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‘Glorious!’ @ Aurora Theatre
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
THEATER REVIEW. Grade: C+
Florence Foster Jenkins was a musical legend —- both in her own time and her own mind. She was a diva to top all divas, an early 20th-century New York society dame innocent of talent and yet absolutely convinced that God had silver-coated her vocal cords.
That her vocalism was wretched was beside the point. She had all the affectations of an opera singer —- the vibrato, the flowing-arm movements, the dramatic swoops and rolling irises —- and just enough musicality to set up aural expectations and suddenly dash them to hilarious affect.
Audiences flocked to witness this phenomenon, this larger-than-life persona drenched in boas and homemade tinsel and fluff costumes to suit her repertoire. Whether audiences will similarly flock to see Peter Quilter’s comedic biographical play “Glorious!” at the Aurora Theatre is another question.
Certainly Madame Jenkins’ life as a performer cries out for stage realization, as do the perfumed salons and flower-strewn ballrooms in which she held forth before “lonely women and artistic men” —- all of whom she personally interviewed in her Manhattan hotel room before selling a ticket. No wonder she created a sensation when she finally appeared at Carnegie Hall in 1944 at the age of 76, selling out the house, turning some 2,000 disappointed fans away.
Quilter’s script is largely biographical, at times forcibly so, twisting the dialogue to set up some of Jenkins’ innocent real-life self-assessments (“I’m very similar to Frank Sinatra”), all delivered with effusive gusto by Shelly McCook in the starring role. The dramatis personae reflect Madame’s coterie of friends and colleagues, including her manager/boyfriend St. Clair, played with upper-crust aplomb by Bruce Taylor, and her obsequious accompanist Cosme (pronounced KOZ-may) McMoon, inhabited here with consummate effeminacy by Chris Ensweiler.
As the play opens, Cosme arrives at Madame’s apartment to audition to be her new accompanist. She hires him immediately, without hearing a single note, offers him a bourbon and declares them a team. He’s not so sure, but Madame is living proof of the power of positive thinking; Cosme becomes a dedicated follower and stays with her to the end.
So do St. Clair and Madame’s dear froufrou friend Dorothy, played by Marianne Fraulo with appropriate adoration. Dorothy also has a very, very old poodle, one of several ongoing gags in the play; another is Jenkins’ deadpan Spanish maid Maria (Denise Arribas), who appears periodically to offer mouthfuls of commentary in her native tongue —- usually in response to a request, in English, from Madame. Clearly this playwright has a fondness for un-PC stereotypes.
His one-liners —- especially Cosme’s double entendres —- grow tiresome after awhile. The actors’ tendency to pause before and after them, especially when they are quotes from the horses’ mouths, only makes things worse. We get the joke, thanks.
Still, Florence Foster Jenkins was riotously, if inadvertently, funny when she sang, and when McCook does the deed, she does it with admirable conviction —- just like her subject. The Aurora’s faithful subscribers clearly enjoyed themselves.
THE 411: 8 p.m. Thursdays-Saturdays; 2:30 p.m. Saturdays-Sundays. Through Nov. 5. $18-$25. Aurora Theatre Interim, Lawrenceville City Hall, 70 S. Clayton St., Lawrenceville. 678-407-6690. www.auroratheatre.com.
THE VERDICT: Amateurish, but fun.
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