* Tina Marie
Casamento Libby – The Road to Oz - The Main Event
* John Fricke
– A Group of Wonderful Programs
* Wizard of
Oz/Judy Garland Jeopardy
* Events for
Children – Oz Fest & Dorothy’s Farm Animals
* What’s New
in Grand Rapids? Places to Visit- Things to See
* Volunteer
Thank Yous
* Wish List…
The Main Event – Chasing Rainbows Dinner
with Tina Marie
Casamento Libby
Over the last year, those interested in theater have been
aware of one show to watch for: “Chasing Rainbows: The Road to Oz.” It’s a play
which details the life of young Judy Garland and her family from the time they
leave Grand Rapids until Judy receives her Ruby Slippers and knows that she is
the one chosen to Dorothy in “The Wizard of Oz.” In the tradition of Broadway
shows, “Chasing Rainbows” has lots of hit songs and big dance numbers.
In 2015, “Chasing Rainbows” opened at the Flat Rock
Playhouse in North Carolina to rave reviews. Last fall, it moved to the
Goodspeed Opera House in East Haddam, Connecticut, where once again the show
was given high praise, along with coverage by Theatre World and Playbill
Magazine and received reviews like “must see” and “phenomenal.”
As a side note, appearing at the Goodspeed is often seen as
a precursor to Broadway. For more
information, check here: (http://www.playbill.com/article/goodspeeds-judy-garland-musical-opens-tonight)
On Saturday, June 10th – Judy’s 95th
Birthday - Tina Marie Casamento Libby, who conceived and created the show will
be speaking at the Festival dinner, as well as showing some musical numbers from
the show!
Tina Marie Casamento Libby is a producer, director,
teacher and actress with over thirty years’ experience in the industry. She
served as Chair and National Theatre/Musical Theatre Panelist of Young Arts for
4 years, and was presented the Teacher Recognition Award by the U.S.
Presidential Scholars Program. She has directed productions at Infinity Theatre
Company, Gallery Players, and Village Light Opera Groups. Ms. Casamento Libby
attended Carnegie Mellon University, as well as the University Maryland, where
she was recipient of a full scholarship in Creative and Performing Arts. She
performed in the first National tours of “Kiss Me, Kate” (2000) and “Victor/Victoria,”
as well as the Fulton Theatre production of “Into the Woods” and “Submissions
Only.” She also brings her twelve-plus years as a casting associate for
NETworks tours and Bob Cline Casting to university masterclasses and workshops
throughout the country.
In preparation for this event, we thought it would be nice
to find out more about our special visitor and how the production came to be.
Judy Garland Museum: Hello, Tina Marie. Thank you so much for
agreeing to answer some questions. We know you have a busy schedule. To begin
with, can you tell us where you grew up and how you become involved in theatre?
Tina Marie Casamento Libby: I grew up in Northern Virginia, and I saw
my first musical at age four. It was The Sound of Music, starring
Barbara Eden (of I Dream of Jeannie) -- and I was hooked!
JGM: After you became interested in creating
a show about Judy Garland’s young life, how long did it take you to actually
put it together?
TMCL: Technically, it’s been
eight years since I first "pitched" the idea, which really
started when I acquired the music rights. That's a whole story in
itself, but it seemed logical to make sure those musical numbers would be
available to the show. After all, it's Judy who sang, "The history of my
life is in my songs."
But
the actual idea that her young life could serve as
the basis for a stage show has been in my head since I was thirteen or
fourteen!
JGM: In your
studies of Judy, what research did you do? And what research or which books did
you find most useful?
TMCL: It started with the book I
found at in my local library: Rainbow by Christopher Finch
(originally published in 1975). But all bios
and JG info ultimately lead to John Fricke -- of
course!
JGM: After working on the show, did you change
your view of Judy Garland in any way?
TMCL: To put it most simply,
I've developed more and more empathy for the way she was determined
that her talents would "dig" her and her family out of
their financial, emotional, and problematic situations. And I've gained more
and more awe as I've come to recognize the strength and
character she already possessed at such a young age.
