There it was, the oval mirror from the upstairs hall, leaning over a cellar window.

NEWYORKER: Miracle Polish

That afternoon when I returned from work, I went up to the oval mirror.

NEWYORKER: Miracle Polish

The next morning I woke before my alarm and hurried over to the oval mirror in the hall.

NEWYORKER: Miracle Polish

In place of the oval mirror in the upstairs hall, there was a framed painting of an old mill beside a brown pond with two ducks.

NEWYORKER: Miracle Polish

Early one morning, a week or so later, I stepped over to the oval mirror in the upstairs hall, as I did every morning before leaving for work.

NEWYORKER: Miracle Polish

At the top of the stairs she walked sternly and without a glance past the oval mirror and into the bedroom, where I watched her bright reflection lie down on the bed and close her eyes.

NEWYORKER: Miracle Polish

It struck me that before I could reach the oval mirror in the upstairs hall, I had to pass through the front hall, cross the dusky living room with its sagging couch, walk the length of the kitchen, and climb two sets of creaking stairs, the long one up to the landing and the short one up to the hall.

NEWYORKER: Miracle Polish

She spent time in front of a mirror, retraining the shape of her mouth, forcing her lips into a long oval "O" to evoke Ms. Garland's face in midbelt but pulling back when the look turned clownish.

WSJ: Tracie Bennett as Judy Garland, Capturing the Essence of a Legend | Creating