GLORIOUS is "Glorious"

Here are some of the reviews that have already surfaced regarding our current production of GLORIOUS! by Peter Quilter. We are thrilled to offer this Buffalo premiere production starring Mary Kate O'Connell.

Read the reviews, if you'd like, and feel free to comment. Write your own review!

We'll see you at the theatre!

O’Connell’s performance is ‘Glorious!’
By Colin Dabkowski
NEWS STAFF REVIEWER
Updated: 03/02/08 6:51 AM

As unnatural as it might seem, portraying a talentless singer onstage requires the skill of a highly talented actor.

And Mary Kate O’Connell, who plays the tone-deaf opera singer Florence Foster Jenkins in the Kavinoky Theatre’s riotous production of “Glorious!”, may have found the role of her career.

The play tells the story of Jenkins, a self-made diva who sang comically off-kilter renditions of opera’s great arias and rose to fame in the ’40s and ’50s. Much of her appeal came from the fact that Jenkins seemed to have no idea that her voice paled in comparison to talented sopranos.

With “Glorious!”, playwright Peter Quilter has taken any number of liberties with the Jenkins story, such as it was, using scant newspaper reports and Jenkins’ hilarious recordings as inspiration. His imagination has necessarily run amok in many places, and the
resulting play is a highly stylized version of the Jenkins legend replete with plenty of campy, tongue-in-cheek innuendo.

Not that there’s anything wrong with that.

Quilter’s comedy attempts to make light of the Jenkins personality type and pay homage to it. In the end, it manages to strike a happy-enough balance between those two disparate goals that probably resembles
how Jenkins’ fans must have felt about her. Nonetheless, the play too often strays from its task — to get to the heart of phenomena like Jenkins — in favor of often sophomoric one-liners and strokes of character development that seem a bit too broad.

It moves at a fast clip and survives on the power of Quilter’s clear and witty language and a cast that does its level best to draw us into Jenkins’ fantastical universe.

The show has more than its share of kitschy humor, a heavy helping of absurd dialogue and at least two characters who alternately flutter about and issue inane babble. But in the end it’s a blast and screamingly funny, often in unexpected ways.

As local casting choices go, Mary Kate O’Connell’s turn as Jenkins is a match made in heaven. To say she carries the show would be vastly understating the case. Though she receives ample assistance from Joseph Demerly as her accompanist, our eyes are drawn to her in much the same way as house fires and car accidents.

When she leaves the set, her absence is deeply felt.

And yet, more than that, she somehow manages to affect a convincing and endearing egotism that pervades all her interactions onstage.

As Jenkins’ “fey” accompanist Cosme McMoon, Demerly turns in a charming performance, with about a thousand distinct facial expressions ranging from suppressed horror to sly deception.

Victoria Perez is hilarious as the cantankerous Mexican maid Maria, a
character invented purely for comic relief. The same goes for Jenkins hanger-on Dorothy (Anne Gayley).

Sound design by Tom Makar wisely presents famous versions of the same arias Jenkins sings, so as to greatly heighten the humor factor for non-opera buffs.

Theater Review

“ Glorious!” ★★★ (out of four)

Presented by Kavinoky Theatre, 320 Porter Ave.
For more information: 829- 7668, www.kavinokytheatre.com .
cdabkowski@buffnews.com

OHMIGOD!!!!!! GLORIOUS is so very funny!!!! I embarrassed myself laughing - partly because I was surrounded by grey heads who didn't get all of the jokes immediately. Being in theatre, I did and was guffawing loudly. You don't want to sit next to me if you are easily embarrassed. And this is all the more amazing when you realize that it is a true story (well, most of it). I knew about Florence Foster Jenkins and had even heard some of her recording; but I never realized what an icon she was.

MARY KATE O'CONNELL is having such a good time up there on that stage that she should be paying the Kavinoky. And she is just, as Colin said, GLORIOUS!!! She brings to life a woman who was larger than life, who knew that life is to enjoy; who knew that no matter what anyone else thinks or says, you should follow your inner voice and have a good time. She is ridiculous and wonderful, with costumes to match.. And the whole city of New York apparently thought so too. Many people in the audience wondered how she could sing so badly with such a real voice. Hell, I do it all the time. What's the big deal?

