Souvenir

If four years of French has taught me nothing else...at least I can spell with an abundance of vowels.

This afternoon, after fighting the crowds and my rolling suitcase through NY's garment district, I attended Souvenir at the Lyceum. This was courtesy of Michael Miller, the head of Rutgers' MFA theatre design program and scenic designer on this production. The show is still in preview, but from what I saw, they could be ready to open tomorrow. The play/musical follows the musical career of Florence Foster Jenkins, a socialite who gave hilariously off-key recitals that became the talk of New York in the 1940's. She did perform at Carnegie Hall, that performance being the meat of Act II. What a fabulous reversal that occurs during that concert! (For more on reversals Aristotle's Poetics...he rambles on that topic for a while)

I'm not generally a musical fan, though I wouldn't pin this as a musical. It is a bout the musical career of Mrs. Jenkins and her relationship with her pianist, so there is singing...mostly off-key given the subject matter. The show was mostly one person vamping at the piano, awaiting Mrs. Jenkins entrances at various points. But the story is so engaging, the set beautifully clean and symmetrical and the costumes so wonderfully tasteful, that all 30 of us students who attended (plus the remainder of the sold out house) were entranced. Funny, moving, meaningful. It truly was a marvelous jewel. I only hope it can stay afloat in the sea of flashy Broadway. A change may be in the wind, though...several currently running shows are not typical money makers...a non-traditional Sweeney Todd, a bit of obscure Albee, earlier this year the Pillowman. It is an exciting time.