JENNY LIND PRESENTS P.T. BARNUM to Play United Solo Festival Next Month

Award-winning Actress/Singer/Writer Shelley Cooper turns the tables on the “Greatest Showman” in her newest solo show, Jenny Lind Presents P.T. Barnum, coming to the 17th Annual United Solo Theatre Festival at Theatre Row in Manhattan in October. The original work will play for a single performance on Oct.18 2024 at 7PM. Tickets are $47.50 including fees and may be purchased at the button below.

Jenny Lind, an operatic soprano whose performances took Europe by storm in the mid-19th Century, was known as The Swedish Nightingale. In 1850, she embarked on an American concert tour arranged by promoter P.T. Barnum for which she was paid the unprecedented fee of $1000 per performance. Chafing under Barnum's relentless promotion of her tour and his questionable moral character, and increasingly conflicted about America's sharp division over slavery, Shelley Cooper, as Jenny Lind, confronts Barnum. Cooper's impassioned monologue is accompanied by several vocal performances throughout the 55-minute show. (List of vocal selections appears below.) The show is directed by Michelle Crouch, with costume design by Megan Hoppe.

Jenny Lind Presents P.T. Barnum, has been an official selection for United Solofest, Binge Fringe, Fort Worth Fringe, LAWTF and Orlando Fringe FestN4. The show made its European debut in Austria. Most recently, the show was seen at Hollywood Fringe Festival where it won “Best of Asylum” and a Gold Medal from TVolution.  The eight vocal selections include: “Chacun le sait” by Gaetano Donizetti (from “La Fille du Regiment”), Unruly, sir unruly” from La Serva Padrona by Pergolessi”, “Home Sweet Home” by Henry Bishop and John Howard Payne, and “Ah, non credea mirarti” by Vincenzo Bellini (from “La Sonnambula”).

Shelley Cooper is an Award Winning Solo Actor/Playwright and Associate Professor of Musical Theatre at Augustana College. She is no stranger to the United Solo Theatre Festival. Her previous outing at United Solo, La Divina, The Last Interview of Maria Callas, conceived and written by Cooper, won Best Show at the 2022 festival. La Divina was featured in LA Women's Theatre Festival, Hollywood Fringe (Pick of the Fringe) and Orlando Fringe (Best Individual Performance in a Drama). An active musical theatre/opera performer, Cooper's most noted performances are “Dolly” in Hello, Dolly!, "Johanna" in Sweeney Todd starring Tony-Award-winning actress Faith Prince; "Nellie" in South Pacific, and “Musetta” in La Boheme.

The annual United Solo Festival, the world's largest solo theatre festival, presents a selection of local and international productions including storytelling, puppetry, dance, multimedia, improv, stand-up, magic, musical, and drama. Since its inaugural year in 2010, United Solo has featured more than 1,000 productions from all over the world. In 2021, United Solo launched a new virtual platform (United Solo SCREEN) to present shows for its global audience and theatre enthusiasts.

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