From the Bastrop Opera House website:
Souvenir
by Stephen Temperley
A comic musical
Executive Director Chester Eitze inaugurates his twenty-fifth year building the exceptional Bastrop Opera House program with this production of Souvenir
Fridays and Saturdays, July 10-August 1, 2009 at 8 p.m.
Optional: dinner available at 7 p.m. before the show, from Fat Cat Catering (must be ordered in advance)
For more than half a century the name Florence Foster Jenkins has been guaranteed to produce explosions of derisive laughter. Not unreasonably so, as this wealthy society eccentric suffered under the delusion that she was a great coloratura soprano when she was in fact incapable of producing two consecutive notes in tune.
Nevertheless, her annual recitals in the ballroom of the Ritz Carlton hotel brought her extraordinary fame. As news of her terrible singing spread, so did her celebrity. Her growing mob of fans packed her recitals, stuffing handkerchiefs in their mouths to stifle their laughter--which Mrs. Jenkins blissfully mistook for cheers.
The climax of her career was a single concert at Carnegie Hall in 1944. Famously, it sold out in two hours.
Souvenir, both hilarious and poignant, tells her story through the eyes of her piano accompanist, Cosme McMoon. A talented musician, he regards her at first as little more than an easy way to pay the rent, but as he gets to know her, his initial contempt gives way to reluctant admiration, then friendship, then affection.
Eyewitness accounts of their concerts vary so wildly it is almost impossible now to separate fact from gossip. Hence this fictional "biography," in which we follow the story of their partnership from its earliest days to their concert in Carnegie Hall and its aftermath.
With each new imagined triumph Florence's confidence soars. Faced with her boundless certainty, Cosme comes to revise his attitude, not only towards her singing but to the very meaning of music itself. As the play ends, the audience enters her world completely, finding there the beauty she'd heard in her head all along.
They're a musical odd couple for the ages.
Tickets:
Show Only: $10 adults; $8 seniors; $7 students (high school & college); all children age 14 and under $5.
Dinner and Show: $25 adults; $23 seniors 60+; $22 students (high school and college); $20 all children age 14 and under.
Read More at AustinLiveTheatre.com . . . .
May I recommend my documentary "Florence Foster Jenkins: A World Of Her Own", distributed by VAI. It tells the entire uncensored storyof her life.
ReplyDeleteDonald Collup