O’Connor’s Rainbow in West End Post-Edinburgh???

And speaking of Judy Garland, Australian stars and musicals from Down Under, End of the Rainbow now looks likely to open in London later this year following its UK premiere at the Edinburgh Fringe (See The Goss, 2 Dec 2005). Actually more of a play with music, the Peter Quilter piece about the life of the showbiz legend is set in London in 1969 and features many of Garland’s signature tunes, such as “You Made Me Love You”, “The Trolley Song”, “The Man That Got Away” and, of course, “Over the Rainbow”. End of the Rainbow had its world premiere in July 2005 at Sydney Opera House and proved a sell-out hit there and in Melbourne. In Edinburgh, it will play at the Assembly Hall from 4 to 27 August 2006 and producers are already in negotiations with two West End theatres for a post-festival transfer. In the UK, Caroline O'Connor – who was born in Lancashire but raised in Australia - will reprise her award-winning Australian performance as Garland. O’Connor won the 2005 Whatsonstage.com Theatregoers’ Choice Award for Best Solo Performance for Joanna Murray-Smith’s one-woman play Bombshells, which transferred to the West End following its Australian premiere and run at the 2004 Edinburgh Fringe. O’Connor’s other West End credits include Me and My Girl, On the Town and Mack and Mabel, for which she was Olivier-nominated in 1996.

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