Giselle’s Florence Silver Foster Jenkins Schuberlade Review was a strange tribute to the infamous soprano Florence Foster Jenkins. The young singer Giselle Bellas had a really good voice but she expressed her doubts while getting encouragement from the disembodied spirit of Florence Silver Foster Jenkins. The spirit of Florence would be projected on the screen as an undulating light form.
Various acts such as dance and other solo singers would perform and I became confused as to how it all was meant to tie together. Perhaps the chaos was the point.
This was the very first FRINGE show I saw and it was very fringe.
The show centered around a single recorded performance by Florence in which she was absolutely tone deaf. Critics of the time thought the performance was a prank. She was described as having great difficulty with such basic vocal skills as pitch, rhythm, and sustaining notes and phrases. Her performance was so bad that it added up to quite a good evening of theater. The young singer laughed at the recording and then Florence scolded the young singer for her callousness. Despite the tiff, the spirit of Florence was always encouraging the the talent of the aspiring Opera singer. There was so much talent on the stage, but the overall impression was scattershot.
Tickets to Giselle’s Florence Silver Foster Jenkins Schuberlade Review in the Pink Venue are $15 with a FRINGE button.
Remaining show times are: Wednesday May 21, 8pm, and Saturday May 24, 5:10pm.