Review: GLORIOUS at ARTS Theatre

Reviewed by Barry Lenny, Thursday 8th February 2018.

The Therry Dramatic Society is starting its year with Peter Quilter's 2005, Olivier Award nominated comedy, Glorious, dealing with the final year in the life of Florence Foster Jenkins, with the production being directed by Geoff Brittain. This is actually the fifth play to have been written about her.

Florence Foster Jenkins (July 19, 1868 to November 26, 1944) was a wealthy socialite, and a truly dreadful amateur soprano, dubbed "the world's worst opera singer" by the historian, Stephen Pile. Aged 76, she booked Carnegie Hall for her first and last public recital, all previous recitals, since she began singing in 1912, having been closed to all but a few of her carefully screened friends. She suffered at the hands of many in the audience and all of the critics at that Carnegie Hall concert. Five days later she had a heart attack whilst shopping in a music store, dying a few weks after.

She was born into a wealthy Pennsylvanian family but moved to New York after marrying. She ditched her husband very quickly, after finding that she had contracted syphilis from him. She had previously been a fine pianist, but switched to singing, if that word can really be applied to her vocal efforts, after injuring an arm, which stopped her from playing. It has been suggested that syphilis, and being treated with mercury and arsenic, affected her central nervous system and hearing. Penicillin arrived in the 1940s, too late to help her.

Sue Wylie plays the eponymous character, in all her hilarious glory. She was not only famed for her appalling vocals, but also for her ridiculous costumes that were so far over the top that they were most of the way down the other side, too. It will come as no surprise to anybody who has followed Wylie's career and witnessed her many successful performances that this role is a tour de force, a highlight even for her. It is a huge role, with Wylie leaving the stage only briefly here and there for a costume change, and it entails playing a larger than life woman with, and here is the hardest part, a dreadfully inaccurate and raucous voice; no mean feat for a performer who is actually a very fine singer.

The play has a small cast and we first meet her prospective new pianist, a bewildered Cosmé McMoon (February 22, 1901 - August 22, 1980), played by Jock Dunbar. McMoon, originally McMunn, was a Mexican-American and, aside from being her accompanist, was also a composer. Although he is just meeting her in the play, he was her accompanist for many years. The role here is both as a character and also as a narrator, a role that Dunbar fills well. He shows us how his initial horror at the sound of her voice is gradually replaced by affection and support for her, a difficult feat in which Dunbar convinces.

St. Clair Bayfield (August 2, 1875 - May 19, 1967), her lover with whom she lived for forty years, and her agent and manager, was an English actor who had hoped to hit the big time in America. Stuart Pearce is suitably flamboyant, and lecherous, giving his character an overactive ego and providing pleanty of laughs. Audiences will recognise the sort of actor who blames others for giving and getting the roles he thought he should have won, rather than admit to his own lack of ability.

There are also some fictional characters in the play. Another friend and staunch supporter is Dorothy, a sycophantic simpleton who carries around her exceptionally quiet and incredibly motionless dog, Ricky, in a large basket. Jenny Penny adds plenty of fun as the airhead who, along with trying to cope with everything else going on around her, also constantly sidesteps the unwelcome advances of Bayfield, and makes hopeless romantic overtures to McMoon.

Florence has the misfortune to have employed Maria, a belligerent maid who speaks and understands only Italian. Laura Antoniazzi talks with her hands as much as her voice at each hilarious, bombastic appearance, with her Maria leaving the others cowed and confused. The role was originally written for a Mexican maid who spoke only Spanish, but an Italian maid works just as well.

Florence's nemesis at the concert is Mrs. Verrinder-Gedge, a genuine music lover, played by another mainstay on the Adelaide theatre scene, Julia Whittle, who gives us a strong and opinionated character who blusters and fumes magnificently.

Denzil Thomas appears briefly as a taxi driver who is involved in an accident, causing Florence to scream in fear, and he is ultimately rewarded for helping her to sing a high note that had previously been beyond her range.

Ole Wiebkin, who was also responsible for the scenic art, would, no doubt, be pleased that his set brought forth a huge round of applause. Richard Parkhill's lighting, as always, is well thought out, and both complements and enhances the set, as well as aiding in creating the feel of each scene. The sound and visual projections, by Ray Cullen, also add much to the production

Running, on opening night, at two hours forty minutes, it is rather too long, and this is due to a lack of pace. Wylie drives it along, and Antoniazzi delivers her lines like a machine gun, but others leave pauses through which one could drive a bus. Brittain, hopefully, has spoken to his cast about this by now and trimmed the running time.

Be sure to catch this extremely funny production which is a successful start to Therry's year.

Here is the real deal.

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