Shock the Bechstein

          What if Salieri didn't know he was a mediocrity? What if he thought he actually WAS Mozart...making forgettable music that to his ears (and no one else's) seemed the most beautiful of melodies?

          In Stephen Temperley's comic production, "Souvenir," this tone-deaf Salieri is Florence Foster Jenkins (Judy Kaye), a character based on the real life society songstress of the 1920's-40s who regaled (impaled?) audiences at New York's Ritz Carlton and even Carnegie Hall, butchering ballads by artists ranging from Verdi to Strauss.

          "Souvenir:  A Fantasia on the Life of Florence Foster Jenkins," as the play's title indicates, is not meant to be historically accurate, particularly since the details of Ms. Jenkins' life and that of her accompanist, Cosme McMoon (Donald Corren) are sketchy, as production dramaturg Kathryn Van Winkle's program notes declare, a "patchwork of fact and myth." Of course, the scarcity of facts allows ample creative literary license, and the result is a play so entertaining-and in this Center Stage production, so marvelously acted-that it concluded with a full house standing ovation.

           Ms. Kaye and Mr. Corren originated their roles as "Madame Flo" and "Cosme" on Broadway and the level of talent shows. Corren, who tells the story of his meeting with Ms. Jenkins and the development of their professional relationship between piano riffs, reminded me of Steve Martin in his body language, facial expressions and timing.  Corren shapes his lines and crafts his part with a virtuosity of a master, far more skilled than the average Tin Pan alley musician he portrays.

           Ms. Kaye channels a bit of Margaret Dumont, the huffy "society lady" and favorite target of Groucho Marx in so many of the Marx Brothers films, only this "madame" sings...if you can call it that. Ms. Kaye, who in reality has a divine voice (twice performing at the White House), does not so much sing as hoot, pop, blurt and bellow, teetering about like a bubbling, boiling, bipedal tea kettle.  Corren's initial oh-so-carefully measured response of "something not...quite right," is hilarious in the Grand Canyon-esque depths of its understatement.

           Kaye and Corren benefit from Temperley's delightful script. Like a Beethoven sonata, it offers an engaging surface, but with deep, intriguing questions beneath that might "shock the Bechstein" as Ms. Jenkins quips. What ultimately is "good music"? Famed composer Charles Ives, for instance, made a career out of dissonance, once declaring "what it sounds like may not be what it is." Corren as McMoon begins to wonder at his patron's "delusion or dementia," and shockingly discovers he's cultivated a kind of appreciation for Ms. Jenkin's "talent," that something can be so bad, it's beautiful.

            "Singing is a kind of dreaming in public," McMoon says, and it is a dream from which Ms. Jenkins never quite awakens. Her belief in her talent and her love of music are like that of a child; to dispel the illusion would be cruel.

             As usual, Center Stage ranks four stars in the efforts of its artistic team, R. Michael Miller's set design, Tracy Christensen's over-the-top costumes from Ms. Jenkins'  Carnegie Hall performance,  David Budries' use of sound, making an opera recital shake like a night at the fights.

            "Souvenir" continues its run at Center Stage at 700 North Calvert Street now through May 24. Tickets range from $10 to $60 and are available online at www.centerstage.org or by calling 410-332-0033.

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