Melanie Parry traces the incredible highs and devastating lows of Judy Garland's life in the eponymous production coming to The Q. Photo: supplied.
Melanie Parry traces the incredible highs and devastating lows of Judy Garland's life in the eponymous production coming to The Q. Photo: supplied.
FOLLOWING pit-stops in Sydney, New Zealand, across Europe and Las Vegas, Melanie Parry's stage production Judy: The Judy Garland Story in Song is now scheduled to wow audiences at the Queanbeyan Performing Arts Centre on Tuesday morning.
Sydney-born Parry has performed all over the globe in a number of different roles and she produced Judy: The Judy Garland Story in Song in 1999.
The production attempts to recreate the triumphs and tragedies of the late Judy Garland's life, combining story and song to portray the "whole story".
But, Parry says ever since she started production, she has never even made an attempt at simply taking off Judy Garland.
"I would never try to take her off, there is only one Judy," she told the Age earlier this week.
"I am just a vehicle, I just try and recreate the era and bring back some of the great music and turn it into a concert experience."
Garland, most famous for her 1939 performance in The Wizard of Oz as Dorothy Gale, has always been an idol for Ms Parry and she said it has been an honour producing and performing a play in her name over the last 14 years.
"If someone had told me that I would be travelling around the world producing a story dedicated to Judy Garland's life I wouldn't have believed them.
"It has been a great thing to be able to do, it's my baby."
The show is fully scripted and narrated by Parry, and also includes some film clips of Garland's life.
The show incorporates a two-year-old Garland and also takes audiences to her auditions with MGM and the golden years with Vincent Minnelli, who directed her in many memorable MGM musicals.
The production also includes her eventual split with Metro then her triumphant concert performances with producer and manager Sid Luft. Finally it takes audiences to the end of the songtress's career, and to her tragic death in 1969 at the age of 47.
Judy: The Judy Garland Story in Song is part of the Q's new Morning Melodies season line up. The performance will be held on Tuesday, March 12 at 10.30am and tickets cost $25.
