Souvenir, the new “play with music” written by Stephen Temperley, is the “Fantasia on the Life of Florence Foster Jenkins," as it is aptly subtitled. The show is playing on Broadway at the Lyceum Theatre. Its director is Vivian Matalon, who also directed its previous run at the New York Theatre Company.

Souvenir's two-person cast stars Judy Kaye as the legendary “legend in her own mind” Florence Foster Jenkins. Kaye was recently nominated for a 2002 Tony Award for her role as Rosie in the Broadway production of Mamma Mia! She won the Tony for her performance as Carlotta in the New York production of The Phantom of the Opera and also received a Theatre World Award for her work in On the Twentieth Century. Kaye also starred on Broadway in Ragtime.

A skilled legitimate singer in her own right, Judy Kaye is especially known for her interpretation of well-known vocal music. Her two solo CD recordings are Diva by Diva and Songs from the Silver Screen.

The other half of Souvenir features Donald Corren as Cosme McMoon, who in real life was Jenkin's gay musical director/piano accompanist. It is through Cosme McMoon's reverie-like remembrances that this Jenkins story is told.

This charming show's creative team also features Tom Helm (musical director), R. Michael Miller (scenic designer), Tracy Christensen (costume designer), Ann G. Wrightson (lighting designer) and David Budries (sound designer).

Souvenir's listing in Broadway's Playbill Magazine concisely sums up the show's premise: “Jenkins, who was an eccentric society woman, believed she was a great soprano, although the opposite was true. Despite her lack of talent, Jenkins' charity recitals in such venues as the Ritz Carlton Hotel brought her much fame. Jenkins often mistook audiences' muffled laughter for cheers, and over 2,000 people were turned away from her Carnegie Hall concert in the mid 1940's.”

As theater, Souvenir is not exactly what one would call a major comedic or dramatic work. This reviewer has some doubts about how long it may run. Few among today's audiences are old enough to have much familiarity with the Florence Foster Jenkins phenomena, and the between-the-World Wars historical time frame of the play is somewhat removed from the type of thing that interests younger theater goers today. However, as today's entertainment world is so saturated with unskilled amateur wannabe performers in the many ubiquitous “reality” talent television shows, perhaps the dotty Ms. Jenkins has finally found her true audience – albeit posthumously.

On the surface, Souvenir runs on a kind of “one-note” gimmick – that note being how completely awful the self-deluded Jenkins was as a singer. The show's biggest laughs occur as we repeatedly have to endure her jaw-droppingly bad attempts at intoning legitimate vocal music.

But truth be told, it takes not just great comedic talent, but also great physical clown talent to pull off caricaturizing Jenkins, and Judy Kaye does an admirable job. There are moments during Souvenir when one can't help but be reminded of classic idiotic moments from I Love Lucy and The Carol Burnett Show.

In her portrayal of Jenkins, the accomplished singer Judy Kaye is faced with a most daunting vocal task. She must sing a collection of opera's most famous, demanding arias horribly and off-pitch. Furthermore she must do it at full-throttle, throughout an entire show (and especially in the demanding scene that re-enacts Jenkins's famous 1944 Carnegie Hall concert). On top of this she additionally has to somehow recoup her pitch-perfect voice and sing beautifully for the show's poignant finale.

All this and eight performances a week. Kids – do not try this at home!

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