Description
This is a beautiful autographed November 10th, 2005 OPENING NIGHT playbill from the Original Broadway production of the STEPHEN TEMPERLEY play with music "SOUVENIR" at the Lyceum Theatre in New York City. (The production opened November 10th, 2005 and ran for 68 performances.) ..... The musical about the legendary FLORENCE FOSTER JENKINS starred the brilliant, Tony Award winning JUDY KAYE and featured DONALD CORREN as her accompanist and friend "Cosme McMoon" ..... Note: Both JUDY KAYE and DONALD CORREN signed the front cover ..... Biography: FLORENCE FOSTER JENKINS (1868-1944) was an American soprano who became famous for her complete lack of singing ability. Born Florence Foster in Pennsylvania, Jenkins received music lessons as a child, and expressed a desire to go abroad to study music. Her father, despite being wealthy refused to pay the bill, so she eloped with Frank Thornton Jenkins, a doctor (the two divorced in 1902). She earned a living there as a teacher and pianist. Upon her father's death in 1909, Jenkins inherited a huge sum of money which allowed her to take up the singing career that had been discouraged by her parents and former husband. She became involved in the society life of Philadelphia, founding and funding the Verdi Club, took singing lessons, and began to give recitals, her first in 1912. From her recordings, it is apparent that Jenkins had little sense of pitch and rhythm, had quite a limited range, and was barely capable of sustaining a note. Her accompanist can be heard on recordings making adjustments to compensate for her tempo variations and rhythmic mistakes. Nonetheless, she became tremendously popular in an unconventional way. Her audiences apparently loved her for the amusement she provided rather than her musical ability. Critics often described her work in a backhanded way that may have served to pique public curiosity. Despite her patent lack of ability, Jenkins was firmly convinced of her greatness. She compared herself favorably to the renowned sopranos Frieda Hempel and Luisa Tetrazzini, and dismissed the laughter which often came from the audience during her performances as coming from her rivals consumed by "professional jealousy". She was aware of her critics, however, saying "People may say I can't sing, but no one can ever say I didn't sing." The music Jenkins tackled in her recitals was a mixture of the standard operatic repertoire by the likes of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Giuseppe Verdi and Richard Strauss (all of them well beyond her technical ability), lieder (including works by Johannes Brahms and Joaquín Valverde's "Calvelitos", a favorite encore), and songs composed by herself or her accompanist, Cosme McMoon. She was legendary not only for her voice, but for her elaborate costumes and would often make at least three costume changes during a recital. As a woman of considerable girth, her matronly figure seemed to float onto the stage wearing long flowing robes with huge angel's wings sewn onto the back. On other occasions she was covered in tinsel, sequins and tulle and would throw flowers from a small basket into the audience while fluttering a fan and sporting more flowers in her hair. In spite of public demand for more appearances, Jenkins restricted her rare performances to a few favorite venues, and her annual recital at the Ritz-Carlton ballroom in New York City. Attendance of her recitals was always limited to her loyal clubwomen and a select few others (she handled distribution of the coveted tickets herself). At the age of 76, Mrs. Jenkins finally yielded to public demand and performed at Carnegie Hall on October 25th, 1944. So anticipated was the performance that tickets for the event sold out weeks in advance. Jenkins died one month later. There have been claims that Jenkins' entire 32 year career was an elaborate joke on the public, which seems to be in contradiction with another claim that her death after the Carnegie Hall performance was a result of derision by her critics. However, there is little evidence for either claim. All indications are that Florence Foster Jenkins died with the same happy, confident sense of fulfillment that pervaded her entire artistic life ..... DETAILS: The 58 page playbill measures 5 3/8" X 8 1/2" inches and includes full production credits, cast list, synopsis of scenes and bios of each of the actors and members of the creative team as well as individual photos of the actors and their understudies. The playbill will be accompanied by a Certificate of Authenticity ..... CONDITION: This playbill is in excellent condition and will make a wonderful addition to the collection of any opera, theatre or classical music aficionado. This item will be carefully packaged in a protective, carded sleeve and backed by stiff cardboard.