JGM: What do you hope the full effect
of Chasing Rainbows will be – and what do you hope people
take away with them after seeing it?
TMCL: By
highlighting Judy's early years, I hope that people will comprehend
the spirit of a very young girl who possessed an undying,
timeless talent. Her story, and the story of Chasing Rainbows,
is the inspirational and universal story of a girl who,
against all odds, became an American icon. I hope to honor her memory by
telling and sharing this extraordinary portion of her saga -- her
childhood and teens -- which often gets skipped by those who examine her
life and times.
What I've learned -- and
what the show really demonstrates -- is that you have to start at the very
beginning of this yellow brick road. In that way, you might see and hear things
about Judy Garland in a very different way.
JGM: Thank you for speaking with us, Tina
Marie. We can’t wait for your special
program!
***
We’re sure that you will all agree from this brief touch on
Tina Marie Casamento Libby’s history, she has a lot more to tell us! Don’t miss
this event!
Date:
Saturday, June 10, 2017
Time: 6:00
p.m. – 9:00 p.m.
Place:
Sawmill Inn
Price: $35.00
The evening includes a three course dinner, video clips from
“Chasing Rainbows: The Road to Oz” and Interview with Tina Marie Casamento
Libby conducted by John Fricke.
For more information on Chasing Rainbows: The Road to Oz,
visit Broadway…
Here’s an ad for the shown:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pN0zsUAB3-g
John Fricke’s Special Events – Introduction
to Oz!
Last week we wrote about the “Happy Anniversary, Judy”
program which John Fricke will be presenting on Friday, June 9th at
3:00 p.m. at the Judy Garland Museum.
In addition, Saturday, June 10th at 3:00 p.m., he
will be presenting the documentary film, “We’re Off to See the Munchkins,”
which includes interviews with eight of our wonderful friends. There is also a
contest associated with this, so please scroll down to our previous newsletter
to learn more.
On Friday, June 9th, preeminent Judy Garland and
MGM Wizard of Oz historian, John Fricke will be presenting a short 45 minute
program entitled “Introduction to Oz!” This is a family friendly presentation
that will be as much fun for the kids as for the adults.
Fricke will discuss
how the special effects in the film were accomplished before the use of
computer imaging. Along with this, he will discuss the wonderful anti-bullying
themes in the film.
This is a great talk to attend before the showing of the
film in Blu-Ray on a jumbo screen that night.
In case you don’t know John Fricke, as previously stated, he
is widely regarded as the preeminent Judy Garland and MGM Wizard of Oz
historian and written seven books on these topics. He has been interviewed on
television numerous times, including on: The Today Show, CNN, Entertainment
Tonight, The Joan Rivers Show, National Public Radio and Sirius Satellite
Radio. He is the recipient of Emmy Awards as co-producer of the PBS American
Masters and E&E Biography Garland documentaries. He also received a Grammy
Award nomination for his liner notes on the Capitol DC, Judy Garland: 25th
Anniversary Retrospective.
This event will take place in the art room at the Judy
Garland Museum.
Friday, June
9th, 2017
Time: 1:30 p.m. – 2:15 p.m.
Price: $10.00 – CHILDREN ARE FREE!
Wizard of Oz / Judy Garland Jeopardy
Date:
Friday, June 9, 2017
Time: 10:00
a.m. – 11:30 a.m.
Place: Judy
Garland Museum
Price: $5.00
Judy Garland/Wizard of Oz, hosted by Paul Herrick and Joe
Malinovsky, is an added challenge and great fun for Festival attendees. How
well do you know your Wizard of Oz history? Try it out. Great prizes!!!
Oz Festival – Children’s Events
All of the children’s events will take place at the JUDY
GARLAND/CHILDREN’S DISCOVERY MUSEUM on Saturday, June 10th. These
events will be outside in the Memorial Garden. In case of rain, they will move
into the museum. Both the Emerald City Fest and Dorothy’s Farm Animals are FREE and to the
public.
