If rainbows were roller coasters, then Tracie Bennett takes you on the ride of your life!  Her enactment of Judy Garland, age forty-seven and at the end of her rope (and rainbow), careens between the dizzying heights of her breath-taking talent and her death-defying descent into desperation, tantrums, booze, and drugs. Peter Quilter’s bio-drama (ably directed by Terry Johnson) is set in 1968-69 London where Judy is scheduled for a five-week comeback engagement.  The show moves smoothly between the hotel suite Judy shares with her handsome, much younger fiancé/manager Mickey Deans (the handsome, masculine Tom Pelphrey) and and the Talk of the Town night club, where Judy is attracting a sell-out crowd (partly due to the publicity generated by her standing on the suite’s baby grand piano and threatening to throw herself out the window. The piano anchors hotel suite and nightclub orchestra (scenic/costume design by William Dudley) and is nimbly played by Anthony (the terrific Michael Cumpsty) Judy’s devoted, long-suffering, gay accompanist (plus volunteer makeup artist/confessor/caretaker). It’s Mickey’s and Tony’s job to keep Judy off the pills and in the spotlight.  Mickey sets her up with a BBC radio interviewer (Jay Russell) named Donald.  “As in duck?” Judy mocks before she cuts the interview short.   Her nightclub shows are more spine-tingling – both for Bennett’s spot-on reenactment of Judy’s pyrotechnic performance, stage fright, memory lapses, and the looming possibility of public collapse and disgrace. As Quilter’s “Rainbow” arcs toward its climax, Mickey, desperate for Judy to pull them out of their financial hole, feeds her drugs and booze – anything to get her on stage.  Anthony offers an escape into asexual domesticity with him as her caretaker.  Which will she choose? As the world knows, Judy never made it to forty-eight.  She picked Mickey Deans as husband #5 and slid off the rainbow into show business immortality.  (Belasco Theatre, 111 West 44th Street, NYC (212) 239-6200) Happiness/Success Habits Every ride has a ticket price – is the thrill worth the fee?  It’s not clear how much control Garland had – at least not at this late stage.  Most of us don’t have her phenomenal gifts or her demons.  But we do make choices about our own talents, temptations, and intimates. Up close and personal, charismatic, outrageous divas (and divos) can be exhilarating but exhausting.   I like my drama-mamas on stage – not off.  How about you?

Susan (“Dr. Sue”) Horowitz, Ph.D.

Book: “Queens of Comedy” (Lucille Ball, Carol Burnett, Joan Rivers, Phyllis Diller, and more!) www.smashwords.com/books/view/219367 Musical: “SssWitch”: www.ssswitch.net  www.YouTube.com/drsuecomedian https://www.youtube.com/feed/my_videos  

