Tony winning actress Judy Kaye will return to her Broadway Triumph, SOUVENIR, A Fantasia on the Life of Florence Foster Jenkins, by Stephen Temperley, for a limited engagement Thursday, October 12 to Sunday, November 12 at the Brentwood Theatre. Opening night is Wednesday, October 18. Ms. Kaye, who won the Tony Award for her performance in The Phantom of the Opera, was also nominated this year for Best Performance for a Leading Actress in a Play for her portrayal of the legendary musical sensation Florence Foster Jenkins. SOUVENIR is directed by Vivian Matalon.
In SOUVENIR, playwright Temperley imagines events surrounding the funny and poignant story of the musical career of Florence Foster Jenkins, a wealthy society eccentric of the 1930s and 40s who suffered under the illusion that she was a great coloratura soprano - when in fact, the opposite was true. Nevertheless, her annual charity recitals at the Ritz Carlton and performances at other venues brought her cult status, especially as news of her unfortunate singing spread, culminating in her legendary sold-out concert at Carnegie Hall.
Kaye achieved over-night stardom while starring on Broadway in the original On the Twentieth Century, won a Tony nomination for
Mamma Mia!, and most recently received rave reviews for playing Madame Hortense in the REPRISE! Broadway's Best production of Zorba.
SOUVENIR is directed by Vivian Matalon. SOUVENIR had its Broadway engagement at the Lyceum Theatre, which has special significance for Mr. Matalon. The Lyceum is where he directed the landmark production of Morning's at Seven, for which he won a Tony Award. Also starring in Souvenir will be Donald Corren who won acclaim as Harvey Fierstein's replacement in Torch Song Trilogy and who recently appeared off-Broadway in The Last Sunday in June. Souvenir was produced on Broadway by Ted Snowdon, by arrangement with The York Theatre Company, and in Los Angeles by RICHMARK Entertainment.
The musical supervisor for SOUVENIR is Tom Helm. The production has set design by R. Michael Miller and costume design by Tracy Christensen.
Tickets are $35 - $60 (previews: $25 - $50) and are available at the Wadsworth/Brentwood Main Box Office, 11301 Wilshire Blvd. Hours are Monday through Saturday 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. and Sundays 12 p.m. to 4 p.m. (subject to change).
Tickets can also be purchased through Ticketmaster - online at ticketmaster.com, by phone at Ticketmaster at 213-365-3500, and all Ticketmaster outlets. For RICHMARK memberships and tickets, and groups of 15+ call Wadsworth/Brentwood Theatre Box Office at 310-479-3003. The Brentwood Theatre is located on the Veterans Administration grounds at 11301 Wilshire Boulevard, Brentwood, CA. For more information visit www.RICHMARKENT.com
An earlier staging of SOUVENIR had a critically acclaimed, extended run at off-Broadway's York Theatre Company last season. The play recently ended a triumphant run at this summer's Berkshire Theatre Festival, where it broke box office records. Ed Siegel of the Boston Globe raved, "There aren't many theatrical experiences as good as SOUVENIR! So go laugh to your heart's content. SOUVENIR is downright hilarious!"
SOUVENIR is told through the memory of Jenkins's long-time pianist Cosme McMoon (played by Donald Corren), reminiscing from his piano bench at a Greenwich Village supper club in 1964. He takes us back 30 years to the period when he became the accompanist---and reluctant admirer---of the "dire diva of din." Together, they formed a bizarre musical partnership that earned Jenkins extraordinary fame, making her one of New York's most treasured and unique personalities.
It takes one of Broadway's best singing actresses, Judy Kaye, to play the famously tone-deaf soprano who couldn't carry a tune. Kaye, one of Broadway's musical treasures, exclaims, "It's hard work to sing badly! What's the dramatic license playing Florence Foster Jenkins? Be passionate. Get loud or soft suddenly. Don't be afraid to hoot and holler, especially in delicate arias like Verdi's 'Caro Nome.' Don't laugh no matter how hard the audience does." No matter how deluded Jenkins may have been, Kaye makes you believe that the woman's earsplitting sounds are, to her ears at least, beautiful music.
It was 25 years ago when director Vivian Matalon first suggested to playwright Stephen Temperley that there might be a play in the life and career of Florence Foster Jenkins. Temperley explains the genesis of SOUVENIR:
"Vivian played me a recording of her singing. Well, let's be charitable and call it singing. I wrote a full-scale play about her but abandoned it. I tried writing it later for one woman but couldn't find a way to make it work and put it aside again. Then three years ago I decided to approach it through the eyes of her accompanist, Cosme McMoon."
JUDY KAYE garnered a Tony nomination and three off-Broadway award nominations (Lortel, Drama Desk and Drama League) for her performance as Florence Foster Jenkins in SOUVENIR on Broadway, at the York Theatre Company in December 2004, and at the Berkshire Theatre Festival in Stockbridge, MA. Her multifaceted, nearly four-decade-long career has taken her from Broadway to the nation's leading theaters, opera houses and concert halls.
Recently Ms. Kaye received accolades for her performances as Madame Hortense in Zorba, as the Old Lady in Candide for the New York City Opera and also introduced a new cabaret honoring the centenary of Harold Arlen at Odette's in New Hope and the Caramoor Festival in
New York. Career highlights:
The Phantom of the Opera (Tony Award, Drama Desk nomination);
Mamma Mia! (Tony and Drama Desk nominations); On the Twentieth Century
(Theatre World Award, Drama Desk nomination); Ragtime at the Shubert Theatre in Los Angeles (Theatre L.A. Ovation Award); Musetta in La Bohème, Eurydice in Orpheus in the Underworld and Lucy Lockett in The Beggar's Opera, all at the Santa Fe Opera.
Other roles: Sally in Follies, Maggie in The Man Who Came to Dinner, Penny in You Can't Take It With You, Kitty Dean in The Royal Family, Nellie Lovett in Sweeney Todd, Mama Rose in Gypsy and Annie in Annie Get Your Gun. She has appeared with symphony orchestras nationwide and internationally and sung at the White House twice. She has recorded numerous discs and is the voice of Kinsey Milhone for the Sue Grafton/Random House Audio Book alphabet mystery series.
DONALD CORREN, who plays Cosme McMoon, most recently appeared as Charles in Jonathan Tolins's The Last Sunday in June. He is well remembered as the first replacement to Harvey Fierstein in the Broadway company of Torch Song Trilogy, and he also starred in its national tour (winning both the Los Angeles and San Francisco Drama Critics' Circle awards). In addition to his acting career in both theater and television, Corren has been a TV writer ("Martha Stewart Living") and a cabaret pianist.
Director VIVIAN MATALON won the Tony Award for best direction of a play for his 1980 staging of Morning's at Seven. He has had a long and successful career in London's West End, on Broadway and in regional theaters. Other Broadway credits include After the Rain with Alec McCowen and Nancy Marchand; Noel Coward in Two Keys with Jessica Tandy, Hume Cronyn and Anne Baxter; Brigadoon in its last Broadway revival; and Arthur Miller's The American Clock.
Playwright STEPHEN TEMPERLEY has written Beside the Seaside (Hudson Guild Theatre), Money/Mercy (Chelsea Theatre Center), and Dance with Me (18th Street Theatre). As an actor, Temperley has appeared on Broadway in Crazy for You, in the West End in Happy End, and across the U.S. and U.K. in many plays and musicals, most recently in Call Me Madam and Me and My Girl at Goodspeed Musicals.
For more information, and to purchase tickets visit www.BrentwoodTheatre.com
