End of the Rainbow Reviews
Chicago Tribune- Highly Recommended
"...Garland is here performed by Angela Ingersoll. It is a simply magnificent portrayal, especially vocally, which is really what matters the most. It will, I think, be enough to make this show a huge hit as we go into the holiday season and, by rights, it should transform Ingersoll's career in this town."
Chicago Sun Times- Highly Recommended
"...Ingersoll's tour de force performance is an act of breathtaking alchemy - a simultaneously sublime and chilling act of transformation. And it might well leave you believing you've encountered the ghost of the beloved film star who was one of the most distinctive interpreters of the Great American songbook, and whose brilliant career ran parallel to a lifelong battle with drugs and alcohol, and the hunger for the kind of love no audience could satisfy."
Chicago Reader- Highly Recommended
"...Angela Ingersoll shows us the icon's indomitability amid utter collapse, even as she displays her own diva-level chops. You're simultaneously relieved and enraptured every time she makes it through a song. Jon Steinhagen is more modestly powerful as Garland's accompanist."
Time Out Chicago- Highly Recommended
"...Still, any flaws within End of the Rainbow are easy to forgive, as is the figure on whom the play centers. With such openness and vulnerability at play, so much passion and transcendent beauty, one can cherish even the blemishes. You're gonna love it, come rain or come shine."
Stage and Cinema- Recommended
"...No, this show isn't how fans want to remember Judy Garland at the bittersweet end. End of the Rainbow, Peter Quilter's sardonic salute to a star on the skids, is a sometimes-sadistic portrait of an imploding diva. A festering Chicago premiere by Porchlight Music Theatre, Quilter's retro take on "Little Girl Blue" is a 145-minute tailspin into a train wreck that collides with a car crash on the edge of doom. Thanks to Angela Ingersoll's Judy, magnificently miserable and still electrically entertaining, it's also heartbreaking. We see, hear, taste and feel a self-destructive legend who admits that only immortality can atone for her crack-up of a career. No star is born here, just lost forever."
ChicagoCritic- Highly Recommended
"...End of the Rainbow is painful to watch as one of my all-time favorites is presented in a most self-destructive yet honest portrayal. I can't remember seeing a more complete wide-ranging performance than Angela Ingersoll's Judy Garland. We both feel sad at what happened to her yet we enjoy her magical stage presence and her amazing contralto voice. This bittersweet show is a must see on several levels. As we see the demise of a star, we see the emergence of another star. Angela Ingersoll performance in this tough role will launch a new phase in her career."
Around The Town Chicago- Highly Recommended
"...Leave it to Michael Weber to bring the Chicago Premiere of Peter Quilter's "End Of The Rainbow" to the intimacy of Porchlight Music Theatre. WOW! A few years back, I had the privilege of viewing a production of this musical tale depicting the comeback of Judy Garland in 1968. I saw the Milwaukee production starring Chicago favorite Hollis Resnik as Ms Garland. She was wonderful and in fact, I loved the show so much, I went back to see it a second time, on Superbowl Sunday with Janie and one of her friends. I loved it even more the second time."
Chicago Theatre Review- Highly Recommended
"...But this show belongs entirely to Angela Ingersoll, from start to finish. Both director Michael Weber and musical director Jon Steinhagen understand this and support her performance with all their heart, soul and gentle guidance. Leaving this breathtaking theatrical experience, audiences will find themselves emotionally spent. Moved to tears, they may feel they've just been been transported back to 1968 and witnessed firsthand the sadly tragic final days of a true American legend."
The Fourth Walsh- Highly Recommended
"...END OF THE RAINBOW isn't a sequel to "Wizard of Oz." This yellow brick road is more like a dark alley. This is a powerful tribute to an incredible singer with razor-sharp wit that couldn't shake her addictions to drugs, booze and fame. Ingersoll's portrayal of Judy Garland is astonishing. This show already had its final extension before it even opened. It is a must see!"
Chicagoland Musical Theatre- Highly Recommended
"...Ingersoll is extraordinarily convincing as the woman who is to die of a barbiturate overdose six months later. If End of the Rainbow is at all biographical, it's a bit surprising she lasted that long. Because this is a raw, loud, foul-mouthed, drug and alcohol-induced wild party crazy enough to make Andrew Lippa blush."
Picture This Post- Highly Recommended
"...I mentioned at the beginning of this review that End of the Rainbow was a story that should be shared. Judy Garland's story is one filled with pressure from those in charge of her success. Even in the play, Mickey Deans - the fiance who loved her, pushed her to a point of falling to her addiction. These pressures continue, and the play serves as a window into what could come of these dangers."
NewCity Chicago- Highly Recommended
"...If you have ever wanted to see Judy live, Ingersoll can show her to you in a remarkable performance that channels the forcefulness and fragility of the legendary woman. It will hurt."