 Loving Lucy, a musical tribute show to Lucille Ball, Desi Arnaz, and I Love Lucyby Glen Charlow, performer, collector, and  adoring fan, is a singing valentine composed of songs associated with Ball-Arnaz and artifacts from Glen’s home collection of Lucy memorabilia. Glen’s show opens with the I Love Lucy theme song – the cheerful sound track of the legendary TV program.  Show tunes include “Cuban Pete” Desi (Cuban Pete) and Lucy (Sally Sweet)’s duet from the vaudeville act the couple took on the road to convince CBS executives to produce the show that became I Love Lucy. My own book Queens of Comedy, (based on my interviews with legendary comedians like Lucille Ball), quotes a 1950 Variety review: “She pops the eyes out of the first row viewers with her hip-slinging activities to hyped beat of ‘Cuban Pete.’” The Sally Sweet ensemble, emerald green with a split skirt designed to showcase Lucy’s showgirl legs,  now outfits a vintage doll – part of Glen’s astounding array of memorabilia. I asked him to describe his collection of dolls, plates, figurines photographs, magazine covers, recordings, and designs for costumes and personal ensembles (like the aqua chiffon caftan with feather boa sleeves and matching shoes Ball wore to a Bob Hope Christmas special). Glen beams, “It’s precious.  If I had to describe it in one word, I’d say, ‘huge!’  When I first started, I didn’t consider myself a collector.  I was out shopping one day, and I found a beautiful picture of Lucille Ball. I bought it and put it on my wall. Weeks later I found another picture.  One thing led to another and I ended up with this!” By now, Glen has invested over $100,000 in his collection – whose worth has at least doubled.  Does Glen own the most extensive Lucy collection?  “There may be a bigger one – like the one belonging to Michael Stern, whom Lucy called her ‘number 1 fan.’  Michael owns the cast from the time she broke her leg when she was starring in the movie version of Mame, but I certainly have the largest collection on the East Coast.” Glen’s own collection and show include artifacts and songs from Mame, plus Lucy’s Broadway musical Wildcat – including the opening number “Wildcat” which was cut from the show because it was too hard for Ball to sing.  Lucy shows up in her Wildcat role as a poster, figurine – even a Broadway Care Bear.  Glen’s favorite piece is a leather-bound scrap book Lucy Day at World’s Fair 1964, put together by Lucy’s publicist. Glen’s fascination with all-things-Lucy began when he was eleven.  He first fell in love with The Lucy Show (on the air at the time) then later became acquainted with repeats of the original I Love Lucy.  How far does Lucy permeate Glen’s life?  “My cats are named Lucy and Ricky. When I’m with my friends who love Lucy, I quote from her TV episodes.  “Some of my facial expressions are like Lucy, and I sometimes do things that are very Lucy-like – like tasting salad dressing from the bottle the way she did on TV episode.”    If you want to learn more about Glen’s Lucy-itis, visit his website www.lucilleball.net , or come to his show Loving Lucy (June 9, 1:45-3:30pm  at New York Sheet Music Society, Musicians Hall 322 W. 48th Street NYC)  his musical tribute to the lady who lights up his life! Lucy-itis must be catching.  The day after our interview, I got an Email from Glen saying: “you left a tissue with your lip print on it…What a very ‘Lucy’-ish thing to do!”   My practical reason for the tissue was an attempt to avoid smearing my Lucy dress with lipstick when I changed for my photo-op.  My Lucy reason would be far more entertaining – planting evidence of a tryst with a strange man –then inviting Ricky over to make him jealous! The world of I Love Lucy is an innocent, exciting alternative to the boredom and burdens of reality.  This is true for Lucy fans and for the real people behind the Lucy-Ricky makeup at the annual Lucy Fest in Jamestown, NY) “Ball and Arnaz knew what we all know – that relationships are often problematic and painful. I Love Lucy gives us respite from that knowledge.  For twenty-six minutes…we take a family vacation.  We tune out the difficulties and dullness of daily living and tune in a dream of domestic bliss and a deluge of laughter.” (Queens of Comedy) Happiness/Success Habits Be Yourself…and Flaunt Your Own Feather Boa!  Composer/Lyricist Jerry Herman, who wrote Mame, also wrote the musical La Cage Aux Folles which spotlights the song “I am What I Am” – often considered the gay anthem.  Whether you’re gay or straight, famous or fan, collector or casual customer, the real road to happiness and success is living your personal passion! Surround yourself with beauty – whatever that means to you! In my blog about BookExpo America, I reviewed Barbra Streisand’s book My Passion for Design.  Streisand’s taste might be very different from Glen’s – but they’re both true to their own style and what brings them joy.

Susan (“Dr. Sue”) Horowitz, Ph.D.

Book: “Queens of Comedy” (Lucille Ball, Carol Burnett, Joan Rivers, Phyllis Diller, and more!) www.smashwords.com/books/view/219367 Musical: “SssWitch”: www.ssswitch.net  www.YouTube.com/drsuecomedian https://www.youtube.com/feed/my_videos  

