CHARACTERS
(2M, 4W,)
AVAILABLE ROLES
Florence Foster Jenkins
St Clair Byfield
Cosme McMoon
Dorothy
Maria
Mrs Verrinder-Gedge
CHARACTER PROFILES
Florence Foster Jenkins
Character age: mid 70’s
A society woman of considerable fame. Started the Verdi Club and is a member of many others. Very wealthy. In a loose, long term relationship with St. Clair Byfield. Fancies herself a great coloratura soprano, but her renditions are flat and tuneless. Really bad! Actor must be able to hit high notes and be willing to sing awfully. Florence lives in a suite in the Hotel Seymour in NYC. Likes to be called Lady Florence.
Cosme McMoon
Character age: near 40
Cosme is an accomplished pianist and an in-the-closet gay man. He becomes Lady Florence’s accompanist and transitions from being horrified at how badly she sings to a fervent supporter of the woman herself. Born in Mexico to Mexican parents. Speaks with a nasalized vocal quality. The actor does not need to play piano, but that would be a nice bonus.
St. Clair Byfield
Character age: late 60’s
Byfield is in a long term relationship with Florence, though they don’t live together. An actor himself, though not a successful one, he has a big, bold personality and is very protective of Florence. Born in England many years before he speaks with an exaggerated British accent which he thinks makes him more attractive as an actor.
Maria
Character age: 20’s to early 40’s
Maria is Florence’s Spanish speaking Mexican maid and cook, very snooty and very funny. She pays little attention to the other characters, who she mostly thinks are idiots. Her Spanish utterances are mostly barbs tossed at them in Spanish which they don’t understand. Maria is lively, a little vicious and does things her own way. The other characters are somewhat wary of her. When push comes to shove later in the play, she takes charge in a crisis. Actor must be a Spanish speaker or be able to learn and speak lines in that language.
Dorothy
Character age: 60’s and up
Dorothy lives down the hall from Florence in Hotel Seymour. They are very close friends and she is quite protective of Florence’s vocal attempts. She is also a society woman and a principal driver of the Night of the Silver Skylarks a major Verdi Club annual event just prior to Christmastime. She owns a small poodle named Ricky an inert character in the play that gets a lot of laughs.
Mrs. Verrinder-Gedge
Character age: 60’s and up
Mrs. V-G is appalled by Florence’s attempts at singing and her ruination of great music. She brings in a petition to get her to stop. She’s a snooty, righteous person who ushers in even more comedy in Act 2. There will be no separate scenes for actors who might play this character. She will be cast from candidates reading for Florence and Dorothy.
ABOUT THE PLAY:
The true story of Florence Foster Jenkins— the worst singer in the world. Known as “the first lady of the sliding scale,” she warbled and screeched her way through evenings to bemused audiences in 1940’s New York. The play spins from Florence’s charity recitals and extravagant balls, through to her bizarre recording sessions and an ultimate triumph at Carnegie Hall in this hilarious and heartwarming comedy.
“Delightful and blissfully funny.” —Daily Telegraph
“Hilarious and touching.” —Daily Mail
“A glittering comedy with a heart… lunatically funny.” —Sunday Times
“Comically sublime.” —The Guardian
DATES AND TIMES OF AUDITIONS:
Sunday, March 15 at 6:00 p.m.
Monday, March 16 at 6:00 p.m.
For more information please e-mail - director@mendocinotheatre.org