View from the Green Room: Glorious is as glorious does

Florence Foster-Jenkins (Maria Clancy) could kill an aria at 10 paces; a listener at 20. The New York Socialite believed that she was born with the gift of song. Unfortunately, she was the only one who believed it. Florence was tone deaf, had no ear for melody, beatless in rhythm and ignorant of anything she sang in Italian. Her vocal contortions for cadenzas amounted to strangulation of the larynx and the leaps and falls of an aria were breathtakingly tortuous.

She was fortunate that she never needed rehearsal. Warm-ups were for wimps that had no talent and naysayers – of which there was an army – were no more than envious rival divas. Florence also believed that her physical presence and balletic movement enriched her performance. In truth, her musical gestures had all the grace of a dead frog that had a current running thorough it.

So…how did she succeed in her career as the most appalling singer to ever set foot on a stage? Well…that is the intrigue of tonight’s sparkling comedy from Brewery Lane Theatre that entertains a full house for some two hours.

Money is the key. Her darling dad – who, incredibly, denied her talent as an opera diva – died and left Florence barrow-loads of dosh that facilitates Florence’s fantasy career of being an operatic concert performer. It’s that story Macbeth speaks of: “a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing”.

But…it’s a drama that finds bit-players willing to buy in to. Hangers on who need financial patronage of some type or other. There’s down-at-heel piano-player Cosme McMoon (Michael Raggat) who has just the perfect double-meaning riposte to all of Florence’s praise for her own singing…”I’ve never heard singing like it…so hard to..em…describe…impossible to…em…ignore…” Raggat’s perplexed reactions are a subtle delight and his killer-comments only sit with the audience.

There’s also serial philanderer and flatterer-in-chief St Clair Bayfield (David Shee) along with social climber butty-and-chief-buttererupper Dorothy (Paula O’Dwyer) to add to Florence’s coterie of hangers-on. Ball debutantes Sheenagh Raggatt and Catherine Whelan appear like ladies-in-waiting to the devilish diva while Diano Prieto is hilarious as the Spanish-speaking maid who no one understands.

So…how does it transpire that a woman of absolutely zero singing talent can pass herself off as an opera singer of quality? Money opens all doors. Any patron who wishes to attend a Jenkins concert must first pass an interview and present an ID. As Florence is Chairperson of some twenty socialite ladies clubs, there are plenty of takers and the events become like episodes in the King’s New Clothes where money and social elitism call the shots. It is a curious fact of life that, frequently, it is the people with the most ridiculous ideas who are most certain of them.

Florence is immune to any note of criticism and, when Mrs Vertindeger-Gedge (Jayne Tennyson) rocks up with some home truths…”you wouldn’t know a note if it flew at you in a rage”…, the barbs never land. You could never rattle this lady’s scaffolding. Instead, Florence books Carnegie Hall on her surety for a concert that requires a minimum attendance of some three thousand tone-deaf ticket-holders to foot the bill for the night.

Incredibly, the show is a sell out and two thousand fail to gain admission. Boohs, cat-calls, raucous shouts fill the air but Florence is in her heaven and nothing deters her. Her singing brought tears to ears. Her performance lies firmly in the “Oh-Sweet-Jesus” category as Florence strangles her throat in her attempts to manage notes while her cadenzas defy description. It was like listening to Chewbacca trying to sing Puccini.

Glorious is a social comedy of manners with laughs largely understated as only the audience gets the meaning. Director Esther Byrne manages the compact stage well despite the need for five set changes although the pace inevitably suffers. Characters are strong and subtly defined although the pace of the dialogue could be snappier. A 1944 milieu is well established with screen shots of Manhattan in the forties running before the opening and during the interval. Performances are strong and tongue-in-cheek and Maria Clancy’s performance is exceptional in the extraordinary demands made on her as the tone-deaf socialite, Florence.

A good night at Brewery Lane where the welcome is always warm and the audience always appreciative.