End of the Rainbow review Jinkx Monsoon's Judy Garland could be the talk of the town

The production stages Judy Garland’s final years in 1960s London through a love triangle between Anthony, a steadfast gay pianist, and Mickey, an opportunistic man seeking a fifth marriage. Drama shifts between Garland’s private hotel suite and her public residency at Talk of the Town, with drinking and drug addiction traced back to her teenage role in The Wizard of Oz. The script is brisk, funnier, and sharper than the film adaptation, using acidic quips, name-dropping, and theatrical shade. Musical numbers anchor the emotional arc, including songs that reveal Garland’s shifting perceptions of Mickey. The staging uses a black-and-white palette, stepped curtains, and a Technicolor-like transition effect to heighten performance spectacle.

"This revival of Peter Quilter's 2005 play puts Monsoon's Garland in a love triangle instead, caught between steadfast, gay pianist Anthony (Adam Filipe) and opportunistic, soon-to-be fifth husband, Mickey (Jacob Dudman). It plays out in 1960s London as the decade, and Garland's life, draw to an end. Quilter divides the drama between private and public, moving from the performer's hotel suite to her residency at Talk of the Town, derailed by her drinking and a drug addiction that dated back to her teenage role in The Wizard of Oz."

"We're not in Kansas any more nor Grand Rapids, Minnesota, where Garland grew up as Frances Ethel Gumm. But unlike the 2019 film Judy, which significantly fleshed out Quilter's play with flashbacks including a miserable 16th birthday party, you get precious little sense of how she was exploited and controlled as a child star. While it also lacks momentum, the script is friskier and funnier than the screenplay, with acidic quips and gratuitous name-dropping and shade-throwing (at theatre queen Agatha Christie no less!) but the musical numbers, orchestrated and arranged by Leo Munby, anchor the emotions in the story."

"Garland sings Just in Time as an ode to Mickey, fooling herself that he is her 11th-hour saviour, then reappraises the relationship in You Made Me Love You (I Didn't Want to Do It). Transcends impersonation Jinkx Monsoon as Judy Garland. Photograph: Danny Kaan It is pristinely designed by Jasmine Swan who drapes the full stepped stage in white curtains, with a black grand piano at the centre. Swan retains the same black and white palette in the costumes until a theatrical feat mimicking the famous transition to a Technicolor Oz as the band hit their stride under Nick Barstow's music direction and the flamboyant hues of Prema Mehta's lighting."

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