Judy: Renée Zellweger portrays Judy Garland in new biopic

Judy is a musical biopic depicting the final months prior to the death of Judy Garland. But it is not a simple sob story. It is a musical celebration of her love, talent and voice.

It is late 1968. Garland is booked to perform at the Talk of the Town, the West End venue where Londoners can be transported into a Hollywood dream. The setlist includes the fitting ‘I Belong to London’ as well as ‘Over the Rainbow’, her signature song from the Wizard of Oz film that had been released thirty years earlier.

Garland is in the midst of both despair and hope. She is on a fast-track romance with Mickey Deans, her (fifth) husband. For Garland, this relationship was a late-life triumph of love: ‘This is it. For the first time in my life, I am really happy. Finally, I am loved.’ But she is struggling to cope with a drug addiction that intertwines with her relationship and her performance on stage.

Renée Zellweger makes a stunning transformation to become Judy Garland, and is set to continue the fine form which characterised her performance in the 2002 film Chicago, the musical adaptation which displayed her capacity to act and sing on screen.

With still a few months to go, anticipation will continue to soar ahead of one of the biggest performances of the year this October.