Souvenir at The Jungle Theater on 11/19/08

By: David de Young

Souvenir publicity photo by Michal Daniel

Souvenir, by Stephen Temperley, is the story of Florence Foster Jenkins, a socialite who made it big as an opera singer in New York City in the 1930s and 1940s.  The caveat?  She was by all accounts a completely, horrifyingly awful singer with absolutely no sense of either intonation or rhythm.

Temperley’s play is one of three about Foster Jenkins’ life. It opened on Broadway in 2005 and had its Twin Cities debut at the Jungle Theater November 14^th.  It’s without a doubt the most hilarious play I have seen this season, yet it still delivered on the other element which initially drew me to it: heart.

Directed and designed by Joel Sass, the Jungle’s production features soprano Claudia Wilkens as Foster Jenkins and pianist Peter Vitale as her piano accompanist Cosme McMoon. The story is told in flashbacks as Cosme recalls it from his seat at a piano in a Greenwich Village supper club in 1964, 20 years after Foster Jenkins’ death.

Though I admit to laughing out loud hard, and with enough frequency to make my sides ache, Souvenir is also a thoughtful play that questions the criteria upon which people judge the value and importance of art. Early in the action, as Foster Jenkins screeches through song after song in rehearsal (Wilkens is actually an accomplished singer who had to learn to sing as badly as she did), she points out to a frustrated Cosme, “What’s important is the music you hear in your head.”  If you’ve ever felt genuine envy for a delusional person, you are all set to fall in love with this woman.  I imagine that Wilkens’ performance as Foster Jenkins successfully reproduces the same sort of joy and laughter that caused audiences to snap up tickets to her shows (2000 people were reportedly turned away from her Carnegie Hall performance!) and buy copy after copy of her equally awful albums in the ‘30s and ‘40s.

Peter Vitale, who also serves as musical director, succeeds both in comic timing and genuine earnestness as Cosme, who becomes as much Foster Jenkins’ accompanist as her protector, signing on to shield her from criticism and help her keep her dream alive. He worries aloud at one point, “Would her folly or madness be enough to keep her safe?” Initially Cosme is scared stiff of the personal embarrassment he may face by performing in public with her, but he eventually comes around to the same realization that we as an audience do: this is one extraordinary woman. As such, Souvenir is as much about the development of the relationship between the musicians as it is about Foster Jenkins’ singing career.

Wilkens’ costumes throughout, and particularly her dresses as she changes for every song during her Carnegie Hall recital, are brilliant and downright outrageous; you will shake your head in disbelief at more than one, but I won’t spoil your fun by giving any away.  All the scenes are played out on the single piano bar set which easily becomes any room it needs to be through minor lighting and slight furniture changes.

When all is said and done it’s a moving story.  I recalled the Sesame Street song Sing from my childhood that encouraged you to “sing out loud” and “sing out strong” and “don’t worry that it’s not good enough for anyone else to hear,”  though I wonder if it was meant to apply to the particularly demanding aria, “Der Hölle Rache kocht in meinem Herzen” from Mozart’s Magic Flute or “Ave Maria.”  But why not?

Souvenir runs through December 21st.  Tickets from http://www.jungletheater.com/html/tickets.html or call 612-822-7063.

Location Info: The Jungle Theater
Artist Info: The Jungle Theater

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