First the good news: drag queen and trans Broadway star Jinkx Monsoon has an astonishing voice, a huge presence and has got Judy Garland’s vocal and physical mannerisms down pat, in this revival of Peter Quilter’s play about the star’s infamous last London appearance, months before her death in June 1969. The bad news: her performance is over the top and indulgent, bordering on caricature. This Judy is a honking, bleary pastiche, from which triumphant renditions of Get Happy and Over the Rainbow emerge.
Quilter’s script, first staged at Sydney Opera House in 2005, encourages this. It’s a recurring doom loop in which Judy’s talent crashes into her addiction issues and her dependency on men, be they straight exploiters or gay worshippers. She is required to be simultaneously a grotesque, slurring drunk and a self-aware icon, capping needy pleading with witty comebacks in a seemingly endless series of dialogue setups and payoffs.
