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Souvenir: A Fantasia on the Life of Florence Foster Jenkins
Cast:
Rachel DeShon
Kozmo Sammartino
Directed by Pat Henman
Souvenir is an award-winning two-hander play with music written by Stephen Temperley. It was first produced in 2004 and opened on Broadway in 2005. It is based on the true story of Florence Foster Jenkins, an affluent socialite and opera singer with a ‘famously uncertain sense of pitch’, and her accompanist, Cosmé McMoon. Jenkins is unaware of her lack of talent and sells out performance halls for the entertainment of audiences which brings her extraordinary fame. The story is told through Cosmé’s perspective, who works at an elegant supper club in 1964. He details his complex relationship with Florence from their first meeting in 1932 to her final infamous performance at Carnegie Hall shortly before her death in 1944. Souvenir integrates both jazz and classical music of the time that the story is set. Like Florence Foster Jenkins said, “what matters most is the music you heard in your head.”