My glorious night at the Ahmanson seeing Tracie Bennett as Judy Garland in “End of the Rainbow”

There was no way I was going to miss the chance to see Tracie Bennett in her Tony Award-nominated role of the legendary Judy Garland in the musical End of the Rainbow at the Ahmanson Theatre in Los Angeles.

It was such a star-studded evening with an electricity in the air as such celebrities as Betty White, Jesse Tyler Ferguson, Loretta Devine, Lainie Kazan, Wilson Cruz, Jackie Collins, Alec Mapa, Joan Van Ark, Grant Gustin, Alicia Witt, Juliet Mills and Maxwell Caulfield all arrived to see the opening night.

They were in for a rare treat.

Bennett is a wonder as Garland who she is playing toward the end of her too short life. She is funny as hell then deeply vulnerable as she struggles with drugs and alcohol.

The play takes place in the suite of a London hotel and effortlessly segues into live performances at the Talk of the Town theater where we are treated to Bennett, as Garland, belting out such numbers as Over the Rainbow, The Trolley Song, Just in Time and The Man That Got Away.

It’s glorious stuff.

We all know that Miss Garland died tragically in 1969 at age 47 but Bennett’s virtuoso performance really captures her spirit and I think we’re damned lucky to have her in LA after her triumphs in London and New York.

The show is playing through April 21 so you still have time to get your tickets and I strongly suggest you do. It was one of the more memorable evenings of theater that I’ve had in quite some time.

I’ll never forget the exhilaration I felt as I left the theater, not wanting the experience to end. So how lucky my friend, David Trudell, and I were invited to go backstage.

I wasn’t sure if we’d get to meet the cast and I was half expecting just to watch from afar. First we saw Erik Heger, who plays Garland’s studly new fiancé – and eventually fifth husband Mickey Deans – in the show.

Then in came the star, Tracie Bennett!

I thought she’d be exhausted after expending so much energy in the show. But she seemed fresh as a daisy as a bunch of us snapped photos of her like paparazzi.

Then we walked over to the after-party and enjoyed a quick nosh and some wine and called it a night.

I think this will always be one of my favorite theater memories.