Off-key singing in ‘Souvenir’ is intentional

Some adages are based in fact, and some truth is stranger than fiction. What else could explain the phenomenon that was Florence Foster Jenkins?

The real Madame Flo (1868-1944) earned acclaim for singing badly in public long before the age of reality television. Being armed with this knowledge is woefully insufficient preparation for the astonishingly dreadful sounds that emanate from the mouth of Debra Wagoner, who stars as Mrs. Foster Jenkins in Stephen Temperley's 2005 play, "Souvenir: A Fantasia on the Life of Florence Foster Jenkins."

Significantly, the word "fantasia" means not only a fanciful or irregular musical composition but also anything weird, exotic or grotesque. "Souvenir" fits the bill on all counts.

Madame Flo was a fanciful society matron whose musical training and apparently genuine passion for the art was not enough to compensate for her having "no voice, no ear and no musicianship." None of this stopped her from staging well-attended recitals in the ballroom of the Ritz-Carlton Hotel. Highlights of her career include the recording of several 78 rpm records and a sold-out show in New York's prestigious Carnegie Hall -- after which (and this is not giving away a big secret ending), she died one month later.

Jonathan Spivey co-stars as Jenkins' accompanist, Cosme McMoon -- a voice of reason calling out into a tone-deaf void. Spivey's right eyebrow remains raised throughout most of the first act, but by act two, even it seems to have acquiesced to Jenkins' charms: "Her folly was so stupendous," says McMoon, who relives the highlights of Jenkins' career in flashback form, "that you had to admire its scale!"

Spivey remains onstage throughout the two-hour, two-person, two-act production. He plays the piano, he sings (there were some minor diction or microphone problems that muddied some of his lyrics on opening night), he delivers monologues and well-timed one-liners, and he spars verbally with his partner, Wagoner -- all of which bring humanity and dimensionality to what otherwise would be a mere caricature of a woman whose very life was already, well, larger than life.

"Souvenir" is co-produced by Barksdale Theatre and Idaho-based Company of Fools, for whom Wagoner originated the role of Madame Flo earlier this year -- which may account for the ease and naturalness she brings to this part.

John Glenn, former Barksdale artistic director and current core company artist with Company of Fools, directed and lit the production. Joe Lavigne designed the simple but elegant set, and Sue Griffin designed the dozen or more outfits -- ranging from the silly to the sublime -- that accented Wagoner's greatest asset -- her voice.

Julinda Lewis is an ordained Minister of Dance, a teacher and writer. She lives in eastern Henrico and can be contacted at .