Souvenir September 17, 2011

Dayton Theatre Guild presents 'Souvenir' by Stephen Temperly, directed by Saul Caplan. Florence Foster Jenkins, a wealthy society eccentric, believed herself to be a great coloratura soprano when she was actually incapable of producing two consecutive notes in tune. Even so, her recitals in the ballroom of the Ritz Carlton hotel where she resided, along with her single concert at Carnegie Hall in 1944, brought her great fame. 'Souvenir' is based on the real life of Florence Foster Jenkins and tells her story through the eyes of her accompanist, Cosme McMoon, a talented musician who first saw her as merely a way to pay the rent, but who came to regard her with friendship and affection.