Farmers Alley: ‘Beyond The Rainbow’ is beautiful complex and tragic
KALAMAZOO, Mich.–In the opening scene of Farmer’s Alley’s Beyond the Rainbow: The Judy Garland Musical, a dead ringer for the icon — ostensibly backstage before her 1961 concert performance at Carnegie Hall — wrings her hands, powders her nose, and anxiously pops pills, washing them down with a martini.
When she takes the stage, she flashes the toothy smile and wildly animated eyes, and sings “When You’re Smiling (The Whole World Smiles With You)” with all the vocal tics and note-bending familiar to anyone who’s ever seen or heard Judy Garland perform.