneity’. Depending on theatre environment, the more Las Vegas/cabaret type of feel that can be provoked, the better. Our audiences responded to the performers ‘working; the audience.

House lights down. (Special or spot – DSC)

Emcee: Good evening, Ladies and Gentlemen. Well, you are in for a treat tonight. Over the many years of TIYL, we have chronicled the lives of countless of America’s greatest personalities for our 50 million TV home viewers. But I guarantee that no star shines brighter in the firmament than our surprise guest this evening…the World’s Greatest Entertainer… Miss Judy Garland.

3

And you – our audience here in (insert your venue) will be part of the surprise. Our Judy is presently on a national concert tour which began just a few days ago at Carnegie Hall. She is making a brief stopover here to promote a concert at The Playhouse in the Hotel DuPont. (insert a local professional theatre) Boy, is she in for a surprise! She is due here at….

Stage Hand: She’s entering the building!!

Emcee: Get the lights. (to aud.)Ladies and Gentlemen, we bear your indulgence…not a word.

(Specials lit on stage)

(Judy comes down ramp with Liza. )

Emcee: Good evening, Miss Garland. (she looks stunned)Miss Garland, do you know who I am? (still stunned). Miss Garland?

Judy: (irritated). Well, of course I do, I watch TV, don’t I? Liza likes your show, don’t you, honey? Nice to meet you, Mr. What's Your Name, but we’re in a bit of a rush. Sweetie, give the nice man an autographed picture of me, will you? (she X’s to center of stage but NOT on stage)

Liza: Mama! (chagrined)

Judy: Oh, yes, so sorry. Right. I can’t sop and chat. We’re on deadline. I’ve just got to do this TV spot and then Liza and I must rush back to NY… Who ARE these people?? (referring to “TV audience”)

Emcee: (X to Judy) Miss Garland, the trip back might be postponed for a few hours. Your talented

4

daughter, Liza Minnelli, is part of this surprise, for tonight, Judy Garland, THIS IS YOUR STORY!

Judy very surprised. Looks back and forth at Liza and Emcee. He takes her arm and escorts to stage.

(TAKE HER TO STAGE AND SIT ON SOFA. FSW)

Music in background Over the Rainbow)Emcee: Liza will go backstage now and she will be joining you a bit later. Miss Garland? Miss Garland, you look a bit nervous. Do you need a glass of water?

Judy: (motions to bar) Do you have anything stronger?

Emcee: Last week on the evening of April 23, 1961, 3165 privileged people packed the world famous Carnegie Hall in NYC beyond its capacity; primed to witness what was to be probably the greatest night in show business history. The audience filed in with an almost religious anticipation, described as a musical parallel to a Billy Graham revival. It was as if she was a great faith healer endowed with magical powers. By the time the conductor raised his baton for the overture, the wildly applauding crowd was in a transport of ecstasy. Miss Garland, tonight we will tell your life story through song…(presents Judy the Sinatra-style hat)…do you mind?

( Song begins and special on her. USC. She will use entire center stage)

1) GET HAPPY

FSWEmcee: Miss Garland…

5

Judy: Oh, really, cut the ceremony, honey, call me Judy!

Emcee: I wrote in my NY Times column that week of that performance, “...after Judy’s final exit – 2 ½ hours after her first note - the audience refused to leave. (It was a shame they had to pay for their seats – for they were never in them!) Now their eyes were riveted on an empty stage. They understood she had bestowed upon them every fragment of the Garland essence. 3000 people had become joined together in an exalted state. They were not about to let go. Judy, can you tell us what happened then?

Judy: (matter of fact) Well, this is kind of embarrassing. No one backstage quite what to do. I walked on stage. I stared at them. They stared right back. I said, somewhat meekly, “We’re out of orchestrations.”

Emcee: And then what?

Judy: A man yelled from the balcony, “Just stand there !!!”

Emcee: Judy Garland, as she always does throughout her legendary career, takes a movie audience OR a concert crowd in her arms and they hug right back! Born in 1922 in Grand Rapids MN, Frank and Ethel Gumm moved their family to Lancaster CA where Frank Gumm had purchased a small theatre which became a perfect venue for the promotion of “The 3 Singing Gumm Sisters”. The older sisters were troupers, but soon Babe commanded all the attention. She acted and looked like any other preadolescent, but she sounded, well, like a chanteuse.

