Review: Glorious! (Theatre Royal Windsor / UK Tour)

Review by Daz Gale

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

A show featuring a terrible singer? No, it’s not the latest musical featuring questionable stunt casting; it is the tale of Florence Foster Jenkins, the legendary person who was dubbed “the worst singer in the world”. That name may be familiar thanks to the acclaimed 2016 film starring Meryl Streep, but, more than a decade earlier, her story hit the stage in the play Glorious!. Now celebrating its 20th anniversary, the play embarks on a UK tour following a short run at the Hope Mill Theatre last year, stopping at the beautiful Theatre Royal Windsor, where I caught it this week - but would this revival prove pitch perfect or woefully out of tune?

Florence Foster Jenkins was known for her flamboyant costumes, enigmatic performances and off-key voice, and Glorious! is the true story of the American socialite. Beginning as she meets her pianist, Cosme McMoon, the show is predominantly a two-hander focusing on their relationship (though other cast members are used fleetingly yet effectively). As Cosme discovers Florence’s distinct way of interpreting a song, we learn how she vets each audience member to ensure they are not the enemy, deals with one of them infiltrating her performance, and witnesses the pinnacle of her career as she plays her now iconic concert at Carnegie Hall aged 76.

Written by Peter Quilter, Glorious! beautifully and brilliantly takes both the heart and humour from Florence Foster Jenkins’ life. She was a larger-than-life woman, and Quilter matches that with his writing, amplifying the diva tendencies of her nature in largely comic fashion, but making it clear we are not laughing at her but with her. An aspect of the writing that gives Glorious! an extra layer is the ability to sympathise with the character as she becomes the target of public scrutiny and being mocked. It is a testament to the careful balance of the writing that the audience see somebody chastising Florence for her voice as the enemy, as Florence too does. The ability to buy into the character fills the story with heart, allowing the audience to root for her and celebrate her successes as the play nears its climax.

Kirk Jameson’s direction more than matches Quilter’s original writing, amplifying the campness and fabulousness of Jenkins’ character and the story in itself. This is best revealed with every entrance the character makes, featuring another outlandish outfit (wonderfully designed by Ingrid Hu) - though she never breaks the fourth wall, she is playing up to the audience, and the direction gives more than a nod to that. Glorious! is a rather snappy play, running at under two hours including an interval, so it is no surprise that Jameson paces the production speedily, perfectly allowing the right amount of time to introduce the character, reveal her talents and welcome us to her concert.

Stepping into the shoes of Florence Foster Jenkins is Wendi Peters, who marvels in the role. To say she delivers a note-perfect performance may feel ironic enough, given the character's own interpretation of the notes, but she really embodies the character fantastically, delivering a great performance throughout. Of course, her singing is a huge part of the role, and it takes a lot of talent to be able to sing that badly - that is the highest of compliments, of course, as Peters is clearly a wonderful talent in herself, which is proven in her ability to match Jenkins’ style by hitting the wrong notes so seemingly effortlessly. Her acting is every bit as remarkable, with an inflection that at times reminded me of Miss Piggy, rather oddly.  A weird comparison perhaps, but one that makes sense when you see the show, or at least it did to me. It is a comic masterclass, however, elevated by Peters’ impeccable facial expressions, often some of the funniest aspects of the show.

Matthew James Morrison provided the perfect catalyst for the story as accompanist Cosme McMoon. It is through his eyes that the story unfolds, and as he discovers Jenkins’ talents and becomes initially perplexed, the audience shares his response. His growing fondness for the lady and the relationship that unfolds between them form the heart of Glorious! and Morrison thrills with a sweet and charming portrayal, finding the right balance to both counter Jenkins and work in tandem with her to form a gorgeous dynamic. 

Though Peters and Morrison dominate the time on stage, they are joined briefly by two more cast members. Sioned Jones gets a couple of fun moments as Dorothy, while Caroline Gruber has scene-stealing moments in two different roles. First, as Jenkins' impatient, no-nonsense Italian housekeeper, Maria, she gets some of the funniest moments of the play, even when she is in the background. Later on, she takes on a completely different role as Mrs Verrinder Gedge in a brilliantly exaggerated portrayal that sees her go toe-to-toe with Jenkins in one of the standout scenes of the play.

While this is a solid production of a great story, there was one fundamental flaw that plagued the show at the performance I attended, at least. That is the somewhat surprising decision not to have the cast use microphones. While their ability to project wasn't in question, it did create an unnecessary obstacle, making it trickier to hear at times than it ought to be. At moments, I struggled 10 rows back in the stalls, and had to wonder if people in the circle would be struggling also - certainly, anyone who is hard-of-hearing wouldn’t have found this the easiest of shows to understand. It was in the moments the audience was laughing or cheering that made it harder to hear the actors over the sound, with the audience getting slightly rowdier in the second act, booing and heckling at one point giving the actors a tougher job to be heard over the noise. As the climax of the show features Florence Foster Jenkins’ now iconic rendition of the ‘Queen Of The Night Aria’, it was unfortunate that the vocals were somewhat drowned out by the piano, when Wendi Peters’ faultless (or deliberately faulted at least) interpretation deserved to be heard in all its glory.

It is this one seemingly small but devastatingly impactful choice that took a bit of the shine off of this production of Glorious!. Luckily, its strengths elsewhere minimised this disruption, with exquisite writing and direction more than matched by Wendi Peters’ knockout performance as Florence Foster Jenkins. More than 20 years after the world first fell in love with Quilter’s tale of the character, Glorious! remains as fittingly glorious as ever, hitting all of the wrong notes to the extent that I was screaming for an encore.

Glorious! tours until 30th May. Tickets from https://gloriousplay.com/

Photos by Chris Davis