End of the Rainbow charts the months leading to the tragic death in 1969 of Judy Garland, at the age of 47, following her return to London to play a five week comeback series of concerts at the legendary Talk Of The Town.
Peter Quilter’s brilliant script is sharp, fast-moving and full of funny one liners as he charts Judy’s downfall during the last tragic months of her life.
End of the Rainbow opens on a positive note as Miss Garland arrives in London with Mickey Deans her new manager/fiancée, clean of drink and drugs and is reunited with her long-suffering musical director Anthony Chapman who will play the Talk of the Town shows with her.
Anthony takes an instant dislike to Mickey, who for a while maintains the sympathy of the audience as it seems he is determined to make Judy stay off the drink and drugs, fulfil their contract at the Talk of the Town and make loads of money for them both. Anthony sees Mickey for what he is, a user.
Like many legendary stars Judy Garland suffers nerves when performing and over the years had needed prescription drugs just to give her the confidence to get up on stage.
It is tragic situation and the effect on the audience as Judy disintegrates in front of our eyes, is very powerful. At times last night you could hear a pin drop in the theatre as the audience strained to hear every word Judy spoke, never mind sang.
Very quickly with the pressure of performing each night at the Talk of the Town, Judy hits the drink and drugs. It quickly becomes clear that Mickey her manager and soon to be husband is only concerned at protecting his investment and succumbs to feeding Judy drugs to get her on stage and deliver his pay packet. It is pitiful to witness.
The drama swings from tragedy, as Judy crawls round the stage begging for drugs to moment of genius and surprise as Anthony her musical director applies her makeup, tells her how wonderful she is, declares his unconditional love for her, kisses her, asks her to marry him and retire to live with him in Brighton.
Alas the love Anthony can give Judy is not the love that Judy needs and she marries Mickey some weeks later. If only she had accepted the unconditional love, that Anthony, a gay man could give her, then maybe her life would not have been taken so soon.
End of the Rainbow is a tour de force, a tragic expose of the insecurities that drives a legend to drink and drugs so that she can perform for the people who give her unconditional love, her fans.
While Lisa Maxwell’s performance is central to the narrative of the show, it is important to understand Judy’s relationship with both Anthony and Mickey which parallels the relationship she had with her audience and highlights maybe, why forty-five years on Judy remains a Gay Icon, despite all her flaws.
Maxwell shows us a side to Judy many might have never seen. Highly manipulative and selfish with the instincts of an alley cat, especially when avoiding paying her hotel bills.
Stories of how Judy and her daughter Lisa Minnelli would escape from lodging through a window in the middle of the night without paying the bills are well documented and Judy’s refusal to pay her hotels bill upfront even when she had the money clearly illustrates how she had no problem with playing the Diva when sober or when intoxicated.
Lisa Maxwell is a very, very fine singer and when she opens up at the top of her register produces spine chilling moments of musical theatre at its best. She performs many of Judy’s classic numbers, including The Man Who Got Away, The Trolley Song, When Your Smiling and Over the Rainbow, however, I did feel the impact of her performance was lost with no live band providing the musical accompaniment. It was the difference between her performance being brilliant and sensational.
Gary Wilmot plays long suffering musical director Anthony Chapman perfectly. He more than anyone understands what makes Judy tick and his love for her is unconditional. His ‘gay’ mannerisms are well judged and add to the charm of the piece.
Sam Attwater is formidable as Mickey Deans, the new rock in Judy’s life, but at the end of the day he is a gold digger and happy to put Judy’s life at risk to get paid his wages. Sam plays smarmy very well indeed.
Special mention for set designer David Shields and lighting man David W Kidd who provided a clean crisp backdrop for the action to unfold between the hotel room and the Talk of the Town.
All in all a great night at the theatre and highly recommended.
End of the Rainbow by Peter Quilter plays at the Theatre Royal till Saturday, April 2.
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First Minister of Scotland, Nicola Sturgeon today made five pledges, three of which relate to the welfare of young lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans and intersex (LGBTI) people. The other two are to reform gender recognition law and to train all police on the investigation of hate crime.
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