6

Judy: I was born in a trunk. I was raised in a vaudeville family. We had lunch for breakfast, dinner for lunch, and a show for dinner!

Emcee: One writer suggested your first language was music! As a child, your beloved Father taught you not only the tricks of a vaudevillian…

Judy: …Yessir. (motions to audience) All you performers out there or those that want to be performers, “the act lives or dies in the first few seconds”. Go for the juggler. Remember that!

Emcee: The potential of her daughter’s God-given gifts soon became crystal clear to Ethel Gumm. Under your mother’s guidance …

Judy: …obsession…

Emcee: Beg pardon?

Judy: Nothing…never mind.

Emcee: An opportunity for a week long contract opened for your act at a top vaudeville house in Chicago. Comedian George Jessel was the headliner and emcee. “There’s only one thing wrong with the Gumm Sisters,” Jessel intoned. “It’s their name”, he grumbled. “When I introduce them”, he said, “the audience snickers because the name rhymes with bum, crumb, dumb…”

Judy: …Or worse yet, Glum….deadly for a singing group…? (she chuckles)

Emcee: Jessel remarked that the sisters were ..“as pretty as a garland of flowers” but the younger one, Babe, is special. She sings like a woman carrying a

7

torch for Valentino.” Ethel decided to change it then and there.

Judy: And I thought “Judy” sounded real preppy.

Emcee: Just two years later when Judy was 14, Ethel obtained an audition in front of Roger Edens, a music director under contract with MGM. He asked you what you wanted to sing…and you replied…

Judy: “Zing Went the Strings of My Heart”. I asked my dear Roger, who I had just met for the first time -with all the innocence of an adolescent, “Can you change keys?”

Emcee : And his reply?

Judy: “Why yes, can you???”

Emcee: Edens later remarked, “After 8 bars of music, I knew what I had. It was like I was at Sutter’s Mill and struck gold.” Edens called Louis B. Mayer – of Metro Goldwyn MAYER and well, the rest is motion picture history. In 1936, at the venerable age of 14, Judy Garland signed a 7 year contract with MGM on the basis of ONE song!

Center Stage – Specials

2) Zing Went the Strings of My Heart – Judy

FSW

Emcee: Well, Judy, how are you feeling?

Judy: Very angered at you and Liza! I’m still of a mind that this venture is still going to be quite embarrassing.

8

Emcee: Not at all Judy. However, we are going to jump ahead…a bit out of the march of time, and introduce you to a voice you may recall.

(From backstage)

Liza: I created my own little World Premier in 1946, the product of the star of MEET ME IN ST. LOUIS and its director, Vincente Minnelli.

Judy: My dear Liza!!

Emcee: Miss Garland, you are of course, familiar with that voice, that of the youngest actor ever to win a Broadway Tony at age 19 for Flora The Red Menace, your daughter, Liza Minnelli. ( Liza enter and hugs and kisses, etc)

Liza: Of all of Mama’s marriages, hers to Dad was my favorite!(sits next to Judy) My parents’ marriage lasted only 4 years, so, honestly, I don’t recall much of that time as a family. They both had their careers. The divorce wasn’t simple….but, I guess…is there such a thing? Okay, brother, there I go again…sorry…that’s not why we are here tonight.There are so so very many accomplishments of which I am proud. Wow. Boy oh boy. Where do I start?

Judy: Try the parties at our home. You were always the belle of the ball!

Liza: What’s that word, bevy, yes, yes… a bevy of Hollywood stars at Mama’s monthly parties. Cary Grant, Lauren Bacall, Humphrey Bogart – and … Mickey Rooney was my favorite. I think he was Mama’s favorite as well. Wasn’t he Mama?

Ralph: Can you tell us a bit about Mickey?

9

Judy: I had already made 5 movies when I was teamed with Mickey. But it was not before he pulled me aside during our first Andy Hardy that I felt I was on my way to becoming a good actress.

