Florence Foster Jenkins was a wealthy woman in early 20th Century America who decided she wanted to sing, so she started performing recitals of classical music. And she didn't let the fact that she couldn't sing stop her! She became a bit of a phenomenon, in a
The Producers "so bad it's good" kind of way. But the play
Souvenir, which premiered off and then on Broadway about 20 years ago, doesn't treat her as the butt of the joke. It's actually kind of inspiring and heart-warming as it tells the story of someone who performed for the love of it, and didn't care what anyone thought. Music isn't about perfection, theater isn't about perfection, art isn't about perfection. And it isn't reserved for the select few; we're all artists, even if it's just for ourselves. Florence sums it up in this quote: "People may say I can't sing, but no one can ever say I didn't sing." She did the thing. Gremlin Theatre's production of
Souvenir is excellently done; the cast and creative team stay true to Florence's spirit of love for the art, although they are objectively more talented (
continuing through November 30).
