Glorious: Linden House Theatre Triumphs Over An Inferior Play

Photo: Maureen O’Neil

What do you do if you take on a play that is essentially a one-joke piece?

If you are Ottawa’s Linden House Theatre company you attempt to paper over the cracks and smother the deficiencies with a superior production of Peter Quilter’s comedy, Glorious!

So you do have to applaud actress Janet Uren for her success in delivering a warmly human performance of a real-life figure named Florence Foster Jenkins, an aspiring concert-hall diva who seemed impervious to the realities of her appalling singing voice.

We’re subjected to various displays of uncertain pitch, strangled high notes and faltering technique in the course of the evening. And initially we do get some some amusement from our initial encounter with that voice and from the scarcely veiled horror displayed by Kurt Shantz in the role of a young pianist who, until then, has no idea of what he’s getting into when he applies to become Florence’s accompanist.

But this is a comic situation that is subject to the law of diminishing returns. Keep attempting to ring more fun out of Florence’s awful singing, and the well runs dry.

Quilter’s script eventually brings Florence to the stage of Carnegie Hall — which to her constitutes true recognition, no matter how badly she sings. But in the meantime, the play is still failing to respond to a more interesting dynamic below the surface.

Jenkins was a wealthy matron with an innate sense of entitlement in the Manhattan society of the day. Like Sir Francis Cassel, an aspiring concert pianist of indifferent ability, who used to rent London’s massive Royal Albert Hall annually for a recital, Florence Foster Jenkins was also blind to her musical defects. She preferred by-invitation-only private concerts in order to keep out hostile critics. Yet these were events that had society figures clamouring to attend. And the Carnegie Hall concert, the one event open to the public, attracted a big audience whose numbers included many leading figures of the music world.

The script really doesn’t explore the inherent social ironies of the situation. It does contain some witty observations — for example: “banking’s not a line of work that’s good for the soul” — but it remains too firmly glued to its central situation of a wannabe diva who sings atrociously.

It’s a virtue of Robin Bowditch’s production that it does provide glimpses of the more interesting play that might have emerged from the Florence Foster Jenkins story. Nothing Bowditch does can redeem an unfunny episode involving a dead dog, but he does provide some sense of the weird culture of entitlement that ensured this self-deceiving lady her own peculiar status in the New York social culture of more than 70 years ago. And he strives to secure reasonably grounded performances from his cast members.

Barry Caiger brings a quality of affectionate tolerance to the role of Florence’s common-law partner, a faded Shakespearean actor with more than a touch of the ham in him. More importantly, the performances of Caiger and of Linda Barber as a loyal friend do convey the cocoon of protection that those closest to Florence built around her and her ludicrous aspirations.

Kurt Shantz recovers from a stiff beginning to bring off some solid moments as Florence’s long-suffering accompanist, Caroline Barrios has genuine snap and crackle as a temperamental Spanish maid and Sarah Hearn has a lovely cameo as an outraged music lover.

But the only real character study comes from Janet Uren as Florence. It is a portrait of warm-hearted obliviousness, and it disarms as the real Florence must have disarmed those New Yorkers who laughed at her but also loved her. There’s an essential goodness of spirit here and a devotion to the cause of music, an art she genuinely championed throughout her life. Uren takes this character as far as she can, but she’s struggling with an inadequate script.

Glorious continues at Elmwood School Theatre to November 15.

Glorious

By Peter Quilter

Linden House Theatre

Director: Robin Bowditch

Musical director: Skye MacDiarmid

Set: Robin Riddihough

Lighting and sound: Bob McKellar

Costumes: Monica Browness

Cosme McMoon………………………………….Kurt Shantz

Florence Foster Jenkins…………………………..Janet Uren

St. Clair…………………………………………..Barry Caiger

Maria……………………………………………..Carolina Barrios

Dorothy………………………………………….Linda Barber

Mrs. Verrinder-George………………………….Sarah Hearn

Radio announcer…………………………………Bob Johnston