SOUVENIR

A Fantasia on the Life of Florence Foster Jenkins

Donald Corren as Cosme,  leaning against a piano, drink in hand, reminiscing about his past with Florence Foster Jenkins

Directed by Vivian Matalon

Designed by R. Michael Miller

Lighting by Ann Wrightson

Musical supervisor Tom Helm

Costumes by Tracy Christensen

Sound by David Budries

… go laugh to your heart's content. There weren't many voices as bad as Jenkins's. There aren't many theatrical experiences as good as Souvenir.


Boston Globe

… in less gifted hands, Souvenir… could have been a crude joke. Instead, with a script by Stephen Temperley and superlative performances by Judy Kaye as Jenkins and Donald Corren as her accompanist - the wonderfully named Cosme McMoon - it makes hilarious and deeply touching theater out of something inherently ridiculous. Elegantly designed, beautifully directed, Souvenir is a kind of loony triumph.


—NY Daily News

Donald Corren as Cosme,  leaning against a piano, drink in hand, reminiscing about his past with Florence Foster Jenkins

Donald Corren and Judy Kaye at the Lyceum Theatre

Since its initial off-Broadway, and then Broadway, production, Souvenir has become one of the most produced plays in the US and an international hit.

The Story of the Play


Florence Foster Jenkins, a wealthy society woman active in New York in the 1930s and ‘40s, believed herself to be a great coloratura soprano. In reality she couldn’t sing two consecutive notes in tune.


Undeterred by family criticism she began to give recitals for her large circle of friends in the ballroom of the Ritz Carlton where she lived. Word of the recitals soon spread to the general public and very soon she was packing the ballroom. Despite all the laughter and jeers, the shrieks and howls of derision, she believed the audience was genuinely moved by her singing. A belief that took her all the way to Carnegie Hall for a sold-out concert in 1944, an event that is still talked about.


Over the years, Mrs. Jenkins has become a figure of fun, a camp whose records are played at parties to be laughed at. Souvenir takes a different approach, seeing Mrs. Jenkins through the eyes of her reluctant accompanist, Cosme McMoon.


When they first meet he regards her as a convenient, if embarrassing, way to pay the rent, worrying what his friends will say. As he comes to know her, however, her unshakable faith in herself and in the music she loves, makes him want to protect her from the laughter he hears when she sings, laughter to which she remains oblivious — till the evening she steps out onto the stage of Carnegie Hall.


When at last she hears the laugher, it is Cosme who rescues her from doubt, helping her to maintain her delusions, staying true to the beautiful music she hears in her head, the music that, in the play’s final moments, the audience hears too.

Judy Kaye as Florence Foster Jenkins performing the Bell  Song from Lakmé in the scene depicting her recital at Carnegie Hall.
Donald Corren as Cosme, kneels to explain to Judy Kaye as Mrs Jenkins, why she should not expose herself to criticsm by singing at Town Hall.

Donald Corren and Judy Kaye at the Lyceum Theatre

Since its initial off-Broadway, and then Broadway, production, Souvenir has become one of the most produced plays in the US and an international hit.

Judy Kaye as Florence Foster Jenkins, dressed in angel wings, singing the Ave Maria at the climax of the Carnegis Hall recital in Souvenir.
Donald Corren as Cosme comforts Judy Kaye as Mrs Jenkins after the recital at Carnegie hall when she has for the first time heard the audience laughing at her.

For U.S. Productions, go to Dramatists’ Play Service, where they also have available a separate Score containing every note of music sung or played.


To reach me directly, you can email me here:

ST

…A must-see for anyone who’s ever delivered an Oscar speech to the bathroom mirror.


L.A. Times

Judy Kaye as Florence Foster Jenkins, dressed in angel wings, singing the Ave Maria at the climax of the Carnegis Hall recital in Souvenir.

… a memorable illustration of the real limits of self-perception, and of the purely theatrical magic that can turn the tinniest ear to gold.


Time Out: New York

Donald Corren as Cosme comforts Judy Kaye as Mrs Jenkins after the recital at Carnegie hall when she has for the first time heard the audience laughing at her.

A surprisingly affecting comedy. A sweet love letter of a play. A portrait of a lady who became a legend for singing badly. The redoubtable Judy Kaye and the excellent Donald Corren are lovely company.


Ben Brantley, New York Times.

This website makes use of cookies. Please see our for details.

Deny

OK