The last days of Judy Garland

HOLLYWOOD star Judy Garland died at the age of 47, six months after she sang Over The Rainbow on a London stage for the last time. In the final act of Peter Quilter’s bio-play End Of The Rainbow, now running at the Drama Centre, you get to see the fantastic actress-singer Mina Kaye playing Garland do just that – sing Rainbow with a lot of soul and strength, but also the sad knowledge that it was the last time the public heard her trill that classic song. 

Out of the limelight, Garland lived a remarkably tragic life. As a teenager, she was forced by MGM studio head Louis B Mayer to go on punishing diets to stay thin. Because stress and hunger weakened her, the studio fed her amphetamines and barbiturates to keep her energised during the long film shoots. By the time she was an adult, she was addicted to drugs and booze, and the only way she thought she could give a performance was to down several pills with alcohol before the curtains went up. She died of an accidental drug overdose.

End Of The Rainbow takes place during her final series of concerts in 1968 London where Garland, broke and desperate, agrees to perform for not a lot of money at the cabaret club called Talk Of The Town. The gig proved disastrous for almost everyone involved: Garland sometimes appeared on stage so high and drunk that the audience heckled and booed her off.