The Emerald City
Fest begins at 11:00 a.m. and will run to 2:00 p.m. There will be games,
rides with the Horse of a Different Color, photo opportunities with Dorothy,
Scarecrow, Tinman, and Lion, Glinda the Good Witch of the North and the Wicked
Witch of the West. There will also be art projects and face painting!
Specialty Food and Drink will be available all day, along
with a wash station
Dorothy’s Farm
Animals will take place in the Memorial Garden from 2:00 p.m. to 4:00
p.m. There will
What’s New in Grand
Rapids?
Places
to Go – Things to See
Many visitors in Grand Rapids this year will be
surprised by the changes in town. There are a lot of new places and old places
with new names. Here are a few.
Places to eat and buy food:
Driving down Pokegama South on the right hand, the
former Cub Grocery Store is now Super One with loads of choices of food, as
well as take-out items.
Further down the on the right Aldi’s opened a new
store.
Just past Aldi’s is a new Hardees.
On the left, you will find a new Thrifty Drug, and
Culvers, an upper scale (we are told) burger and shake place.
Gifts and Things to See
Down by Central School, on your left I the old mall., at the back of the mall is the Village Book Store, which originally was fairly small. We are
happy to report it has now doubled in size to include a gift shop. There are a
large selection of items unique to northern Minnesota, along with a good
selection of books, local and otherwise, as well as magazines. It’s a nice
place to visit. Look for:
Of course, we always recommend the Itasca County Historical Society, which
is free to visit and also has a gift shop. Go down and take a look at Judy
Garland’s baby cradle and Frank Gumm’s golf clubs. They also have quite a
number of rare photographs. The new address for the Itasca Historical Society is: 201 N. Pokegama Avenue, across Wayne’s
Automotive.
The Old Central
School does not have many businesses now, but it’s worth a visit if for
nothing else, just to see the old school itself. The Forest
History Center is another unique place to visit.
Volunteers
It takes a lot of hands to run a museum properly and in
this newsletter we’d like to thank two very special volunteers. Katie Stella,
long-time Judy Garland fan and Museum member recently began doing volunteer
work for the Judy Garland Museum. For a number of Saturdays, Katie has put in
close to full-time hours to help us. Not only that, she travels all the way
from Virginia to do it! As part of her work, Katie is using her experience to
help catalog some of our new arrivals! Thank you, Katie. We really needed your
help and appreciate your dedication so much!
Another volunteer is John Michael, who used to work at
our front desk. John has retired, but returned to use as a volunteer to help
out as needed in many ways. A week ago he came in and glued quite a number of
broken artifacts. Last week, he worked in the garden, pruning and cleaning.
It’s not all easy, but John is very skilled and does fine work in whatever he
undertakes. Thank you so much to John Michael!
If you would like to volunteer, please contact us. In
coming months we will need help with the garden, painting and a number of other
things. During the Festival, we can likely also use a hand here and there with
a number of events. So, contact us if you are interested.
Wishes…
There are many things on our wish list, but one thing
needed is a CD/DVD/Video cabinet. We are looking for tall shelves, at least 6’
x 2’ – 3’ wide and no more than 9 inches deep. This will help us with conserve
on space, of which we are quickly running out. It will also help with
organization – making things easy to find.
In addition, our cataloging program is in need of and Microsoft Word Program, which works in
conjunction with the cataloging software. Although the museum is constantly
working to raise funds, these types of items are last on the list for spending
money. They are just not seen as priorities but they would certainly help the
museum run much more efficiently. If someone has a second hand CD/DVD shelf or
two we might be able to purchase it from you at a cut-rate price.
ONE MORE NEWSLETTER…
We will have one more newsletter coming before the Wizard of Oz Festival, so stay tuned.
As is always stated, things may be changed without
warning, so it’s possible we could have something new on the program. In any
case, we will confirm everything.
Be sure to visit us on FACEBOOK! See you soon!
https://www.facebook.com/judygarlandmuseum/?ref=bookmarks
