GLORIOUS! Hit Productions at the Lennox Theatre, Riverside Theatres, 5-9 September 2017; and touring.
American socialite, Florence Foster Jenkins, was both the worst and best known soprano in New York City in the early 1940s. She has remained a cult figure since her death in 1944 through recordings – made at her own instigation and cost – that defy reason and any idea of musicality. In recent years her incredible (incredible: impossible to believe – Oxford Dictionary) talent has reached new audiences through Glorious!, English playwright Peter Quilter’s 2005 comedy vehicle for Maureen Lipman, and 2016’s eponymous movie starring Meryl Streep and Hugh Grant.
Central still to the melodrama however, is Madame herself, the Dreadful Diva, the infamous “first lady of the sliding scale” Florence Foster Jenkins. And this production is either lucky or smart enough to have Diana McLean in the role. Last seen on stage as the hilariously cranky Jewish grandmother in 4000 Miles, McLean now brings not only that delicious comic timing, and a touching, nuanced performance to Florence but also the (learned) ability to peel paint with top notes that would make a corncrake weep.
