Glorious!

This show has now closed, click here for a listing of current and future London shows

Opened 3 November 2005, closed 22 April 2006 at the Duchess Theatre in London

Duchess Theatre Catherine Street, London

In 1940's New York, the performer who everyone wanted to see live was Florence Foster Jenkins, an enthusiastic soprano whose pitch was, unfortunately, far from perfect.

"People may say that I cannot sing, but no one can say that I didn't sing!" Florence Foster Jenkins

Florence Foster Jenkins became known as 'the first lady of the sliding scale' - she warbled and screeched her way through concerts to an audience who mostly fell about with laughter. But this delusional and joyously happy woman paid little attention to her critics, instead Florence was surrounded by a circle of devoted friends who were almost as eccentric as she was.

"She was exceedingly happy in her work. It is a pity so few artists are. And the happiness was communicated as if by magic to her hearers..." Critic Robert Bagar of the New York World-Telegram

Maureen Lipman stars in Peter Quilter's Glorious!, a hilarious and heart-warming new comedy that highlights Florence's charity recitals and extravagent balls, through to her bizarre recording sessions and an ultimate triumph at Carnegie Hall.

"A lunatically funny comedy... Maureen Lipman gives a virtuoso performance, glittering, hilarious and technically breathtaking: this is comedy with a heart by an actress with a heart. She never mocks Florence: she admires her guts and her almost unshakable confidence." The Sunday Times

"It's only fair to report that thanks to Maureen Lipman's remarkable chutzpah and comedic talent as Jenkins in Glorious! - Peter Quilter's homage to this phenomenally talentless eccentric - the man next to me wept with laughter and begged for an encore... Lipman gives an extraordinary performance of a woman who is touchingly but sincerely deluded. I, alone I think, must confess to a bit of a sense of humour failure." The Mail on Sunday"

Maureen Lipman on playing Florence Foster Jenkins: "I try not to send her up, I try to tread a fine line, allowing the voice to slide all over the place, but doing it as someone who heard the music right in her head. It's not easy, but it's fantastically rewarding because the audience respond in a similar way to how I imagine they would have done for Florence. They laugh, they applaud, they shout, even sometimes at the end they ask for 'More!' I would be a lot more nervous if I had to sing well. You have, however, to learn to sing well before you can sing badly. She could sing for two hours at a stretch; I only sing three songs, although admittedly I talk a lot... Florence would have been pleased to know that we broke all box office records, ever, when we performed the play in Birmingham. Glorious! has the cutting edge of a spoon - it's delightful, it's batty, it's absurd and it involves the audience almost as if they were at a pantomime. I'm kind of honoured to be in her somewhat shaky spotlight."