Souvenir should be reviewed in Cabaret Scenes because it is a play about a singer and what it means to sing. Souvenir is about Florence Foster Jenkins (played with élan by Neva Rae Powers) once a struggling, competent piano instructor, now an heiress but not-so-competent singer. Anticipating an upcoming concert for her society pals, she hires one Cosme McMoon (played beautifully by Mark Anders alternating dismay and tenderness ) to be her Musical Director/accompanist for this debut, and other concerts to follow. However, Miss Foster Jenkins can neither sing on pitch nor maintain tempo. She mugs, shrieks, wears ridiculous self-designed costumes, and caterwauls. While McMoon unsuccessfully attempts to get Foster Jenkins on pitch, Foster-Jenkins becomes an in-demand concert artist eventually playing Carnegie Hall. The thing is that the fans come not so much to listen as to laugh. That Powers can play a two act show convincingly singing as badly as possible is remarkable, funny and sad. While Souvenir is hilarious, it also shares insights about singing; for example, that what the singer hears in her head is not necessarily what is out there in the air, and that singing itself is a dream in public.
(Pictured: Mark Anders and Neva Rae Powers. Photo by Michael Browsilow)
Carla Gordon
Cabaret Scenes
Decvember 5, 2009
www.cabaretscenes.org
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