Souvenir
Lyceum Theatre - NYC
November 2005
Review by John Kenrick
Attention theatre lovers! Unfurl the banners and call out the
marching bands - the glorious Judy Kaye is back on Broadway, and
all is right with the world! Okay, there's an awful lot that is not
right with this world, but you'll forget all of it for a few blissful
hours seeing Ms. Kaye in Souvenir, playwright Stephen
Temperley's delicious new comedy at Broadway's Lyceum Theatre.
Despite a slew of songs, Souvenir is not a musical, and
although the characters and situation are based on fact, it is
definitely not a dramatized history lesson. This show is precisely what
it claims to be, a "fantasia" inspired by the real-life
collaboration between pianist Cosme McMoon and soprano Florence Foster
Jenkins. Jenkins was a socialite who gave a series of charity concerts
in the 1930s and 40s that have become the stuff of legend, not because
of their quality, but because the woman had a violently uncertain sense
of pitch and key. Surviving recordings suggest that Jenkins may not have
been the worst amateur singer of all time, but she certainly was the
worst to ever play Carnegie Hall.
Souvenir finds McMoon some two decades after Jenkins' death,
performing in a Greenwich Village piano bar and reminiscing about the
dozen years he worked with "Madame Flo." The play takes a
humorous look at the true meaning of music and the art of performing. Is
"exactitude" of technique the real goal, or is it the honest
expression of the artist's soul? Jenkins is depicted as blissfully
incapable of hearing her own vocal inadequacies, and McMoon gradually
moves from being an incredulous paid accompanist to standing by her as a
faithful and supportive artistic partner. While audiences will come to Souvenir
expecting to laugh (and goodness knows there is laughter aplenty here),
they will also find themselves touched by a surprisingly appealing story
of two people finding friendship.
Director Vivian Matalon has staged this endearing two-hander
with flawless grace, making frequent transitions in time and place easy
to follow and giving both performers ample opportunity to win our
hearts. Temperley has made several much-needed improvements to the
script since the show's 2004 Off-Broadway run, and the results are
richly entertaining. R. Michael Miller's handsome unit set and Tracy
Christensen's period-perfect costuming look all the better under Ann
G. Wrightson's impeccable lighting. And joy of joys, this show is
performed without amplification! This is real theatre, and in the
relative intimacy of the Lyceum, no one will have any trouble catching
every precious word and note. And in another throwback to a happier
time, Souvenir boasts just one producer's name above the title.
Three cheers to Ted Snowdon for bringing this much needed
bon bon to Broadway -- and to the inexplicably undervalued York Theatre Company
for nurturing the show over the last few years.
As the long-suffering but ultimately converted McMoon, Donald
Corren proves a deft comic actor and a first-rate accompanist - a
rare combination indeed. He is the perfect foil for Judy Kaye as she
merrily leads the audience through a giddy series of twists and turns.
With her extraordinary sense of craft, Kaye turns Jenkins from a
laughing stock into a three dimensional character we can actually care
about. By the time her Carnegie Hall audience turns on her in gales of
derisive guffaws, the Broadway audience (which laughed just as viciously
at the start of Souvenir) finds itself unexpectedly on Jenkins'
side! And while I don't want to ruin anything, let me assure you that
Kaye's final number will take your breath away. Make no mistake, this
lady is giving the performance of a lifetime, one that people will be
talking about for years to come.
Don't miss Souvenir, as magical an evening as Broadway has
seen in far too many a season. Without so much as a single chandelier,
helicopter, puppet or flying cow, this dandy play will remind you what good
theatre is all about.
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