Hilton McRae on Sharing the London Stage with Judy Garland in End of the Rainbow

It’s tempting to think of End of the Rainbow, Peter Quilter’s play-with-music set in London during the last months of Judy Garland’s tumultuous life, as a one-woman show, given Tracie Bennett’s barnstorming turn as a pill-popping, emotionally predatory Garland. In fact, there are three others in director Terry Johnson’s cast, one of whom, Scottish actor Hilton McRae, was a 2011 Olivier Award nominee for his poignant performance as Garland’s (fictional) piano accompanist and music director, Anthony. With the show scheduled for Broadway next spring, Broadway.com chatted with McRae during the final weeks of End of the Rainbow’s run at the Trafalgar Studios.

Tell us about your role as Anthony, the devoted accompanist who acts as the still center of the gathering storm that is Judy Garland.
He’s the voice of the playwright, isn’t he, not least when near the end he speaks directly to the audience. I think of Anthony as a gentle soul who offsets the madness around him. I just let [Bennett’s Garland] go, and the more crazy she gets, the calmer I become! My energy’s quite low in it—deliberately.

What’s it like to absorb that much onstage adrenaline from Tracie Bennett eight times a week?
The thing about Tracie is that there’s nothing of her, physically; she’s a slip of a thing. But she’s just a driven woman, is the answer. She never holds back.

Was the part a no-brainer when you were offered it?
Well, the real joy for me was getting to play the piano, so when I saw that, I went, “I can do this.” But the early rehearsals were incredibly difficult. Tracie had been with [the project] for years and she had everything ready, but Stephen [Hagan, playing Mickey Deans, Garland’s fifth husband-to-be] and I were just lost; we were like leaves in the wind. We weren’t very good [out of town] in Northampton—I certainly wasn’t; Stephen was much better. When we re-rehearsed it for the West End, I thought, “OK, I’ve got to take a grip on this.”

It clearly worked, since you were responsible for one of the play’s four Olivier nominations in March.
That was extraordinary. And the next day, my mum was 90 years old, so I really had to win, but no, it went to Adrian Scunthorpe [laughs]. I know he’s Adrian Scarborough, but I call him Adrian Scunthorpe. [Both Scarborough and Scunthorpe are UK place names.] And Johnnie Walker whiskey has just nominated me as Great Scot of the Year. It’s only a nomination, but that’s brilliant, isn’t it?

What prior exposure did you have to Judy, or her work?
None at all, though I saw Liza Minnelli when I was in New York doing Les Liaisons Dangereuses [in 1987]. Our producer, Frank Gero, had a son who was married to her, so we went to see her at Carnegie Hall, and she was wonderful. I also went to the Rufus Wainwright evening with himself as Judy.

Did you get any tips?
Yes, about playing gay; the place was jammed with gay guys. Every single one was there [laughs].

Have you ever been in a position akin to that in which Anthony finds himself?
No, but I do feel as if I’ve found out quite a lot about that sort of life just through doing the show. [Composer] Marc Shaiman came to see us and told me afterwards, “I’d just like to say a great thank you because I know what it’s like to play for all these divas!” [Laughs.] Barry Manilow came backstage and was wonderful, as well.

Has Liza Minnelli seen the show? I saw her not long ago at the opening night of The Umbrellas of Cherbourg, so she was clearly in town.
Not to my knowledge. Then again, I wouldn’t go see a play about my mum who took a lot of drugs.

You’ve done a variety of musicals on the London stage, from Miss Saigon to Mamma Mia! to Caroline, or Change.
I started my career with Steven Berkoff at the Roundhouse—that’s how I got my Equity card—and then I was a political activist sort of actor with the troupe 7:84 during the 1970s. Then I went to the Royal Shakespeare Company, where I suddenly became a classical actor and met my wife [Tony-winning actress Lindsay Duncan]. And then someone mentioned musicals, which was really wonderful, actually; I’ve been very lucky. I spent 20 months as the Engineer [in Miss Saigon], which is hard to believe; those were the days when you sort of earned money. I loved [Caroline, or Change director] George C. Wolfe. I would have him in my life forever, that guy.

How did you and Lindsay actually meet?
I was doing As You Like It with Juliet Stevenson and Fiona Shaw, and Lindsay was there at the same time in The Merry Wives of Windsor, directed by my great friend Bill Alexander. I used to meet Bill afterwards and have a pint at the bar, so Lindsay would inevitably turn up, and one thing led to another!

Your son Cal is now college age. Is he destined to be an actor?
Well, at the moment he’s in Amsterdam and going on from there to Berlin and Barcelona. He was asked that question in front of us and went, “What? Become an actor and talk about what I did in 1976? Get lost!” [Laughs.]

You last acted in New York in 2007, in Nina Raine’s play Rabbit at 59E59, and before that with your wife in Les Liaisons Dangereuses. Are you hoping to come back to Broadway in End of the Rainbow?
I’m still negotiating our autumn tour in the UK! What’s nice is that I did a play at the Gate Theatre late in 2009 called The Kreutzer Sonata, and we have a date to go with that to La MaMa next March.

Perfect timing— you could then stay on in New York to do End of the Rainbow.
That would be bliss.