Music-Theatre Group is hosting a series of panels/receptions with a constellation of stellar alum from the worlds of Broadway, alternative theatre, and music.  Moderator/Host is Disney Theatrical Group President Thomas Schumacher whose Broadway credits include The Lion King – all time highest grossing Broadway musical – King David, Aida, Tarzan, Mary Poppins, The Little Mermaid and this season’s Peter and the Starcatcher, Newsies – with combined 17 Tony nominations. May’s panelists were Julie Taymor (Director/Designer Spiderman: Turn Off the Dark, The Lion King, Juan Darien) and her art and life-partner Elliot Goldenthal (Grammy-winner, two-time Tony nominee, and Academy Award winning composer for his score for Frida). After a video screening of Taymor-Goldenthal collaboration replete with puppets (Grendel, The Magic Flute) and movie stars Anthony Hopkins (Titus) Helen Mirren (The Tempest), we settled in for the panel.  Taymor confessed to an “insatiable appetite for theatre.. .and a predilection for the visual and physical” which took her from Boston Children’s Theatre to Sri Lanka (at age 16),  Indonesia, and Paris, where she studied mime, to stints with Joe Chaikin’s Open Theatre, Bread and Puppet Theatre, and Public Theatre, where she worked with Elizabeth Swados on “Haggadah.” Goldenthal confided that “music is my mistress and religion” – and obsession.  “I enjoy failure – my favorite composing tool is an eraser.”  The couple move fluidly between alternative theatre gigs and big-budget Hollywood commissions.  Schumacher noted that Academy Award-winning producer Harvey Weinstein was known to be “very challenging” and Taymor/Elliot responded that it “ helped to be a couple.“ Music-Theatre Group’s June 7 panel features another power/arts couple:  Diane Paulus (Artistic Director of A.R.T. who produced The Gershwins’ Porgy and Bess) and Randy Weiner (Producer/Playwright: Drama Desk Award-winning Sleep No More and The Donkey Show a disco version of Midsummer Night’s Dream, which Paulus directed.) Diane Wondisford, Producing Director Music-Theatre Group glowed:  “Our mission is helping artists turn inspiration into art. We commission, develop, and produce new works of music, theatre, and opera.  It’s exciting to develop productions like Julie and Elliot’s Juan Darien, see it in preview, and feel the audience response, and we’re looking to the future with musical theatre and songwriters who are now coming onto the scene!”    http://musictheatregroup.org (Photos by Elias Friedman) Happiness/Success Habits Commit to your passion – and relationships!  Your road may take you from puppet-making in Indonesia to Broadway – or to a local arts program (as in Mr. Holland’s Opus – a film about a composer who became a high school music teacher). Everything important takes commitment and sacrifice. Make your eraser your favorite instrument – and enjoy failure!  Writing is rewriting; inventing is re-inventing.  Those bright lights on Broadway would not exist without Thomas Edison, whose mistakes and persistence led to the electric light bulb. “I have not failed. I’ve just found 10,000 ways that won’t work.” – Thomas Edison (Editor: Jay Berman)

Susan (“Dr. Sue”) Horowitz, Ph.D.

Book: “Queens of Comedy” (Lucille Ball, Carol Burnett, Joan Rivers, Phyllis Diller, and more!) www.smashwords.com/books/view/219367 Musical: “SssWitch”: www.ssswitch.net  www.YouTube.com/drsuecomedian https://www.youtube.com/feed/my_videos  

As twilight segued into evening behind the theatrical windowsof the Allen Room at Jazz at Lincoln Center, the stars inside offered a musical tribute to Broadway/Jazz composer Cy Coleman.  Michael Feinstein, singing host/director narrated details of Coleman’s brilliant seventy year career (three Tony’s and a host of popular song standards.)   Joining Feinstein onstage were musical director Ted Firth and four vocalists.   .Johnny Rodgers,  a blast of impish energy fused with vocal/ piano chops and savvy showmanship,  ignited jazz/Broadway standards: “I’ve Got Your Number” “The Best Is Yet to Come” and Will Rogers’ anthem “I Never met a Man I Didn’t Like.”  Chuck Cooper, Tony Award Winner for The Life (Coleman’s portrayal of a pre-Disney, pimp-infested Times Square) brought the devil back from hell with his sinister rendition of the bluesy “Don’t Take Much.” Michele Lee, Tony-Nominated for her role in Coleman’s See Saw, played a funny, feisty, fallen angel – in recovery from an affair with a married man. A be-gowned Tamara Tunie (from TV’s Law and Order) belted “Big Spender” (Sweet Charity) and torched “He’s No Good (But I’m No Good Without Him)” an ode to the sweet misery of romantic addiction.   Backstage, Johnny Rodgers shared details about his life and career with genial, boyish charm (“I always sang. My big brother threw pencils as me to get me to stop but it didn’t work.”) His big sister (also musical) wore down their parents’ resistance to buying a piano by drawing one on cardboard and pretending to practice, so Johnny got to play a real one – and still does, bouncing back and forth on stage from piano to vocal mike, and writing, performing and recording original songs ( including “I Would Never Leave You” for Liza Minelli). Born, raised, and trained in Miami (his grooves put the heat in Miami Heat), Johnny, who got noticed on the Chicago cabaret circuit, now travels the world as a musical ambassador for the State Department, and is poised to conquer the New York Cabaret and Jazz scene (next stop – a June 5 musical birthday party at the Iridium (1650 Broadway @ 51^st , NYC ) As the stars faded into the night sky and the traffic on Columbus Circle orbited twinkling head and tail lights outside the theatrical windows of this elegant jazz room, I thought about how far we’ve come – not only from the nostalgically seedy version of Times Square portrayed in Coleman’s The Life but also from the backwoods juke joints and New Orleans brothels that gave birth to the blues and Cy Coleman’s Broadway/jazz. Happiness/Success Habits Do What You Love:  I love songs, singers, theatre, jazz and cabaret – that’s a major reason I write this blog.  What do you love? Enjoy torch songs – but don’t live them!  A great song and singer are as seductive as chocolate truffles. But helpless yearning for no-goodniks is not much fun in real life!  On the other hand, Rodgers and Hammerstein’s “I’m In Love with a Wonderful Guy” doesn’t lend itself to bluesy jazz.  Is the song worth the suffering?  Personally, I like my bittersweet in blues and chocolate truffles – not romance.  How ’bout you? (Editor/Photographer: Jay Berman)

