Sovenir


Written by: Stephen Temperley
Directed by: Vivian Matalon
Cast: Judy Kaye (Foster Jenkins), Donald Corren (Cosme McMoon).
Synopsis: Tells the story of Florence Foster Jenkins - a tone deaf wealthy spinster who ended up performing a sold-out show at Carnegie Hall.

What the critics had to say.....

BEN BRANTLEY of the NEW YORK TIMES says �The first act is an unexpectedly gentle and affecting comedy. More's the pity that the second act comes close to erasing its previously accumulated good will. Like the obsessed woman it celebrates, "Souvenir" doesn't know when to leave the stage.�
CLIVE BARNES of THE NEW YORK POST says "When your principal character's claim to fame is her atrociously bad singing, how can you make a show based on her musical exploits anything more than variations on a one-joke theme? That's the problem faced by Simon Temperley's "Souvenir."
DAVID ROONEY by VARIETY says "Stephen Temperley's play is in many ways a fragile premise for a two-act stage vehicle, its conflicts only fully surfacing in the final scenes. But his central themes -- the yawning gap that can separate one's self-image from the assessments of others, the dividing line between art and travesty, the not always mutually inclusive components of passion and accomplishment in performance -- are fleshed out in highly entertaining fashion."
MICHAEL KUCHWARA of ASSOCIATED PRESS says "Stephen Temperley's funny, warmhearted play with music about New York society's most famous vocally challenged diva. Jenkins' life - and her piercing, ear-shattering performances - have been splendidly captured in this two-character stage biography. "
FRANK SCHECK of the HOLLYWOOD REPORTER says "The play, which seemed sketchy in its original off-Broadway production at the York Theatre, feels richer upon a second viewing. Kaye has gotten even better in her starring role, delivering a complexly shaded performance that beautifully conveys Jenkins' good-heartedness and vulnerability, as well as the extent of her supreme self-delusion."

External links to full reviews from newspapers

New York Times
New York Post
Variety
Associated Press
Hollywood Reporter

Originally published on

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