At the piano: Scott Shearer. Left to right: Tricia Sutton, Colin Hill, Angie Brignell, Claire Kingshott and Aysev Ismail.

This uplifting and joyous production will lighten a dark January week, and blow away those post-Christmas/January blues. LESLEY ROBINS, director, introduces the players

We have a stellar cast bringing the delightful characters of Glorious! to the Geoffrey Whitworth stage. Angie Brignell plays the indomitable and eccentric Florence with verve and great panache. Her partner, St Clair Byfield, a larger-than-life English actor, is played by the equally larger than life Colin Hill. Florence is ably supported by her devoted companion, Dorothy, portrayed by Claire Kingshott who brings a whole new meaning to the word ditzy. Scott Shearer will not be taking his clothes off for us as he did in The Full Monty, but he will be displaying his undoubted musical skills in the role of Cosme McMoon, Florence’s long-suffering accompanist. Seeking and failing to cast a shadow on the proceedings is the redoubtable Mrs Verrinder-Gedge, played with gusto by Tricia Sutton. Then, speaking only Spanish and using some pretty bad language at that, Maria, the Mexican maid, is played with flair and flashing eyes by Aysev Ismail. Last but by no means least, Ricky the poodle, played by himself, completes the cast.

WARNING: This play has scenes of hilarity which may provoke tears of laughter. Tissues may be required.

BILL BRAY introduces a genuine, eccentric original

I first became aware of Florence Foster Jenkins in the 1940s and 1950s when BBC radio broadcast Three-Way Family Favourites at midday on Sundays. It was a programme of record requests and messages bringing together people in the UK and their friends and relatives serving in the armed forces in Germany and other places overseas where they were needed after the war. Those of my generation will surely remember Cliff Michelmore and Jean Metcalfe, and others, as the presenters of the programme.

The recordings of Florence Foster Jenkins were frequently requested by servicemen and her records could hardly fail to find a response in the listeners. She included in her repertoire coloratura arias such as Mozart's Queen of the Night from The Magic Flute with its elaborate vocal trills which demand, in the opera house, sopranos of the highest calibre.

Mrs Jenkins did not concern herself that she was vocally under-equipped for such arias, but limited her concert appearances after she became a celebrity, perhaps for the wrong reasons. She controlled ticket sales herself and most went to members of her exclusive Verdi Society, which she founded in New York City..

One of her records is entitled Murder on the High Cs and includes the aria from The Magic Flute; the Bell Song from Lakme and Adele's Laughing Song from Die Fledermaus. Her renditions call to mind a verse from an Irving Berlin song:

Sister Sal was musical
But never had a lesson
Still she learned to sing off key
Doin' what comes nat'rally.

From childhood she wanted a career in music, but her wealthy father recognised her lack of ability and refused to pay for musical studies. She was in her early forties when he died, leaving her a sizeable inheritance which allowed her to indulge her whim for musical training. At the age of 44 she felt ready to give a public performance in the ballroom of the Ritz-Carlton Hotel in New York. This became the venue for annual concerts until, at the age of 76, she decided to take the ultimate concert venue in New York: Carnegie Hall. She died a few months later.

Jenkins had little sense of pitch and rhythm and was barely capable of finding and sustaining a note, wavering either side of an approximation. Her accompanist tried valiantly to make adjustments in compensation for her tempo variations.

Her diction was dubious, especially in foreign language songs. Nevertheless, her audiences apparently appreciated her for the amusement she provided rather than for her musical ability. Her bemused following served to convince her of her greatness. She compared herself favourably with the best of contemporary sopranos, dismissing the laughter which often came from the audience during her performances as coming from her rivals consumed by "professional jealousy." She countered her critics, saying - blissfully unaware of the self-disparagement it implied - "People may say I can't sing, but no one can ever say I didn't sing."

There have been at least three plays based on Florence Foster Jenkins’ extraordinary singing career but Peter Quilter's Glorious has been the most widely performed since its premiere in 2005. In our production Florence is played by Angela Brignell. It is not easy to sing badly, especially when you can sing well. Take care of those vocal cords Angie!