Meet The Cast of Paper Mill Playhouse Chasing Rainbows Part 2

Yesterday we met Judy Garland (Ruby Rakos), her parents ( Lesli Margherita  and Max von Essen), Ma Lawlor and Kay Koverman assistant to Louis B. Mayer (Karen Mason) and Baby Gumm (Molly Lyons), Virginia Gumm ( Sophie Knapp) and Shirley Temple (Violet Tinnirello)

Today we meet Stephen DeRosa (Into the Woods, HBO’sBoardwalk Empire) as Louis B. Mayer.

Michael Wartella (Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Tuck Everlasting) as Mickey Rooney

and Colin Hanlon (ABC’s Modern Family, Paper Mill’s Benny & Joon) as Roger Edens.

As well as the creatives; Tony award nominee Denis Jones director and choreographer, Tina Marie Casamento who conceived and wrote additional lyrics

and Marc Acito the book writer.

Before she burst onto the big screen as Dorothy in The Wizard of Oz, Judy Garlandwas 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. The show has already earned praise from Liza Minnelli, who said, “My mother said that her biography is in her music, and now a talented creative team is using that music to tell the story of her early years and her extraordinary rise to fame.”

Chasing Rainbows: The Road to Oz: Paper Mill Playhouse, 22 Brookside Drive, Millburn, NJ beginning September 26th and running through October 27th.