Liza: (excitedly). I know what you’re going to say, Mama. …He took your hands and said, (takes Ralph’s hands, he looks embarrassed ), ‘Honey, you’ve got to believe this, now. You’re a singer first and a damn okay singer. Talk your dialogue like you’re singin’ it. Good singing is a form of good acting.

Judy: If you can make yourself believe what you’re saying (aside to audience) …and, brother…

Judy and Liza (together): You have some pretty silly things to say in musical. (they laugh)

Judy: Well, if, you do this, everything else falls in place. Your timing, your gestures, your coordination, all take care of themselves.’

Liza: Applause was a sound made by angels

Judy: As soothing as a lullaby; as exhilarating as a bugle.

Both: To sing is to be loved. (both laugh)

Liza: That was Mama’s bedtime lullaby to me – EVERY NIGHT!

Ralph: Judy, I am sure you will be thrilled to hear Liza do one of the favorite numbers made famous by both yourself and ‘The Jazz Singer’ Al Jolson.

(gets up and speaks to aud. Moves DSC

1

Specials on Liza

Liza: I will never forget…I was sitting by myself at one of Mama’s party’s…I was about 8…I was nursing a coca cola. A critic who wrote for the NY Times sat down beside me. He said, “Lisa, I want to tell you something”. I looked up to him and said, “My name is Liza, with a Z!” He apologized and then went on. He said, I saw Al Jolson sing live. Back in the day Jolson was called “The World’s Greatest Entertainer”. I have seen your Mother sing live. There WAS Al Jolson. There IS Judy Garland.” My father gave me my dreams, my Mother gave me my drive. (to Judy). Mama, this one’s for you. Here's how you put me to bed each night.

3) Rock a Bye Your Baby – Liza

FSW

(Behind curtain)Frank: We met on the back lot of MGM. I was singing with the Tommy Dorsey band. I taught her everything she knows.

(Judy jumps up from sofa on hearing that familiar voice.)

Emcee: Wait, Judy there’s more.

Dean: My claim to fame is that I gave Judy her second kiss…right after Andy Hardy!

Emcee: That’s right, Judy, with whom you appeared in a TV special last year – “Judy, Frank & Dean: Once In A Lifetime” - two of your closest celebrity friends, Frank Sinatra and Dean Martin!

(Enter. All hug and laugh extempore.)

1

Emcee: Mr. Sinatra, you were under contract with MGM as well?

Frank: My first movie was called Reveille with Beverly and…

Dean: … and Frank stayed with Beverly every night to make sure she made reveille!!

Frank: As I was saying…and Judy was starring on another sound stage in..

Judy: Girl Crazy!

Frank: (grabs bottle of Jack Daniels from bar) To our beloved Judy…

Dean: Let me give it to her…

Frank: Forgedaboutit…

Frank: Dean and I want to present to you this trophy from Sammy, Peter Lawford and all the members of the Rat Pack.Dino's done fell off the wagon last night and hurt his knee. Not sure if it was his right knee, his kidney or his hiney.

Dean: (reads inscription - from a liquor bottle!) To Judy Garland, the World’s Greatest Entertainer and honorary member of the Rat Pack. (begin song)

Judy: How appropriate…a bottle of Jack Daniels coming from you!

-DS Specials-

1

4) You Do Something To Me – Judy, Frank / Too Marvelous For Words – Frank / Kick In the Head –

Dean, Judy

(following is the banter during this group of songs)

Judy: ( to Frank) You do something to meSomething that simply mystifies meTell me, why should it be?You have the power to hypnotize me.

Let me live ‘neath your spellYou do that, voodoo that, you do so well.

J & F: Cuz you do something to meThat nobody else can do.

J: You look marvelous.F: I feel marvelousJ: I’m glad you’re here.F: Well, I’m delighted to be here.J: (starts to leave) Well, I have to..F: You’re not leaving me?J: I was just going to get my pants.F: I forbid you.J: Oh, how marvelous.F: You’ll be listening?J: Every word!F: You’re irresistibleJ: I try to be.F: You won’t be long?J: No. I’ll be very close.F: Promise?J: I swear it.

Frank sings TOO MARVELOUS FOR WORDS

J: (Kisses Frank, hands him a rose). Thanks for being so good, oh you’re so good, you’re so good.