And she has magnificent foils: JOE DEMERLY as the "unmarried" pianist who gets to pronounce deliciously droll little bits of humor (one of which it took awhile for this crowd to catch on to - and not all of them ever did). And his timing is right on with the incredulous stares, etc.

My heart beats faster whenever I see DONN YOUNGSTROM, and he plays the gorgeous but hapless Don Juan, the constant friend and admirer, the supporter of dreams to a T. And he can DANCE!!!

What do I need to tell you about ANNE GAYLEY when she is being wacky? She plays the unconscious arranger, the little item see-to-er, hysterical dog lover, with "vim and vigor", moving like a cyclone around everyone standing.

EILEEN DUGAN has the thankless role of representing the world of realism regarding Ms. Jenkins' ability to sing. She shares incredulous reactions with Joe Demerly and makes us want to boo her, all the while knowing that she is so right. Sometimes always right people make you want to boo and Eileen carries it off perfectly.

VICTORIA PEREZ is the Maid with a wonderful discovery: If you can't speak or understand the language, you can't be fired and you can pretty well manage things as you please. Her explosions in Spanish (or whatever it is) are great fun.

Do go to see this show. Even if it were not so perfectly performed, the story and the singing will make you glad you did.

Beautifully directed by JAVIER BUSTILLOS
Simple but effective sets by DAVID KING
Lighting Design by (say it with me) BRIAN CAVANAGH
Sound Design by (who else?) TOM MAKAR
Incredible Costume Design by TESSA LEW
Radio Announcer IRV WEINSTEIN

I give it five front row seats (with or without earmuffs)

Mary of the Lofti (lofti35@roadrunner.com)

GLORIOUS! (Review by A.W.)

Every person probably believes he or she is really good at something…sports, gardening, working…even couch potatoing.Florence Foster Jenkins though she could sing.She couldn’t.She really…really…really couldn’t.That’s the core of Peter Quilter’s funny “Glorious!” about a woman with more money than talent but the money to convince herself she could sing.The show is getting a nice production in the Kavinoky Theatre, held together by Mary Kate O’Connell’s Jenkins and Joseph Demerly’s Cosme McMoon.He’s a piano player hired to be Jenkins’ accompanist after the last one quit, probably driven into deafness and madness.McMoon listens to Jenkins sing and decides he doesn’t want to play.Unfortunately for his hearing, he needs the money and stays.Jenkins has a coterie of aides, maid Maria (Victoria Perez), boyfriend St. Clair ByField (Donn Youngstrom) and neighbor Dorothy (Anne Gayley). It’s really a one joke show, but Quilter does such a nice job with the plot core that the show works quite well and director Javier Bustillos has a strong cast to work with.With her records, party singing and club singing, Jenkins is building to a crescendo…Carnegie Hall.Remember that old joke about: How do you get to Carnegie Hall? Practice…Practice…Practice.Florence Foster Jenkins could practice for a thousand years and never make it on her own.Her money bought the time and the orchestra and the legend about her packed the house in that wartime year of 1944.There are jokes about her voice which her clique keep from her.Only when Mrs. Verrinder-Gedge (Eileen Dugan) appears and harasses her at a concert about her inability to sing is Jenkins forced to face reality and she punts, choosing not to recognize truth when she hears it.Anyway, she sings terribly badly and is happy in front of a packed house in Carnegie Hall.How many good singers couldn’t get on that stage?“Glorious!” is a fun show because it’s a fascinating story, of the rich woman from Pennsylvania who has the money to do what she wishes and the common sense not to listen to those who told truth.In the end, she’s dead a month after Carnegie Hall and her story faded as the war closed.It’s a wonderful show for an afternoon or an evening.Bustillos does a nice job with the script and an effective set from David King.I do wonder about O’Connell.Will her voice be permanently damaged by having to sing badly?Stay tuned.Actually, that should be…stay tuned…after seeing “Glorious!”

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