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American Heartland Theatre presents a show about a big singing star of the early 20^th century. Glorious! The True Story of Florence Foster Jenkins, directed by Paul Hough, has an unusual twist. Florence Foster Jenkins was, for all intents and purposes, tone deaf.

You can't make this stuff up. Jenkins had a 32-year singing career, recorded 9 arias, and performed at Carnegie Hall. She had little sense of rhythm or pitch, yet she thought she was in competition with renowned sopranos of the day. When criticism threatened to burst her bubble, she would quip, "People may say I can't sing, but no one can ever say I didn't sing."

Playwright Peter Quilter developed this remarkable story into a script that, despite its charm, needed one more rewrite. We follow pianist, Cosmé McMoon, as he is hired to be Jenkins' accompanist, and discover along with him that she is no ordinary singer. The first act was a bit too talky and Cosmé's monologue at the end seemed out of place. Nevertheless, the script was clever and seemed to follow the story faithfully.

Debra Bluford, an American Heartland Theatre regular, stars as Florence Foster Jenkins. Her performance was vivacious; her singing dreadful (as it should've been). She was charming, and found the difficult note of self-confidence without arrogance.

Co-starring as Cosmé McMoon was Jonas Cohen, in his debut role at the American Heartland. A talented performer, and pianist, his was the character the audience sympathized with most easily. I appreciated Cohen's portrayal of McMoon as a real and genuine person, not as the accompanist "who reportedly made faces at Jenkins behind her back to get laughs" as the program reports.

Also appearing were Marilyn Lynch as Dorothy, Bruce Roach as St. Clair, and Katie Kalahurka as both Maria and Mrs. Gedge. All three should be familiar to audiences for their various roles around town.

The set design by Del Unruh featured some beautiful painting, including a large rose design on the floor and some faux marble on the walls. The set was versatile; doors were changed and a small flat was rolled on stage to change the locale entirely.

Costumes were designed by Sarah M. Oliver. Oliver is a costume technology professor at UMKC, and is sharing her expertise with the AHT. Some of the period dresses were very nice indeed, although it seemed strange that at least one actress wasn't wearing stockings.

Shane Rowse, a regular at the American Heartland Theatre, created the lighting design with practicality in mind. There were no bells and whistles, apart from a disco ball, but the lights behaved as expected. Some of the cues seemed delayed, like the audience light during the second act that took five minutes to go down after Mrs.Gedge left the scene.

Donna Miller designed sound for the production. The recordings of the real Florence Foster Jenkins added authenticity to the story. Miller did a nice job of subtly introducing classical pieces to the audience before Bluford sang them in the show.

The message of this show is simple and somewhat cliché. Follow your dreams. In this case, however, it is truly inspiring to know that Jenkins pursued her dream of singing, even when she was declared "no good" by any reputable critic. Maybe I should audition for American Idol ...

 
REVIEW
American Heartland Theatre
Glorious! The true story of Florence Foster Jenkins
Runs January 8 through February 21 (Reviewed January 13)
Crown Center
2450 Grand Blvd., Kansas City, MO
For tickets call 816-842-9999 or online at www.ahtkc.com