1

F: You enjoyed it/J: Why yes.F: You liked it?J: I loved it.F: Good.(sing)J: You do something to meSomething that simply mystifies me.Tell me, why can it be?You have the power to hypnotize me.

(Judy walks to Dean)J: Let me live under your spell.Do do that, voodoo that, you do so well.D & J: But you do something to meThat nobody else can do.

J: You look marvelous.F: I think he looks terrible.D: I feel marvelous.J: I’m glad you’re here.D: I’m glad I’m here too, Judy.(Judy starts to leave)D: Where ya goin’?J: Well, I thought I’d just go and get my fan.D: No, no, you come here.J: Oh, how marvelous.D: There’s something I want you to hear – and, uh…you’ll be listening?J: Every word.D: Promise?J: MmmmmD: Promise?J: I swear.

(Dean sings Kick in the Head)

J: (kisses Dean) That’s for being so good, oh you’re so good, you’re so good.

1

D: I was good, I was good. Oh, I was good, yea. You enjoyed it?J: Yes.D: Every bit/J: I loved it.D: How come I got no flower? (takes Dean’s hand and walks to Frank, who is still holding the rose) Come with me.(Judy takes flower from Frank)J: Thank you Frank.D: Frank you, thank.(Judy hands flower to Dean. Frank is stunned.)

(all sing)J: Let meD: Let me.F: Let meALL: Live under your spellKeep doin’ that, voodoo that, you do so well. Cause you do something to me That nobody else can doThat nobody else can do.(Judy exits)

(F and D kiss Judy on opposite cheeks. Frank pulls rose from breast pocket. The men clink the roses as a toast and mock drink.)

D: (sniffing rose). Did you see the way she looked at me when she gave me that flower?F: Gave you the flower? She gave me the…she opened with me!D: But she took the flower and gave it to me. Ah, Judy, Judy..F: It’s obvious that you don’t comprehend the beautiful relationship that can be established between a man and a woman pal.D: (sniffing flower) Forsooth. Oh, Judy, Judy, Judy!

1

F: You go sniffin’ forsooth, and I’m gonna woo the lady with a song (waves ta ta and exits)

-FSW-

Emcee: You’re Judy Garland. Star. To Culver City, home of MGM, came the most glamorous people on the globe; stars whose faces were more familiar to the multitudes than presidents and popes, princes and potentates. It was one of the most extraordinary cities in the world.

Judy: It feels now I was born at the age of 12 on an MGM lot!

Emcee: The motion picture musical, “Babes in Arms” with Mickey was released in 1939 - the same year as the premiere of Oz. It had taken only 4 years to turn Frances Baby Gumm into a major star!‘Oz’ was up for Best Picture that year but lost out to a real sleeper ladies and gentlemen…no compelling characters…no big stars….no historical panorama.…Can someone in the audience tell me who won the Oscar that year?

Judy: That was a tough year to compete: John Wayne’s Stagecoach, Jimmy Stewart’s Mr. Smith Goes to Washington and Laurence Olivier’s Wuthering Heights, wow.

Emcee: After Babes in Arms, though, Garland and Rooney were a perfect match; sympathetic hearts and best of friends. Judy sings, Mickey struts. Few musicals had as many memorable hits as this Rodgers and Hart show. We have put together a medley of these tunes for you and our guests. Judy, can you tell us the running theatrical phrase that was coined in that picture?

1

Judy: That battle weary theme was to be repeated in so MANY movies in the ‘30’s. “Kids, let’s put on a show!”

-FSW-

5)Babes in Arms- Judy; Where or When - Dean; Lady is a Tramp (Judy is a Champ) – Frank; Johnny One

Note - Liza & Judy

(Liza sits with Judy)

Emcee: Hollywood, this “City of Oz” manufactured dreams the way Detroit crafted cars and DuPont synthesized nylon. And yet, Judy, to you, through your travails, Hollywood may have become an evil parody of the land of Oz. MGM had absolute control over employees. The ‘system’ was something quite different from the ‘glamour’. The system…

Judy: Call it by its right name….indentured servitude. I was personal property with a stamp on my head.

Emcee: Judy, you have talent as substantial as Mt. Rushmore but an ego as fragile as butterfly wings.

