Arts Guides Fall 2019 Preview: North Jersey | Page 8

Family, Paper Mill’s Benny & Joon)
as Roger Edens.
In January, the musical got a
nice plug from Liza Minelli in an
interview with Deadline. “My
mother said that her biography is
in her music, and now a talented
creative team is using that mu-
sic to tell the story of her early
years and her extraordinary rise
to fame. I’m grateful and happy
they’re telling the fascinating sto-
ry of her early history.”
Before the show started, the cre-
ators locked up rights to the MGM
film catalog that helped make
Judy Garland a star. The produc-
tion uses the Sony Music/Feist Rob-
bins catalog of Garland-associated
songs including “Over the Rain-
bow,” “You Made Me Love You,”
“Everybody Sing,” “In Between”
and “Dear Mr. Gable,” among oth-
ers. Rakos says her favorite part of
the show is the beginning of Act 2
with the song “Meet The Beat Of
My Heart” which is about Garland’s
first day at MGM.