KEY POINTS:
There was a time when it seemed that Edwin Wright could not get an audition for love nor money. Now the Auckland-raised, Otago-trained actor may have found a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow.
Wright, 33, has one of the highest-profile male lead roles available in Auckland theatre this year. He plays Mickey Deans, the fifth and final husband of the legendary Judy Garland, in the Auckland Theatre Company production of End of the Rainbow, written by Peter Quilter.
Set in London in 1968, it charts the final months of Garland's turbulent life and weaves in some of her most memorable songs, including C'mon Get Happy, You Made Me Love You, Come Rain or Shine and Somewhere Over the Rainbow.
Wright joins Ellie Smith and Paul Barrett who were cast late last year. Director Colin McColl said finding the right actor to play Mickey Deans was a tougher task. "I thought about lots of people for this part, ran through a lot of names.
"Mickey Deans needed to be an 'alpha male' of the right age - he was 10 years younger than Garland, who was 47 at this stage - and also capable of mastering the sensitivity and nuances of the role.
"We never know whether he loves Judy or whether, like so many other people, he is just ripping her off and coming along for the ride."
McColl, who directed Wright in The Crucible, says that although Wright has a small role he stands out as a "skilful stage animal" capable of portraying the enigmatic Deans.
Wright says he enjoys complex characters whose motives are never quite clear: "Mickey Deans is not at all stereotypical or a caricature. He is one of those characters you can't pin down and I like that. It's also good having a decent amount of stage time - you can get a real roll on."
In the past 18 months, Wright has had a support role in the TV One drama Rude Awakenings, a lead (as a deranged baseball player) in the Silo's Take Me Out, a starring role in the two-hander Dying City (also at the Silo) and the appearance in The Crucible. He also directed one of the three plays in the PlayRight: The Season competition.
It hasn't always been so busy for Wright, who jokes that he has made a lot of coffee as well as honed his landscape gardening skills since becoming an actor. After graduating from Otago University's Allen Hall Theatre in 1999, where he built up an impressive body of work, he shifted to Wellington.
"I didn't get an audition for 18 months," he says.
"It was as if all my South Island experience counted for nothing, so I moved to Auckland - and then got cast in some Wellington-based productions."
Offers of work have picked up since he started proving himself in Silo Theatre productions.
Describing himself as having "unconventional physiognomy", Wright thinks his looks are helping him land more multifaceted roles and "it's getting to be an asset having distinctive features".
Although McColl took his time over the Mickey Deans choice, he knew immediately he wanted Ellie Smith to play Judy Garland.
"I knew there was only one person in New Zealand who could do justice to this role and that is Ellie.
"She is energetic, talented and the right height."
Smith took a smidgen of persuading. Having starred in the 1988 musical Judy - also directed by McColl - she wanted to ensure she was not doing the same type of show again.
"End of the Rainbow is a lot more interesting because it concentrates on one period in Judy Garland's life whereas the other one really skimmed through her entire life," she says. "Garland fascinates me because she has this public image of being a sad drug-addicted victim, yet everything you read about her says she was delightfully funny and witty and she really was a superstar who bounced back time and time again.
"She was, in fact, a survivor."
Smith, who spent 10 years in London playing Janet in the original Rocky Horror Show, has played many strong female roles, including Edith Piaf, Shirley Valentine, Roxie Hart, Mary Pickford, Lillian Hellman and Maria Callas. But it isn't theatre work which has been occupying her time lately.
Smith spent this year working towards an MA in creative writing at the University of Victoria.
One of her plays will be staged next year in Wellington's Bats Theatre fringe festival.
