About the Show

Paper Mill Playhouse's new musical chronicles Judy Garland’s early career from vaudeville baby to MGM teen star in the making, and features such classics as “Over the Rainbow” and “You Made Me Love You.”

From the show:

Before she burst onto the big screen as Dorothy in The Wizard of Oz, Judy Garland was a young vaudeville trouper named Frances Gumm. In this highly anticipated new musical chronicling Garland’s early career from vaudeville baby to MGM teen star in the making, the road to Oz is paved with adversity. At its heart a story of love between a father and daughter, featuring such legendary songs as “Over the Rainbow,” “You Made Me Love You,” and “Everybody Sing,” Chasing Rainbows is a poignant coming-of-age tale about “the little girl with the big voice,” who went on to become one of the world’s most beloved entertainment icons.

Critic Reviews (14)

"Judy Garland Bio ‘Chasing Rainbows’ The biopic with Renée Zellweger is a perfect set-up for this new musical about Judy Garland's early years."
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"Judy Garland Finally Gets a Happy Ending in 'Chasing Rainbows: The Road to Oz': Garland's rise to fame as 'the girl next door' at MGM is onstage at Paper Mill Playhouse."
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"'CHASING RAINBOWS: THE ROAD TO OZ' at Paper Mill Playhouse-An Exhilarating New Musical Theatre Production"
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"'Chasing Rainbows' is a lively, intelligently entertaining, 1930s jukebox musical. It is very well written, choreographed, directed and performed."
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"Whether you are fans of the Judy who...went down the yellow brick road in the 1939 classic, or of the incomparable adult superstar...this delightful new musical is clearly calculated to bring waves of laughter, an occasional tear and mostly appreciative applause. It does."
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"Overflowing with classic songs that are wound in and around the young MGM star's rise. it is in daddy's eyes and voice that we are being truly gifted by this musical. Max von Essen as the troubled father,..steals the show from under those Ruby shoes, giving the most nuanced portrayal on that big wide stage."
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"'Chasing Rainbows: The Road to Oz'"
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"'Chasing Rainbows' is a hollow Judy Garland story at Paper Mill: review"
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Cast and creative team

Paper Mill Playhouse

Theater Company

Denis Jones

Director / Choreographer