Jinkx Monsoon has long transcended the Werk Room. The two-time RuPaul’s Drag Race winner (the only contestant ever to take home the crown twice) gave an all-time great comedic performance as Judy Garland on All Stars season 7’s Snatch Game. Now, fresh from her second triumphant run as the petulant Mary Todd Lincoln in Broadway’s Oh, Mary!, Monsoon is once again becoming Garland: this time, in the London revival of Peter Quilter’s End of the Rainbow.
“I find comedy to be a divine calling; to be able to make people laugh, especially at times like now,” Monsoon tells Vogue. “This play is more of a drama, and I guess more of me as ‘an actress.’ I’m excited about the challenge to play a character that I’ve played comedically so many times. Now, to play her seriously and earnestly.”
In a set of images of Monsoon as Garland, exclusively shared with Vogue, she dons a series of flamboyant, sequin stage dresses, complete with Garland’s raven crop of hair and a dash of red lip. Striking several haughty poses, you can already sense that pizzazz and presence. “I consider one of my witch powers to be shapeshifting,” says Monsoon. “Physically, [Judy and I] have a lot of differences—size, stature, health. She was nearing the end of her life.”
Physicality informs Monsoon’s work (no wonder clowning was her favorite class in school), as do costumes—whether Mary Todd Lincoln’s absurdly gigantic hoop skirts or the corsetry she wore as Ruth in Pirates! The Penzance Musical on Broadway. “I see that Judy was always picking at her clothes and messing with her hair—I have a feeling she wasn’t entirely comfortable in her clothing all the time. I’m excited to really get a feel for her.”
Photo: Karl Westworth, courtesy of ArtHouse London and Witch House PR
Set in London in 1968, the musical drama follows Garland as she prepares for a run of concerts at the Talk of the Town restaurant, while struggling with addiction, strained personal relationships, and her stuttering stardom in the final months of her life. Its last London staging in 2011 garnered four Olivier Award nominations, and its Broadway production was three-time Tony Award-nominated. (Renée Zellweger won the Oscar for the 2019 film Judy, adapted from the play.) Directed by Rupert Hands, the 2026 show at Soho Theatre Walthamstow weaves together some of Garland’s most familiar songs with lesser-known aspects of her story.