End of the Rainbow

(Ahmanson Theatre, 16 March 2013)

It is unclear what Judy Garland is, and hence how to portray her. One could sing a little better than she did, dance a little better than she did, and pass for a star.

Judy Garland is anything but Judy Garland. Yet the play focuses on Judy Garland---not on the studio system that had shaped her, not on the husbands who clung to her, not on the public who adored her---not on who Judy Garland was.

In the play, Judy Garland is too subordinated to addictions to be free, her prospective husband Micky is too dull to be free, so it is left to her accompanist, Anthony, to deliver one-liners that the audience can take home for guidance and reassurance.

The world collapses once one asserts one's singularity, instead of waiting for the world to impose it upon one.