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Published Saturday March 14, 2009 Review: Awful soprano hits all the right notes BY BOB FISCHBACH WORLD-HERALD STAFF WRITER

It sounds funny: a true -story play about a woman who couldn't sing but insisted on doing so for the cream of New York society. RELATED

Well, "Glorious" is indeed funny, thanks mostly • Awful at arias to the lead actress. The period comedy about Florence Foster Jenkins opened Friday at the Omaha Community Playhouse.

In a climactic scene in which Jenkins sings at in 1944, Dianne L. Jones had me laughing so hard tears streamed down my cheeks.

Jones sings beautifully in real life for Opera Omaha and in area musicals. But she has transformed her vocal self to play this gloriously awful soprano. Terrible pitch that slides and wanders, dreadful phrasing and breath control - it's excruciatingly funny. "It's always fun to play flamboyant people," says Dianne Jones, who stars as Florence I never fully understood the term caterwauling until I heard Jones at a Foster Jenkins. Thursday night preview.

Add to that the most stilted and overdramatic movement imaginable, plus an angel costume, complete with wings that actually flap, and the audience is left helplessly in stitches as she staggers her Glorious way through the "Queen of the Night" aria from Mozart's "." What: Stage comedy The fact that Jenkins was so sincere in her delivery and so sure of her musical gift is what made her bad concerts such a sensation back in her day. The fact that Where: Omaha Jones is such a gifted character actress (her diction and delivery are flawless) is, in Community Playhouse, the end, what makes "Glorious" worth seeing. 6915 Cass St.

This small-cast show is full of eccentric characters, but not all of them are as When: 7:30 p.m. consistently funny as Jones. Director Susan Baer Collins has given her cast fairly Wednesdays through broad license - understandable, considering the strange people who populate Saturdays, 2 p.m. and Florence's world. But the comedy felt a little forced at times. 6:30 p.m. Sundays, through April 5. Still, each of these eccentrics scored moments that tripped the laugh trigger. Exception: No 6:30 p.m. show April 5. As Cosme McMoon, Florence's new accompanist, John J. Bennett was his funniest when Cosme hears Florence sing for the first time - and can't keep the horrified Tickets: $32 adults, $21 shock off his face. students

Julie Huff, as loyal friend Dorothy, tickled the crowd when she downed one too Information: 553-0800 many glasses of sherry and threw a hip out dancing to impress Cosme.

Rodger Gerberding is Florence's beau, a British actor named St. Clair who never lets his undying admiration for Flo get in the way of his fondness for drink and an eye for the ladies -all the ladies. His overtures toward Dorothy, and even toward Florence's Mexican maid, sparked plenty of audience reaction.

Easily the best supporting player is Judy Radcliff, who swears like a sailor in Spanish as the foul-tempered maid with a unibrow. Radcliff may take Maria's contempt to an extreme, but when she sails blissfully over the top, she knows exactly how to combine facial expressions, body English and comedic delivery to keep the laughs rolling.

While the show works overall, and especially when Jones is onstage, pacing felt slow at times in talky scenes. A second-act graveyard scene felt pretty extended for what's essentially a one-joke gag - though it is a funny gag.

Costumes by Georgiann Regan and scenic design by Jim Othuse are both inspired period work that go a long way toward making "Glorious" a visual treat.

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What falls on the ear, of course, is less glorious - as it should be.

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http://omaha.com/print_friendly.php?u_mod=story 3/17/2009