Susan (“Dr. Sue”) Horowitz, Ph.D.

Book: “Queens of Comedy” (Lucille Ball, Carol Burnett, Joan Rivers, Phyllis Diller, and more!) www.smashwords.com/books/view/219367 Musical: “SssWitch”: www.ssswitch.net  www.YouTube.com/drsuecomedian https://www.youtube.com/feed/my_videos  

  At the Theatre Museum Awards Gala, there were stars in everyone’s eyes –musical          performers, award presenters, and award recipients – notably Stage Door Manor – a performing arts camp that presents an astonishing thirty-nine shows (plays and musicals) a season!  Presenting the award was Richard Maltby, Jr. who conceived and directed two Tony-Award winning musicals (Ain’t Misbehavin’ and Fosse) and, as lyricist, co-created Tony-nominated Baby and Big – along with two gifted daughters, who are Stage Door Manor alum.  Konnie Kittrell, accepting the Theatre Arts Education Award for owner Cynthia Samuelson, glowed: “Stage Door Manor is designed to create a community where dreams are shared and validated – a safe place for dreams to soar!” Our ebullient host was John Bolton musical theatre star (Christmas Story and touring companies of Music Man and Same Time, Next Year). Award recipients included Frederick O. Olsson, actor, master carpenter, stage hand (Career Achievement Award)  who shared anecdotes about hauling up Cleopatra’s barge and auditioning for Richard Rodgers, Theatre Communications Group, and theatre historian Don B. Wilmeth. Presiding over the festivities were Theatre Museum Chairman Stewart F. Lane, five-time Tony-Award winning Producer, and President Helen Guditis.  The Theatre Museum presents events and exhibits in many venues –honoring theatrical history and nurturing the stars of tomorrow.  What better place to salute our theatrical heritage than the legendary Players Club?  As we drank a champagne toast to the award recipients, presenters, and performers, I imagined that the portraits of stars of yesteryear (Sarah Bernhardt, Edwin Booth, John Barrymore, Jason Robards, etc.) also raised a ghostly, gleeful, glass! Happiness/Success Habits Celebrate your heritage, community, and common interests.  There are many kinds of community (religion, ethnic, gender, family, work, friends, etc). Most of us belong to more than one community and have more than one heritage. and our need to belong can be satisfied in many ways. Celebrate and value the beauty and power of the arts and your own gifts, whether or not they lead to fame and fortune.  The arts touch the heart, and free the spirit, and express the deepest self.

Susan (“Dr. Sue”) Horowitz, Ph.D.

Book: “Queens of Comedy” (Lucille Ball, Carol Burnett, Joan Rivers, Phyllis Diller, and more!) www.smashwords.com/books/view/219367 Musical: “SssWitch”: www.ssswitch.net  www.YouTube.com/drsuecomedian https://www.youtube.com/feed/my_videos