Sitting in Soho Theatre Walthamstow, a 1930s picture palace steeped in old Hollywood glamour, it isn’t hard to believe that Judy Garland is about to walk on stage again. Formerly the Granada Cinema, with its soaring arches and vintage splendour, it feels like exactly the sort of venue where she might once have performed.
And then she enters.
Well… Jinkx Monsoon does. But for most of the evening, Jinkx disappears entirely. Only Judy remains.
End of the Rainbow, written by Peter Quilter and directed by Rupert Hands, explores Garland’s final London performances at Talk of the Town in 1968. We meet her at the Ritz, exhausted, financially struggling, dependent on pills and alcohol, preparing for a run of concerts that will be among the last of her life. She was only forty-six. Watching old footage of Garland today, she already seems older than her years, and the play captures that painful contradiction beautifully: a woman still sparkling, still funny, still capable of astonishing performances, yet utterly worn down by a lifetime of exploitation, addiction, and the impossible pressure of being Judy Garland.
Jasmine Swan’s design work is gorgeous in its restraint. The stage is draped in white, layered levels and steps rising towards a curtain at the back, with a grand piano at its heart and a chandelier hanging overhead. The space shifts seamlessly between the Ritz hotel suite and concert venue. The first time it happens, the transformation is almost instantaneous and it was simply breathtaking. I will not spoil exactly how or when, because you deserve the surprise too.
Swan’s costume design deserves equal praise. Judy’s outfits are stunning, perfectly evoking the era, from glamorous concert gowns and sparkling stage wear to the gorgeous orange glittering trouser suit. One ingenious quick change transformation in particular drew audible appreciation from the audience, and rightly so.
But all of this exists in service of an extraordinary performance.
Writing this, I am moved by how much Jinkx was Judy.
Monsoon does not impersonate Garland. She inhabits her. Every gesture, every tired smile, every moment of vulnerability feels lived rather than performed. Sanford Meisner famously described acting as ‘living truthfully under imaginary circumstances’, and that is exactly what is happening here.
This Judy is heartbreaking, but also hilarious. That balance is what makes the performance so special. The play is filled with tragedy, yet Monsoon constantly finds the humour because Judy herself was funny. Watch old interviews and you see it immediately: the wit, the self-deprecation, the instinct to turn her painful past into a joke before anyone else can.
Even in her darkest moments, Monsoon’s Judy finds laughs. Sometimes they are throwaway one-liners. Sometimes they come in the middle of devastating scenes. At one point she is reduced to begging for pills on her knees, pathetic and sad, and yet somehow the scene still carries humour without ever undermining the pain
There was an accidental moment on press night, where Monsoon kicked off a shoe and it nearly toppled from the stage. The audience laughed at this obviously unintentional act, and for the tiniest fraction of a second you could almost see Jinkx wanting to laugh too before she settled straight back into Judy without missing a beat.
Adam Filipe gives an understated but superb performance as Anthony. Tender, warm, and endlessly patient, he feels like the emotional heart of the production. Anthony becomes the audience surrogate at times, standing in for all those people who simply wanted Judy to know she was enough. He represents the adoration she inspired, especially within the queer community who loved her fiercely and unconditionally.
Jacob Dudman’s Mickey Deans is a more difficult figure. Controlling, defensive, exhausted, perhaps trying to help but often lacking empathy, he creates a constant tension within the hotel room scenes. The arguments between Judy and Mickey are painful to watch because they are never really about the immediate issue. They are about a lifetime of wounds. Dudman plays this character you love to hate with just the right amount of impatience and obvious distaste for this woman that simply wanted him to love her.
The music, naturally, is wonderful. This is not a musical, but music runs through its veins. Songs emerge from rehearsals and concert sequences alike, sometimes triumphant, sometimes painful. Monsoon occasionally lets Garland’s voice crack or falter during the singing performances, and it feels right to do so.
A scene in Act 2 was particularly resonant for me. As Judy struggles through a concert, forgetting words and stumbling through songs, I was suddenly transported back to seeing Amy Winehouse at Glastonbury in 2008. I remember watching this brilliant artist struggling in front of thousands of people, seeing not a music superstar, but a sick woman battling addiction in public. The parallels were impossible to ignore and other audience members later shared that they’d made the same connection.
Peter Quilter’s script is packed with wonderful lines. Some are laugh-out-loud funny. Others land like punches. One felt strangely personal to me, and I’m sure many others, in this world of unfulfilled dreams and ambitions:
‘It’s a terrible thing to know what you’re capable of and never get there.’
And seeing Garland in this state, struggling through a joyless existence, brings home another line, this time from ‘Somewhere Over the Rainbow’:
‘If happy little bluebirds fly beyond the rainbow, why, oh why can’t I?’
Because she never could. And all that pain is there, in every word of Monsoon’s beautiful performance.
End of the Rainbow is sad, of course. You know where the story ends before it begins. But it is also funny, warm, glamorous, and truthful. It reminds us that Judy Garland was not merely a tragic icon. She was witty, messy, brilliant, vulnerable, and desperate to be loved.
It may be a tragic story, but Jinkx Monsoon’s performance is the gold at the End of the Rainbow.
End of the Rainbow plays at Soho Theatre Walthamstow until 21 June.
Book tickets now from End of the Rainbow tickets
Words Nick Barr
Photography Danny With A Camera
