BWW Reviews: Peter Quilter's GLORIOUS! Comes to ICT

Glorious!/by Peter Quilter/directed by Richard Israel/ICT, Long Beach/through November 2

At least four plays have been written about Florence Foster Jenkins, who in the 30s and 40s, in spite of being considered the worst singer ever, recorded and gave highly publicized annual SRO concerts including one in 1944 at... Carnegie Hall. A rank amateur, Jenkins had no pitch, tone or rhythm and decimated just about every note and lyric in every score she put her voice to. BUT, she had a dream and she loved music with a passion. In her head and heart, she sounded like one of the most gorgeous sopranos that ever graced a stage. Maybe she really knew she was tone deaf and couldn't hit the mark... or maybe she didn't. If we cannot get our hands on one of her recordings, we can only estimate the truth of the matter by what we read or see in the various plays about her life.

Stephen Temperley's Souvenir, which was written at about the same time as Peter Quilter's Glorious!, around 2005/2006, was billed as a Fantasia on the Life of Jenkins. When I saw Souvenir, I was appalled at how her pianist Cosme McMoon was her constant ally. When she first teamed with McMoon she begged him to be brutally honest with her...but he was not. He lied, misled her, deluded her, and even when she heard the laughter at the Carnegie Hall performance, he convinced her it was not to her derision. Bad fellow, in my book! The production with Judy Kaye as Jenkins was first rate, but it left me cold and sorrowful about the true meaning of friendship. Fantasia or not, it was based on a real person who supposedly trusted others to tell her the truth, but they did not.

Now at International City Theatre (ICT) in Long Beach, Quilter's Glorious! is playing through November 2 with a glorious performance from Eileen Barnett as Florence Foster Jenkins and a wonderful supporting cast. Quilter's play is a five-character outing as opposed to Temperley's two-character piece. It offers fewer musical performances and presents McMoon (Matthew Wrather) as only one of the lying allies/admirers surrounding Jenkins. In Glorious! there are also her lover St. Clair (Leland Crooke) and her best friend Dorothy (Janellen Steininger). Glorious! is not billed as a fantasy. At the very top it states that what we are about to see is based on a true story.

I realize that I must put my misgivings about the intentions of these characters to one side. Why they did not tell her that she could not sing is beyond comprehension but they did not. And the fact that we are not laughing with her but at her...well, it is true that we must learn to laugh at ourselves and at all human nature, whenever possible. The real faux pas here is that Jenkins' dream of playing to sold out crowds of mostly adoring fans came true. Was the public so attuned to mediocrity even back then that they could not discern true art? Yet, how would composers Cole Porter or Irving Berlin - who sent her flowers on opening nights - fit into that theory!? Go figure?! It's a puzzlement! As presented in Glorious!, Jenkins is an exceedingly likable woman from the very onset. She is a warm, caring, passionate person and that love extends to everyone with whom she came in contact, including Dorothy's pet poodle little Ricky. Despite her atrocious vocal disability, she is a wonderful humanitarian, one that I perhaps would have adored if I had been part of her entourage.

Needless to say, Quilter provides us with abundant laughs that will be appreciated especially by a gay audience, who love hearing words/phrases like - queens and friends of Dorothy. One interesting note which I found curiously delicious was the fact that Jenkins insisted on interviewing every member of her audience before they were permitted to buy a ticket. There is also one delightfully written surprise scene, a funeral, but I will not divulge who dies. I love unpredictability and you must go and see the play for yourselves.

Under Richard Israel's impeccable staging, the ensemble shine. Barnett is a real treat, a joy to watch. For those of us who know what an outstanding singer she is, we laugh uproariously at her unlilting cacophonies as Jenkins. It takes a great singer to be able to sing off key with no rhythm, pitch or tone, and Barnett excels in a winning turn. Wrather, Crooke and Steininger are equally wonderful in their roles, each creating someone distinctly amusing. The real standout in the supporting department is Carol Abney as Hispanic maid Maria and socialite Mrs.Verrinder-Gedge who comes onstage at the Ritz Carlton during Jenkins charity concert to tell her face to face what an untalented performer she is. Abney's lazy, stubborn, put-upon, only Spanish-speaking maid is a hoot. But it is her brazen integrity as the socialite that is her most forceful performance. JR Bruce has designed a functionally attractive set, which includes Jenkins' New York apartment, a recording studio, and the Ritz Carlton and Carnegie Hall performing stages. The rim of the stage is beautifully adorned with potted flowers. Kim DeShazo has outdone herself with costumes, particularly Barnett's angel character-dress with moving wings. Hilarious! (top picture)

Glorious! is a pleasant evening of theatre made most memorable by the fabulous Eileen Barnett, whose display of eternal optimism as the controversial Jenkins is touching and unforgettable.

http://ictlongbeach.org/

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