''The Judy Monologues'' is a multimedia

one-act play A one-act play is a play that has only one act, as distinct from plays that occur over several acts. One-act plays may consist of one or more scenes. The 20-40 minute play has emerged as a popular subgenre of the one-act play, especially in wri ...

based entirely upon rare voice tapes recorded by

Judy Garland Judy Garland (born Frances Ethel Gumm; June 10, 1922June 22, 1969) was an American actress and singer. While critically acclaimed for many different roles throughout her career, she is widely known for playing the part of Dorothy Gale in '' The ...

in the mid-1960s for her never-written autobiography. Conceived and directed by Darren Stewart-Jones, the original production featured vintage film clips of Garland from MGM's ''

Till the Clouds Roll By ''Till The Clouds Roll By'' is a 1946 American Technicolor musical film produced by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. A fictionalized biopic of composer Jerome Kern, portrayed by Robert Walker, Kern was originally involved with the production, but died before ...

''. ''The Judy Monologues'' premiered at

Buddies in Bad Times Buddies in Bad Times Theatre is a Canadian professional theatre company. Based in Toronto, Ontario and founded in 1978 by Matt Walsh, Jerry Ciccoritti, and Sky Gilbert, ''Buddies in Bad Times'' is dedicated to "the promotion of queer theatrical e ...

Theatre in

Toronto, Ontario Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the ancho ...

in September 2010 and subsequently played The Pearl Company in

Hamilton, Ontario Hamilton is a port city in the Canadian Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Ontario. Hamilton has a Canada 2016 Census, population of 569,353, and its Census Metropolitan Area, census metropolitan area, which includes Burlington, ...

. Performed by three male actors as a tribute to Garland's influence on the

gay community The LGBT community (also known as the LGBTQ+ community, GLBT community, gay community, or queer community) is a loosely defined grouping of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and other queer individuals united by a common culture and ...

, the original cast featured Philip Cairns, Ryan Fisher and Darren Stewart-Jones. Nigel Gough (1982–2010) was the understudy. A Garland lookalike, Kimberly Roberts, also appeared in silent vignettes. An abridged version of the play was performed in

London, Ontario London (pronounced ) is a city in southwestern Ontario, Canada, along the Quebec City–Windsor Corridor. The city had a population of 422,324 according to the 2021 Canadian census. London is at the confluence of the Thames River, approximate ...

as part of the London One Act Festival in April, 2011. Philip Cairns won Best Actor at the festival's

awards ceremony An awards ceremony is a type of ceremony where awards are given out. The ceremony may be arranged by a government organization, a society, a school, a trade association or even a company that specializes in running awards ceremonies. Typically a ma ...

. The play also received two additional awards - special mentions for the concept and the audio/visual content. ''The Judy Monologues'' was performed at the 2012

Toronto Fringe Festival The Toronto Fringe Festival is an annual theatre festival, featuring un-juried plays by unknown or well-known artists, taking place in the theatres of Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Several productions originally mounted at the Fringe have later been ...

. Michael Hughes replaced Ryan Fisher in his role. A revamped version of ''The Judy Monologues'' was performed at the 2013 Hamilton Fringe Festival as a one-woman show, with Elley-Ray Hennessy portraying Garland to rave reviews. ''The Judy Monologues'' was performed at the 2015 SpringWorks Festival in Stratford, Ontario, with Elley-Ray Hennessy reprising her role as Garland. A short film, entitled Judy Garland: Scandalized, was released in 2020. It features the Garland voice tapes that inspired The Judy Monologues. The documentary short focuses mainly on Garland's reaction to the media's presence in her life.

References

External links

''The Judy Monologues'' rehearsal excerpt, YouTube, 2011
* ttp://thejudymonologues.blogspot.com/ ''The Judy Monologues'' site {{DEFAULTSORT:Judy Monologues Cultural depictions of Judy Garland Biographical plays about actors Hollywood, Los Angeles in fiction Docudrama plays 2010 plays Canadian LGBT-related plays