A closeup of Judy's poster at Cineplex Saint John.
The Wizard of Oz’s Judy Garland is one of most iconic performers and tragic cautionary tales of the Golden Age of Hollywood, but despite the many hardships and glories that marked her life, Garland was undoubtedly a star.
Adapted from British playwright Peter Quilter’s Broadway and West End play End of the Rainbow, the biopic follows Garland in the winter of 1968 (six months later, she would pass away of an accidental overdose) as she performs at London’s Talk of the Town cabaret in a sold-out five week run.
Now in her decline the mercurial star is hit or miss on the stage, plagued by chronic insomnia, substance abuse and disordered eating that took root when she was a young actress (Darci Shaw, The Bay) being controlled by Louis B. Mayer (Richard Cordery, Dickensian) at MGM Studios.
Renée Zellweger (Chicago) brings down the house with her sure-to-be-Oscar-nominated (and potentially winning) performance, capturing and honoring the fragility, strength, compassion and still-tenacious hope that made Judy Garland a flesh-and-blood human being, rather than a glittering, unreachable legend.
Judy is currently playing in theatres.
