JUDY & LIZA & ROBERT & FREDDIE & DAVID & SUE & ME... A Memoir

Allyson Ryan delivers a measured narration of Stevie Phillips's gossipy account of her life as agent to Judy Garland, Liza Minnelli, and many other stars. While Phillips covers her struggle to be accepted in the male-dominated theater industry, her main focus is on the darker side of Garland--from her addictions to her self-mutilations. Phillips was there through several of Judy's pill-popping overdoses, alcoholic stupors, and episodes of erratic behavior--all of which she recounts with enough vitriol to burn away anyone's positive memories of the troubled star. Phillips presents "a demented, demanding, supremely talented drug addict," and there is little Ryan can do to alter the vicious tone. Kudos to Ryan for remaining as objective as the text allows. S.J.H. © AudioFile 2021, Portland, Maine [Published: JANUARY 2021]