In tune with untalented performer
By Charmian Smith, 15 May 2014, originally published in Otago Daily Times
Although unburdened by talent and tone-deaf, Florence Foster Jenkins had a singing career in New York, culminating in a concert at Carnegie Hall. Her tragically comic story is told in Souvenir at the Fortune Theatre. Charmian Smith reports
Florence Foster Jenkins was an extraordinary woman.
She had no sense of rhythm, pitch or tone yet she gave elaborate charity concerts in New York, culminating in one at Carnegie Hall that sold out in three hours.
Her story is told in Souvenir, which opens at the Fortune Theatre on Saturday.
Frances was a wealthy woman, president of this and secretary of that and put on concerts to raise money for charity, director Lara Macgregor says.
''They were extensively advertised and she would put them on in the music room of the Ritz-Carlton, fill them and give generously to all sorts of different charities.''
The question Macgregor and her cast, Angela Johnson who plays Florence and Michael Lee Porter who plays Florence's accompanist and friend Cosmé McMoon, are trying to figure out is why people came to these concerts and stayed when she sounded so terrible; recordings of her singing can be heard on YouTube. Read more...