Liza: First call was 5AM and Mama was lucky to get home 14 hours later. I never saw her.

Judy: Most of the time we were shooting one movie in the morning and rehearsing for the next one in the afternoon! It was breathtaking in its stress…

Ralph: …tyrannical directors…

Judy: …Busby Berkeley, that bastard! (alt: B-word!)

Liza: …the constant stress of looking like a ‘pin up’.

1

Judy: (wistfully) I was always too fat. The stage crew guys would always whistle and hoot at Lana Turner and Rita Hayworth. All I got was a “Hi, Judy”. How could I compete with their beauty?

Liza: Mama was given her first amphetamine to ‘pep’ her up - by my grandmother… when she was 9! Do you believe it??

Judy: Mother called them “my vitamins. If someone criticized her, she would quickly put them in their place….. “I’ve got to keep my girl going”.

Emcee: And the irony, Judy, is that throughout your life you did not have to be prodded to perform anymore than you had to be prodded to eat. In the early 1940’s you, along with Bette Davis, were two of the few stars the studio could take to the bank in the unsettling financial times after the Depression. Your musicals made Leo the Lion purr. In 1943 you starred in a musical set around the World’s Fair in St. Louis, directed by soon-to-be Liza’s dad. In that movie you canonized two songs.

Judy starts off solo – SR – specialThen followed by Liza for Trolley– both DSC

6)Boy Next Door – Judy / The Trolley Song – Liza & Judy

FSW

After song, Liza sits with Judy

Emcee: There was a studio doctor who was the resident drug dispenser. Benzedrine, the “new miracle” appetite suppressant – would not let Judy sleep…and Judy had natural insomnia. With some of

1

their stars complaining they could not get to sleep, MGM had an answer… sleeping pills!

Judy: I had no youth. It was still stolen from me by MGM. That happens a lot with child stars.

Liza: (getting emotional. To aud. XSR) Mother’s should be guardians, right? They should be defenders…isn’t that right? (walks back and forth SL to SR) And here it is, Grandmother gave Mama an introduction to life alright…by way of downing uppers! (Point to aud.) If you had a child as gifted as Mama, wouldn’t you be delirious over her gifts? Grandmother was an AGENT…not a mother. (pauses)Applause from Mama’s fans took the place of the love she did not receive from those that should have given it.

(Judy begins on couch – Special. At key change she moves DSC)

7) SMILE

FSW

8) Birth of The Blues - Ensemble

End of ACT I

ACT II

9)Friendship – Judy & Frank/ Anything You Can Do – Judy & Liza / You’re The Top – Judy & Dean / Together – Ensemble

Judy appears on stage on sofa. Emcee is standing. Lights up.

1

Emcee: The woman of hundreds of heartbreaks, thousands of headlines and a half dozen comebacks..

Judy: A half dozen? I’ve had 185 comebacks up to now. Some people think come-back when I return from the ladies room! I don’t think I ever went anywhere…did I?

Emcee: In 1950 you were offered the role of Annie Oakley in the movie ‘Annie Get Your Gun’, a perfect role for the irrepressible Judy. But your contract was abruptly terminated. You were considered ‘arbitrary”, “capricious” and “difficult to deal with”.

Judy: (Irritated but appealing to audience). Of course! What’s the purpose of being Judy Garland? (Change demeanor)I really wanted that role too. I related to the character of Annie Oakley. (to aud.) Girls, doncha just love out shooting, out singing and in general getting the best of men? I loved Irving’s songs: ‘Anything You Can Do’, ‘No Business Like Show Business’…It was a difficult time.

Ralph: You were the victim of overwork and studio politics. But you were the breadwinner. People relied on you. You had been pressured to perform at the highest level possible since the age of 3!

Judy: My life was pretty chaotic. But you shouldn't be told you're completely irresponsible and be left alone with too much medication. It's too easy to forget. You take a couple of sleeping pills and you wake up in twenty minutes and forget you've taken them. So you take a couple more, and the next thing you know you've taken too many.

Ralph: Your contract was terminated at MGM. But where could Judy Garland go from here? Our Judy was a superstar who worked hard at the considerable feat of converting herself into an underdog.

