St Peters Hill Amateur Dramatics Society Grantham Lincolnshire

Glorious! Peter Quilter Director - Jane Webb Performed at The Guildhall Arts Centre, Grantham 9 - 12 November 2011		Cast and Crew Florence Foster Jenkins - Polly Lewis Dorothy - Barbara Garner Cosme McMoon - Richard Baker St Clair - James Coleman Maria - Suzanne Webb Mrs Verrinder-Gedge - Augusta Lees Director - Jane Webb Stage Manager - Adam Bishop Music Directors - Richard Baker and Carlyon Viles Props - Suzanne Webb, Steph Bishop Stage Crew - Camryn Smith, Steph Bishop Grantham Journal Noda Review
"People may say I can't sing, but no one can ever say I didn't sing!" Glorious! by Peter Quilter, is a comedy based on the life of Florence Foster Jenkins, the legendary gregarious New York heiress and socialite who wanted to be a great opera diva, despite having one of the worst singing voices in history. The soprano voice she hears in her head is beautiful and it never occurs to her that this is not the sound issuing from her mouth. Florence became the must-see artist in New York in the early 1940s. Spinning from charity recitals before groups of devoted friends to extravagant balls, Florence's enthusiasm and joy more than made up for her imperfect pitch. Paying little attention to her critics, "the first lady of the sliding scale" resolutely restricted her professional performances to an annual recital. The beautifully funny and charming script has us following Florence (who doesn't speak Spanish), her Mexican maid (who doesn't speak English), ditzy companion Dorothy, pianist Cosme McMoon and English actor, St Clair, as together they take the journey which will end in Florence's sell-out performance at Carnegie Hall
Dress Rehearsal

Florence and Cosme	Florence and Cosme	Florence

Maria	Florence, Cosme and St Clair	Maria and St Clair

Florence, Maria, St Clair	Cosme and Florence	Florence and Dorothy

Dorothy and Florence	Dorothy, Florence and silver skylarks	Florence and silver skylarks

Florence, Maria and the chicken!	Cosme and Florence

Dorothy, Cosme, Florence, Maria and the chicken	Florence, Maria and the chicken	Florence

Florence and Ricky	Ricky the best trained dog in the business	Cosme and St Clair

St Clair, Florence, Cosme and Dorothy	Cosme, St Clair, Florence and Dorothy	Florence and St Clair

Cosme, Florence, St Clair and Dorothy	Cosme, Florence, St Clair and Dorothy	Florence, St Clair and Dorothy

Dorothy and St Clair	Cosme, Dorothy and St Clair	St Clair, Dorothy and the silver skylarks

Cosme, St Clair, Dorothy and Florence	Florence, St Clair and Dorothy	Dorothy

Cosme, Florence, St Clair, Dorothy and Mrs Verrinder-Gedge	Mrs Verrinder-Gedge and St Clair	Florence and St Clair

Cosme and Florence	Cake with extra balls and a decorative chilli	Dorothy, Cosme, Florence and St Clair

Mrs Verrinder-Gedge, Dorothy and Florence	Cosme, St Clair, Mrs Verrinder-Gedge, Dorothy and Florence	Cosme, Mrs Verrinder-Gedge, Dorothy, St Clair and Florence

St Clair	Dorothy, St Clair and Florence	Cosme, Maria, St Clair, Florence and Dorothy

Maria, St Clair, Florence and Dorothy	Maria and St Clair	Maria, Cosme, St Clair, Florence and Dorothy

Dorothy, Cosme, Maria and Florence	Dorothy, Ricky, St Clair, Florence, Cosme and Maria	Ricky - RIP

St Clair, Florence and Cosme	St Clair and Maria	Cosme, St Clair, Dorothy and Maria

Florence	Florence, Dorothy and Cosme	Florence and Dorothy

St Clair and Florence	Cosme and Florence	Cosme and Florence

Noda said: Reviewed by: Peter Breach on Friday 11 November 2011 Venue: Guildhall Arts Centre, Grantham Type of Production: Play Producer/Director: Jane Webb ‘Glorious’ is based on the latter part of the life of Florence Foster Jenkins who considered herself to have a fine singing voice. Following her first recital in 1912 she began to attract considerable attention and interest, mainly because many regarded her as a joke, claiming she sang out of tune and was incapable of holding a note. However in 1944, at the age of 76 she performed at Carnegie Hall to an audience of 3,000 people. Throughout her career Florence seemed impervious to the adverse comments and jeers, maintaining,”People may say I can’t sing, but no one can ever say I didn’t sing”. Polly Lewis gave a most impressive performance as Florence and was well supported by Richard Baker as Cosme McMoon, who accompanied her on piano. James Coleman as Florence’s manager, St Clair Byfield and Barbara Garner as Dorothy, a devoted friend, both demonstrated their strong loyalty and support for this diva in their performances. Suzanne Webb as the maid Maria delivered her lines in Spanish with the confidence of one speaking in their native tongue. Augusta Lees, in her brief appearance as Mrs Verrinder-Gedge showed how to work one’s self into a rage and then faint with panache. This true story was presented in a most entertaining format – I loved it!

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	We perform two productions a year at the Guildhall Arts Centre, and are always happy to see new faces! We rehearse twice a week at Christ Church on Castlegate. Join us you know you want to!