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A CurtainUp New Jersey Review
Souvenir
Liz McCartney in Souvenir
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Souvenir is a small, intimate play in which this somewhat loveable Park Avenue matron, who is completely oblivious to her lack of talent, finds that perfect someone, "a collaborator, a soul mate," who will validate and supports her through thick and thin, or should we say over the sharps and flats. It is Cosme McMoon, an accomplished pianist who is employed by Jenkins to "polish, perfect and refine" her repertoire and also prepare her for a series of concerts that she is determined to give. Jim Walton is terrific in this significant role of a young composer of mainly art songs who becomes FFJ’s close friend and mostly very patient and accommodating accompanist for twelve years. Walton, who some of us will remember in the leading role of Franklin Shepard in the original company of Stephen Sondheim's Merrily we Roll Along, as well as dancing and singing his way through a number of Broadway musicals including and The Music Man, gives a performance that is sensitive yet direct, as it appears significantly propelled by a growing respect for the diva who was, evidently, herself propelled by something almost irrationally divine.
The play is at its best when Cosme resigns himself ("What was going on in her head?") to support Madam Flo in her determination to take on the formidable challenge. To be sure, hearing FFJ tackle the Mount Everest of arias, "Queen of the Night," as well as "The Jewel Song,"”from Faust and "The Bell Song," from Lakme are calculated to put audiences into stitches. And they do. Zaftig in form but radiant in face, McCartney conceptualizes the grandiosity of a society matron but also radiates warmth that all but melts your heart.
Except for FFJ’s smart looking period-perfect haute couture, costume Designer Tracy Christensen has gone all out to indulge her outré fantasies, especially in the famed Carnegie Hall Concert during which the diva emerges most notably with angel wings attached to her white gown to sing the "Ave Maria." You may be hard pressed to hold back your laughter, but you may also shed a tear, when she sings that hymn with the glorious voice that she hears in her head.
Set Designer Karl Elgsti has created an elegant and flexible set that makes a conversion from FFJ”S music room in her suite at the Ritz Carlton to the stage and dressing room of Carnegie Hall and back to the New York Supper Club and where Cosme reminisces years after FFJ’s death. Here he delightfully plays the piano and wittily plays pays tribute to a woman who may have not have only aspired to a "purity of tone," but, in her own mind, achieved it. Needless to say that the audience the night I attended was, as I, enraptured.
Editor's Note: To read CurtainUp's reviews of Souvenier's initial productions, go here.
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Souvenir By Stephen Temperley Directed by Anders Cato Cast: Liz McCartney and Jim Walton Musical Director: James Royal Valcq Set Design: Karl Eigsti Costume Design: Tracy Christensen Lighting Design: Jeff Davis Sound Design: Christopher Bailey Running Time: 2 hours 15 minutes with intermission George Street Playhouse, 9 Livingston Ave, New Brunswick, NJ From 2/27/07 to 3/25/07; opening 3/02/07 Tuesdays thru Saturdays, 8 PM; Sundays 2 PM and 7 PM (No 7 PM performance on March 25) Additional matinee performances Thursday March 8 and 22 at 2 PM; Saturdays, March 3, 17, 24 at 2 PM Tickets: ($28 - $62) call 732/246-7717 or www.GSPonline.org Reviewed by Simon Saltzman based on March 2, 2007 |
Easy-on-the budget super gift for yourself and your musical loving friends. Tons of gorgeous pictures.
Leonard Maltin's 2007 Movie Guide
At This Theater
Leonard Maltin's 2005 Movie Guide
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