★★★★
Embarking on a twentieth anniversary tour, the Hope Mill Theatre production of Glorious! explores the life of Florence Foster Jenkins (played by Wendi Peters), notoriously dubbed by some as the “worst opera singer in the world”. Much of the play focuses on the developing friendship between Jenkins and her pianist, Cosme McMoon (Matthew James Morrison.)
The level of comedy within the script calls for a talented cast, and Glorious! has certainly found one. In particular, Peters and Morrison bounce off each other in increasingly entertaining ways, with Peters’ operatic shrieks and Morrison’s introspective performance juxtaposing one another perfectly. Peters showcases some excellent physical comedy (with the help of some wonderfully eccentric costumes) and harnesses the musical aspects of her background—one gets the sense that you must have to be able to sing very well in order to deliberately sing poorly. She handles Jenkins’ more vulnerable moments with an equal deftness, showing hints of an unhappier life behind Jenkins’ armour.
There is a clear vision for exactly where the story wants to go, and at a sleek runtime of under two hours the audience does not feel as if the show is meandering or stringing them along. Rather than aspiring to tell a complete life story of Florence Foster Jenkins, Glorious instead focuses on the relatively short stretch of time where she and McMoon’s lives intersect, and the ways in which it changes them both.
Matthew James Morrison as Cosme McMoon is a particular stand-out in himself—McMoon is a down-on-his-luck pianist who is polite to a fault, whose frustration at his piano-playing being hidden behind restaurant salad bars seems to speak to a deeper feeling of isolation from his peers. He only begins to come out of hiding and obscurity when playing for Jenkins, a figure seemingly incapable of obscurity with her bold performance costumes. Morrison carries the role with equal parts gravitas and good humour in a way that seems to pre-empt which one the audience will need in a given moment. He poses a sympathetic figure to the audience to follow along with before Jenkins’ seemingly unflappable exterior has been further explored.
The show often feels as though thoughtful measures have been taken to ensure that audience members feel integrated into it. At times McMoon addresses them directly, delivering his own asides from the story in a manner reminiscent of Nick Carraway in The Great Gatsby. Jenkins addresses them too, as though they were her adoring followers, and it is heartening to see the audience react in kind, clapping and sometimes even whooping in the wake of her performances.
However, it is the more sincere elements of Jenkins and McMoon’s bond that overall make the show so compelling. Jenkins’ enthusiasm for her singing is infectious, and soon she and McMoon are something of an unstoppable duo. If anything, it would have been nice to spend more time with the pair and the development of their friendship, rather than the constant back-and-forth of Jenkins and her housekeeper Maria, an ongoing joke that among others feels unnecessary in an already-witty script that should be trusted to hold its own.
Also to be praised is the set and costume design (Ingrid Hu is scenographer and costume designer.) The space is easily converted from Florence’s house to a recording studio to a grand concert venue in a way that appears almost effortless. The stage itself is adapted to resemble one from Jenkins’ era, with art deco style footlights to boot.
Produced and managed by Thomas Hopkins Productions, Glorious! plays at Derby Theatre until 28 February, then proceeding to tour theatres across the UK.
Words by Casey Langton
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