Staying on pitch is easy for trained theater singer Gaye Litka, but when her role in the musical comedy “Glorious!” called for her to sing off tune, she had some trouble.
“I have to slow some songs down, otherwise I’ll slip back into key,” Litka said.
The actress plays wealthy socialite Florence Foster Jenkins (1868-1944), known as the “first lady of the sliding scale.” In real-life, Jenkins “awed” audiences with bad singing, including packed hotels and concert halls.
“Glorious!” opened yesterday at the Whidbey Playhouse with co-directors Sue Riney and Julia Locke.
“Her gift wasn’t her voice, but the voice she heard when she sang,” Riney and Locke wrote in the play’s program.
With overflowing energy, Litka’s character radiated self-admiration and confidence. And her band of oddball enablers, boyfriend St. Clair (Ed Johnson) and friend Dorothy (K. Sandy O’Brien), were also devoted fans.
Jenkins’ diva status is developed in the opening scene, when she interviews an unwilling accompanist named Cosme McMoon. Played by Allen Young, McMoon is dumbfounded after hearing the soprano chirp and warble through a song.
“The world first heard my voice in 1912… the year the Titanic sank,” Jenkins proclaims.
McMoon begrudgingly accepts the position for triple pay, but he soon grows to admire the deluded singer.
“It’s inspiring to watch someone so convinced of one’s own worth follow their dreams,” Mary Kay Hallen, who plays an angry concert-goer, said.
Many of the scenes appear as if set designers combed over them with the detail of a historical scholar.
Litka and Young were placed in a ritzy, 19th century parlor with real framed photos of Jenkins and pals. Before the opening scene and between intermission, a video projector shows scenes of early New York and Jenkins in bizarre, self-made costumes.
Finally, an actual recording of her voice is played to McMoon over a phonograph.
“The dialogue in the play is drawn from Florence’s real comments and conversations,” Locke said. “And the characters are all people from her life, so it’s part historical.”
In her early years, Jenkins had a desire to study music abroad, but her wealthy father refused to pay the bill. Upon her father’s death in 1909, she inherited a sum of money that allowed her to begin the singing career she was always discouraged from.
Jenkins gave her first recital in 1912, and was soon in high demand. Mostly because she was howlingly funny.
“It’s as if she sang in the cracks, the little places in between scales,” Locke said. “But she was met with a lot of success. Her concerts completely sold out.”
While this is Locke’s directorial debut, five of her six cast members are seasoned directors. Likta established herself in South Whidbey, and K. Sandy O’Brien directed the recent Whidbey Playhouse production of “Guys and Dolls.” Young is just coming off the show “Peter Pan,” as the venerable Captain Hook to his role as Cosme, the sensitive pianist.
“It makes it easy having such an experienced cast,” Litka said.
Beyond acting, the cast also pulls in outside talents.
Young actually plays the piano, a Hallet, Davis & Company, which is permanently stationed on the set. And actress Crystal Corbeil, goes the entire play speaking double-time Spanish. She plays Jenkins’ exasperated housemaid Maria, who no one can understand.
The stage crew is also dressed in maid uniforms, so they can tear down sets without drawing the curtain— no easy task. One scene calls for over 50 flower arrangements.
With its compelling script and resourceful actors, “Glorious!” is sure to please on the comedic, if not musical, level. It’s also a feel-good story about a woman who ignored critics and rivals and went for her dreams.
“There is a line in the second act that goes, ‘People may say that I cannot sing, but no one can say that I didn’t sing.’ She risked all of her money in the end,” Litka said, referring to Jenkin’s recital at Carnegie Hall.
The best part of Litka’s performance, besides her command of the sing-song voice and strange mannerisms, is that she makes an egotistical character endearing.
And we don’t feel too badly about laughing at Jenkins, because you can sense the love she had for singing, and the joy that it brought to audiences in whatever form it took.
Showtime
The Whidbey Playhouse production of “Glorious!,” the real-life story of the world’s worst opera singer, will run from Feb. 6 to 28. Tickets are $16. The show continues Thursdays through Saturdays at 7:30 p.m., with a 2:30 p.m. Sunday matinee. For more information on dates, tickets and times visit www.whidbeyplayhouse.com, or call 679-2237. Whidbey Playhouse is located at 730 SE Midway Blvd. in Oak Harbor.
