Jinkx Monsoon is Judy Garland, proclaims the advertising for Soho Theatre Walthamstow's new production of End of the Rainbow. On the surface, this is bold and unconventional casting: Garland, a legend of Old Hollywood, portrayed by a trans woman known for reality TV fame. Yet Monsoon, a two-time winner of RuPaul's Drag Race (2013 and 2022), has become drag royalty and a Broadway star in her own right. Thus, few roles could be more fitting than Garland, the ultimate icon of gay pop culture and a revered figure in the queer community. The two women have lived lives of "parallel circumstances," as Monsoon explains. "It makes sense for me to play Judy Garland. It just does," she says with a grin. "Ask anybody."
From Drag Race to the West End
Today, the 38-year-old sits in a rehearsal room above the theatre, wearing a vintage jacket and deep green eye makeup, her hair red. She looks nothing like Garland, but on stage she transforms. Monsoon shares Garland's powerful vibrato and is a skilled mimic, as Drag Race fans recall from her "Snatch Game" impersonations of Garland and Natasha Lyonne. End of the Rainbow, written by Peter Quilter and first staged in 2005, traces the tragic end of Garland's life. It is a rich, sorrowful role that earned Renee Zellweger an Oscar for the 2019 film adaptation Judy. For Monsoon, who has been sober from alcohol for about seven years, the play offers a chance to explore addiction. "I feel like in very obtuse ways, we've lived parallel lives," she says. "But I have gotten to this really good place that some people with addiction don't reach."
Parallel Lives and Sobriety
Monsoon describes End of the Rainbow as an exploration of "what women deal with in the public eye when they reach a certain level of fame, and it changes everything. But beyond that, it's a very true-to-life play about what happens when someone is in the grips of addiction. There are layers and layers here, giving meaning beyond just doing a flawless Judy Garland impersonation." She laughs, a breathy, sincere sound that punctuates the conversation. Her voice carries a hard-lived quality that aids her portrayal. "I spent some years not making the best choices for a singer," she admits. "But now I treat my talents as gifts, while finding balance." She adds, "I'm a high-functioning stoner... in America. It's legal there."
Monsoon, born Hera Lilith Hoffer, has been sober from alcohol for seven years, quitting after a near-miss in the UK when she was blackout drunk and almost hit by a car. "I'd been hit before and considered myself lucky. It almost happened again, and someone had to tell me because I didn't remember. I thought, 'You're only going to get lucky so many times.'" Her early life in Portland, Oregon, involved caring for younger siblings while her mother struggled with alcohol addiction. End of the Rainbow has helped her understand her mother. "We're having conversations now that weren't possible in Judy and Liza's time. Generational trauma is something I've had to learn about for my own wellbeing. Unpacking that helps me forgive my mother, who also had trauma. It's easier when you realize your parent was just human."
Identity and the UK
Monsoon came out as gay at 13, began drag at 15 with her grandmother's support, and later identified as non-binary in 2017, then as a trans woman. Regarding the UK's "hostile environment" for trans people, she says, "Queer people wait for the day we can walk down the street without someone shouting something. In America, a stranger might ask, 'Are you a man or a woman?' Here, it's 'Is you a bloke or a bird?' So, lateral move." She notes the UK's longer history with drag and panto, "where queer people can thrive, but the trans conversation is newer. In some ways, the UK is ahead, but you're still having these conversations."
Career Beyond Drag Race
Drag Race remains "a constant in my life," Monsoon says. "It's what told me I could do anything else, including quitting drinking. I did something hard at a young age, and it reminds me I'm capable of doing it again." Her post-Drag Race career includes voice acting on Adventure Time spinoffs, a role in Happiest Season, a Broadway revival of Pirates of Penzance, and a villainous turn as Maestro on Doctor Who in 2024. "Everyone treated it with high reverence, like Shakespeare," she recalls. "When you get into what we do as actors, it comes down to telling the truth. Whether you're a mythical god of music or Judy Garland..." She laughs, leaving the punchline hanging. The stage is hers.
'End of the Rainbow' runs at Soho Theatre Walthamstow until 21 June.
