Nebraska Rep begins season with play about a legendary 'singer.'
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By JEFF KORBELIK / GZO
The coincidence wasn’t lost on Rita Stinner.
The vocalist found herself on stage at Carnegie Hall just 11 days before opening “Souvenir” for the Nebraska Repertory Theatre in Lincoln.
The play by Stephen Temperley is about soprano Florence Foster Jenkins, who performed her final concert at the storied venue in 1944. Stinner will portray Foster Jenkins.
What: "Souvenir," Nebraska Repertory Theatre
Where: Studio Theatre, Temple Building, 12th and R streets
When: 7:30 p.m. Thursday through July 12, July 19, Aug. 1 and 8; 2 p.m. July 27
Tickets: $20; $18 senior citizens, UNL faculty and staff and active military; $10 students/youth; 472-4747
Rep has more to offer
"Souvenir" is one of three Nebraska Repertory Theatre productions this summer in the Temple Building theaters, 12th and R streets.
The others are John Patrick Shanley's "Doubt" and Martin McDonagh's "The Cripple of Inishmaan."
Season tickets are available for all three shows. They are $50, $45 for senior citizens, University of Nebraska-Lincoln faculty and staff and active military, and $30 for students and youths. For subscriptions, call 472-4747.
The following is a rundown of the other two shows, with times and dates:
* "Doubt"
It's 1964 and suspicion has been raised at St. Nicholas Catholic Church and School.
Nurtured by Sister Aloysius, principal and old school nun, denied by progressive Father Flynn, the parish priest, and watered with the troubled tears of the naive sixth-grade teacher caught between them, the dark blossoms of doubt begin to unfold.
Performances: 7:30 p.m. July 16, 17, 18, 26, 31 and Aug. 9; 2 p.m. Aug. 3.
* "The Cripple of Inishmaan"
Set in the Aran Island in the 1930s, the play links to the real-life story of a Hollywood film crew's trip to the island to make a documentary about life there.
The one person who wants to be in the film more than anybody is young Cripple Billy, an unloved boy whose chief occupation has been gazing at cows and yearning for a girl who wants no part of him.
Performances: 7:30 p.m. July 23, 24, 25, Aug. 6, 7; 2 p.m. Aug. 10.
“I envision myself as Florence here, being able to stand on this amazing stage with all its history and tradition,” Stinner said by cell phone from New York City, where she was prepping her choir from Western Nebraska Community College (Scottsbluff) for the Carnegie concert.
But the big difference between Stinner and Foster Jenkins is that Stinner can sing; Foster Jenkins could not.
“She couldn’t sing at all,” Stinner said. “Her pitch was bad. The quality of her voice was bad. She really was bad.”
Yet Foster Jenkins’ inability to carry a tune did not prevent her from performing. On the contrary, it made her famous.
She was her era’s William Hung, the young “singer” who rocketed to fame after his “American Idol” audition.
“It was the campy thing to do to attend one of her recitals,” Stinner said. “It was an evening of entertainment.”
The Rep opens its 41st season with “Souvenir” in the Temple Theatre on Thursday. Directed by Rep artistic director Virginia Smith, the two-person play also features Brian Mathers as Foster Jenkins’ accompanist, Cosme McMoon.
Foster Jenkins (1868-1944) used her inheritance to finance her singing career — one that had been discouraged by her parents and ex-husband.
As the story goes, she was convinced she was equal in talent to the other sopranos of the day. She believed people weren’t laughing behind their handkerchiefs; they were overcome with emotion.
“I believe her manager and accompanist protected her,” Stinner said.
Indeed, she performed many of her recitals for her friends. But at the age of 76, she agreed to a public performance at Carnegie Hall. Her show reportedly sold out in two hours.
She died a month later.
Stinner, 57, is director of music and choral activities at WNCC, where she’s been for 11 years. She earned her undergraduate and graduate degrees from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln and taught music in the Lincoln Public Schools for 17 years.
Mathers, director of research development at the University of South Dakota, is known locally for his annual holiday cabaret staged by the Angels Theatre Company. He hosted his 10th and final cabaret in December.
To prepare for her role, Stinner learned the arias featured in Temperley’s play correctly before singing them incorrectly.
“I would alter the pitch, singing a quarter step higher or lower,” she said. “I told Virginia and Brian I thought my pitch was improving because I’ve been so conscious of altering it in the wrong direction.”
While Foster Jenkins is viewed as a comic character, Stinner believes she also was a very noble woman.
“She loved and respected the arts, particularly music,” she said. “She was, in many ways, an advocate for the arts and a guardian for the arts.”
Reach Jeff Korbelik at 473-7213 or jkorbelik@journalstar.com.
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