INTERVIEW: Ruby Rakos is Judy Garland in ‘Chasing Rainbows’ at Paper Mill
Photo: Chashing Rainbows: The Road to Oz stars Ruby Rakos as Frances Gumm, who would later become Judy Garland, star of The Wizard of Oz. Photo courtesy of Evan Zimmerman for MurphyMade / Provided by Richard Hillman PR with permission.
The life and career of Judy Garland has inspired many theatrical shows and movies. Just this year alone audiences can check out Renée Zellweger’s buzz-worthy performance in Judy, and there’s a new musical about the performer’s early years now playing the Paper Mill Playhouse in Millburn, New Jersey.
Chasing Rainbows: The Road to Oz, with a book by Marc Acito, additional music by David Libby and additional lyrics by Tina Marie Casamento, plays through the end of this month at the respected Jersey venue. At the center of the show is Ruby Rakos as Frances Gumm, the vaudeville singer who would later become Judy Garland. (And what a name Ruby is for this ruby-red-slipper role).
“I met our conceiving producer, Tina Marie Casamento, about six years ago at a musical theater intensive in New York City,” Rakos said in a recent phone interview. “I was 16, and I just happened to be singing ‘Zing! Went the Strings of My Heart.’”
That performance of the classic Garland song put Rakos on the radar of Casamento, who essentially built the musical around the actor. Now, this many years later, the show has been polished and developed by director Denis Jones and a first-rate creative team.
For Rakos, the experience of bringing Garland to life has been an educational and entertaining one.
“Before working on Chasing Rainbows, I didn’t know much about Judy at all, other than The Wizard of Oz and her TV show in the ’60s, so I learned all about her when I started researching for the show,” she said. “Chasing Rainbows is really about Frances Gumm, the little girl who in the Depression was trying to keep her family together by doing what she loved, how she became the legend that we all know. So what happens in Chasing Rainbows sets up everything that happens in the rest of her life. You kind of see where it all starts and see how it was going to lead there no matter what she did — traveling with her sisters on the vaudeville circuit and then auditioning for studio after studio and then finally getting to MGM, but then not even being put in a movie the first year she’s at the studio. All she did was sing on the radio because they didn’t know what to do with her.”
In the show, the cast members sing such musical numbers as “Over the Rainbow,” “You Made Me Love You” and “Everybody Sing,” plus other early jazz and swing music.
“The music in this show is my favorite part,” Rakos said. “I grew up singing jazz and swing music, and that’s still my favorite music to sing. So doing this show is perfect.”
Rakos has been performing on stages since she was a young child. She remembers begging her parents to put her in dance classes at the age of 2. In particular, she wanted to attend the so-called Barbie Dance School, which would allow her to dance on stage and wear a tutu for an adoring crowd.
“I didn’t start singing until I was 8,” she said. “I couldn’t wait until I was in middle school so I could be in the school musical.”
Now Rakos is playing on one of the largest stages in the tri-state area, and there is some buzz about the show possibly jumping across the river to Broadway. After all, Paper Mill has had success with theatrical transfers before.
“We’re focusing on the Paper Mill production now, but, of course, it’s every show’s dream,” Rakos admitted. “But we’re focusing on one thing at a time.”
Over the past six years, throughout the entire development process, Rakos has grown comfortable with the demanding role. Her voice has matured during that time, but still her performance is a draining one, relying on her emotions, vocal cords and physicality.
“I weirdly don’t get nervous when I’m playing a role,” the actor said. “I get nervous when I, myself, Ruby, has to go do something, like when I have to get up and sing as myself in a concert or something. But when I’m playing a role — because it’s not me out there, it’s a different person — I don’t get nervous.”
By John Soltes / Publisher / John@HollywoodSoapbox.com
Chasing Rainbows: The Road to Oz, starring Ruby Rakos, is now playing at the Paper Mill Playhouse in Millburn, New Jersey. Click here for more information and tickets.
