Bennett faces pot of gold for End Of The Rainbow

TRACIE Bennett, whose emotional portrayal of Judy Garland in the Royal & Derngate’s production of End Of The Rainbow, has been nominated for the 2012 Tony Awards (Broadway’s equivalent of the Olivier Awards) after the play transferred to New York following a sell-out season in The West End.

Bennett is up against Stockard Channing and Cynthia Nixon for the award for Best Performance by an Actress in a Play.

Co-produced by Royal & Derngate and nominated for four Olivier Awards in 2011, End Of The Rainbow took the West End by storm during its sell-out, six month run, with Bennett winning both critical and popular acclaim for her sensational performance as the diva in final weeks of her life as she battled with drugs and alcohol while preparing for her comeback concerts in London.

The winners will be announced at a star-studded ceremony at New York’s Beacon Theatre on June 10.

Royal & Derngate chief executive Martin Sutherland said: “We’re really thrilled for Tracie – she deserves to be recognised for one of the most incredible performances we’ve ever seen here in Northampton. We’re so proud that the production started its life here as a Royal & Derngate co-production, enjoyed first by Northamptonshire audiences. We’ll have our fingers crossed on 10th June!”