Judy's Scary Little Christmas: Theatre.com Article on New York Reading

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JUDY'S SCARY LITTLE CHRISTMAS
By Forrest Mallard

David Church, James Webber, Joe Patrick Ward, Leonard Foglia

Isabel Keating, Kristine Zbornik
© 2000 Forrest Mallard

NEW YORK – I had the good fortune of meeting ISABEL KEATING almost a year ago almost immediately after she had won the HELEN HAYES AWARD for best actress in the DC production of INDIAN INK.

So though I had never seen her on stage, there was still some level of respect that I held for her and her craft.

FLASH TO: About one month ago, ISABEL emailed me regarding a reading that she would be staring in. JUDY'S SCARY LITTLE CHRISTMAS... a play with music in which JUDY GARLAND (ISABEL KEATING), BING CROSBY (TOM GALANTICH), LIBERACE (A.J. VINCENT), ETHEL MERMAN (KRISTINE ZBORNIK), LILLIAN HELLMAN (MARILYN SOKOL), JOAN CRAWFORD (ROXIE LUCAS) and... RICHARD NIXON (CHRISTOPHER WYNKOOP) all return form “the beyond” in response to invitations from JUDY to be in a special Christmas Eve live televised special... and each end up facing some of the demons from their life.

I told ISABEL that though this wouldn't normally sound like a reading that I would be too anxious to check out... I was extremely interested in seeing her on stage, and since the production would be directed by LEONARD FOGLIA (MASTER CLASS), I actually would love to check this one out.

Act One was full of so many funny situations, one-liners, and slapstick moments that JUDY'S SCARY LITTLE CHRISTMAS had already won over the hearts of the audience. The flawless direction and exact characterizations in Act One made me wonder why they didn't just open this show, as it. Beyond great acting, and great direction though, the true star was the book of this new play (written by JAMES WEBBER and DAVID CHURCH with music by JOE PATRICK WARD). Some of the moments were just plain brilliant.

Act Two becomes much more subdued, with much of the time spent with only JUDY on stage confronting DEATH (TIM ALEX) and what meaning, if any, there was in her life. It seems as though LEONARD FOGLIA has a special knack at directing shows in which legendary divas confront their past in order to realize what their worth was on this Earth.

Well, now I have seen ISABEL KEATING on stage. Her ability to inhabit the persona of JUDY caused many members of the audience to ask her about the character after the show. “How long have you been doing JUDY??!!” To their (and my) shock, ISABEL stated that she's been acting like JUDY only as long as she has been rehearsing for this new show. One producer in the audience swore that she would have had to been chosen for the role due to dead-on JUDY.

But again, everyone in the production (including RICH AFFANNATO and DAVID CHURCH) really shined.

Though this reading only ran for two days this December... I would not be surprised if a full production landed in New York long before this time next year.

12/11/00

© 2000 by Forrest Mallard. Used by permission.