Written in Oct ’02 the play was given its first rehearsed reading at the York Theatre in May ’03. A full production was then mounted at the York opening in November ’04. Following this it was produced at the Berkshire Theatre Festival in the summer of ’05 before opening on Broadway at the Lyceum Theatre in November of the same year.
The play was directed by Vivian Matalon.
Settings were by R. Michael Miller; Costumes by Tracy Christensen; Lighting by Anne Wrightson; and Sound by David Budries.
The play explores the difference between the way we see ourselves and the way the rest of the world sees us. An imagined biography of the infamously bad American soprano Florence Foster Jenkins and her accompanist Cosme McMoon climaxing in her legendary concert in Carnegie Hall in 1944.
Told from the point of view of Cosme in 1964 looking back on his life on the anniversary of FFJ’s death. As he entertains the audience at a New York supper club he comes to terms with the limits of his talent, comparing his own disappointments with the boundless self-confidence of Mrs. Jenkins who, though she was unable to sing two notes in tune, went to her grave believing herself to be a great singer, untroubled by any doubts about her ability and only ever listening to the music she heard in her head.
Judy Kaye and Donald Corren at Berkshire Theatre Festival: photo by David Sprague
So go laugh to your heart's content. There weren't many voices as bad as Jenkins's. There aren't many theatrical experiences as good as ''Souvenir."
Boston Globe
Stock and amateur rights are controlled by Dramatists’ Play Service.
...a memorable illustration of the real limits of self-perception, and of the purely theatrical magic that can turn the tinniest ear to gold.
Time Out
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