2

Second husband Sid Luft …

Judy: 3rd.

Emcee: Excuse me?

Judy: 3rd husband. (shrugs in a self-deprecating way to aud).

Emcee: Yes, certainly. 3rd husband Sid Luft became your manager and your next phase… “The International Concert Years” created a new generation of Judy worshipers around the world.

Judy: You might say that my concert career came just in time.

Frank: (from near the offstage bar) What did you say, Judy?

Judy: I said… (tune begins)

Frank: I heard, honey, I heard….

Frank comes from SLDS special

10) Just In Time – Frank

SR – SpecialExit and special off

SL special on Judy - Walks into light

Judy: You can’t the audience home with you after the curtain rings down. Professional happiness doesn’t last through the night. It doesn’t protect you from the terror of a lonely hotel room. And, in a way, it destroys your soul to feed off applause. I know, I’ve

2

tried to draw strength and security from it. But in the middle of the night, when I’m sleeping alone, applause becomes an empty echo, and you think, God, how am I going to make it till morning? I always looked to my men for strength. (off-handedly as music begins)…It’s been said it is difficult dealing with Judy Garland. Do you realize how difficult it is BEING Judy Garland!

11) The Man That Got Away

Frank walks into special on SL

Frank: Judy dispenses spiritual health to the audience and sustenance for the soul. There is an ease and a grace to her every movement, an originality and intensity in her gestures that go far beyond the merely skillful authority of a singer and actress.

Dean: That tremulous mouth, that aura of innocence, that voice always on the verge of tears, those large brimming eyes that evoke any emotion at will, a meaning she gives to her songs that strikes straight to our heart. Judy makes us smile. And as you see, the superstar Judy has passed her talents to the amazing Liza.

Full house lights for Wilkommen with FSW (she will play audience)– when Liza hits stage, house lights go out and DSC special

12) Cabaret Med – Wilkommen, Married, Cabaret – Liza

Special on bar

13) The One I Love Belongs to Somebody Else – Frank / Dean (bar)

2

14) Volare - Dean

Specials on 3 separate stage areas – SL, USC and SL

15) It Was A Very Good Year – Judy, Liza, Dean & Frank

DSL Special on Ralph and USR special on trunk

(Judy and Liza on stage putting clown makeup and bum outfits on each other.)

Emcee: Being given ‘vitamins’ by her mother…a doctor on call on the lot to dispense drugs…. Did she ever have a chance? Thinking about Judy, one conjures an indomitable and indestructible blast of energy. One considers the supernatural life-force that could burst forth and electrify all about her, that female Svengali with the mischievous wit and antic humor that could so entrance and delight and mysteriously turn an audience of thousands into manic worshipers. It has been said that Judy possessed that ‘thought’ behind the eyes, an utter tenderness that could envelop you. She had an energy that was dispersed in the air around her and the audience would lovingly breath it all in.

FSW

16) A Couple of Swells

DSL special on Emcee

(Judy sits on trunk in blackout) Emcee: (VO) When Dorothy Gale entered Oz, Judy Garland entered immortality. The Wizard of Oz speaks to your feelings, not your intellect. It comforts and

2

inspires. Children identify with Dorothy with their fears; adults identify with their dreams. A poor little girl is sent down a perilous path. Along the way she must slay wicked witches and stand up to mighty wizards. We are made to see all the fantastic adventures thru Dorothy’s wide and trusting eyes. She makes the unbelievable believable.., the unreal real. Dorothy is on journey of self discovery – a spiritual passage from adolescence to adulthood. Even with help from her kind Aunt and Glinda, she must find her own way. Her destiny is HERS to determine; no one else can do it for her. She teaches all of us that we can confront our threats – real or imagined- and determine our own future.At the end, though, the traveled little girl understands, ”If I ever go looking for my heart’s desire again, I won’t look any further than my own backyard.”

DSC Special on Judy on trunk

(still in ‘Couple of Swells’ bum outfit)

Judy: (faltering) Excuse me. I’m just so scared sometimes. I don’t know where this voice comes from. I think sometimes the audience will find me out and discover I’m not that good.

14) OVER THE RAINBOW

After applause - FSW

Greer Firestone2007 – All Rights Reserved

2