Glorious

The story of Florence Foster Jenkins was brought to public notice during the past 12 months with the release of the film and The Fellowship Players certainly did justice to Peter Quilter’s original play.

It wasn’t difficult for Florence to sing the wrong notes as in her head she sang the right ones but for someone playing her character it is extremely difficult not to sing the correct ones. She is a bit like Les Dawson of the singing world. Lynne Young (Florence) must be congratulated as she coped admirably with this difficult task. Stephen Ralph (Cosme Mc Moon) showed, both in his face and manner, how painful it was for a musician as her accompanist. It was a pity that some of his moving tribute at the end of the play was lost in the background music. Alan Lowe (St Clair) gave a sterling performance in supporting her dreams and ambitions culminating in her final performance at Carnegie Hall. Rebecca Holmes was excellent as her loyal friend Dorothy and Carolyne Hurley was hilarious as the Spanish maid Maria. There was also good support from Stephanie Evans as Mrs Verrinder-Gedge who expressed what none of her friends would publicly accept.

The set was very good as were the props and costumes. The use of a screen to show historical shots was a good idea but at times it was difficult to see because the projection surface wasn’t flat.

Well done on a very entertaining evening!    

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