"Glorious!" by Peter Quilter.

Derby Theatre.

This is the 20^th Anniversary production of the play and still retains the ability to make me laugh, nine years after I saw it for the first time.

"Glorious" follows Florence Foster Jemkins’ journey as she prepares for her concerts, builds an unlikely friendship with her accompanist, Cosme, and defies her critics to follow her dream of performing at Carnegie Hall on October 25^th 1944. A few months later, Florence passed away. And the story is all true!

Dubbed "the worst opera singer in the world", "Glorious!" is the true story of American socialite Florence Foster Jenkins, who was known for her flamboyant costumes, enigmatic performances, and decidedly off-key voice.

Florence Foster Jenkins is played by Wendi Peters, who you may have caught last year in pantomime at Derby Arena. I've seen Wendi in musicals and in panto so I know that she can sing, so to deliberately sing out of tune is more difficult than you may think - I manage it without that much effort. There were so many whisperings around the theatre about Florence being so much like Hyacinth Bucket from the TV comedy "Keeping Up Appearances", played by the late Patricia Routledge, and the resemblances are there, but Florence was a real character and Hyacinth is a character created for a TV comedy by Roy Clarke. 

I may be biased because I'm a fan of Wendi's and have met and interviewed her, but I liked the way that she now and again flicked, facially and physically, between Cilla Battersby - her character in "Coronation Street", and Hyacinth Bucket, but as Florence came first, maybe Roy Clarke was inspired by Florence, especially the singing ability. Either way I love Florence's belief in that she had something special, and no one was going to tell her otherwise; in a way I think that she knew that she wasn't the diva she thought she was, especially as there's a piece in the script that makes you think that.

Cosme McMoon is played by ex "EastEnders" actor Matthew James Morrison. This is a lovely comic character, who you may not see as a comic character until you get the reactions from an over enthusiastic Florence on their first meeting. The character is also a lovely one because to start with Cosme is there just for the money to pay his bills, but then he sees the real Florence and becomes one of her biggest backers, believing in her belief. Matthew's character is a million miles away from Felix Baker in "Eastenders", and we really get to see his comedy talents through Cosme. It's also nice to note that Matthew is local, hailing from Mansfield.

Florence has an Italian housekeeper/Cook/Maid in the form of Maria, who doesn't speak any English, but cunningly seems to understand what Florence says. Florence of course does not understand any Italian, which is strange due to the many arias written in Italian! Maria is played brilliantly by Caroline Gruber, who also doubles as Mrs Verrinder Gedge, a woman in the audience of Florence's latest musical gathering "The Silver Skylarks" who invades the stage to hand Florence a petition from the local music appreciation society to try and get Florence to stop singing.

Florence's friend, Dorothy, who also introduced Florence to Cosme after Dorothy saw him playing piano in a restaurant and asked that he call on Florence for the engagement of accompanying her on the piano at her evenings and soirees. Dorothey is played by Sioned Jones. 

Directed by Kirk Jameson, this is a rapid-fire piece of theatre with many of the jokes and one liners coming in rapid succession; tied in with the comic values of Florence's vocalisations, Kirk makes sure that there's not any long stretches without a smile appearing on your face. There is, in complete comparison, a lovely human moment in the second act which pulls you back down to earth. Cosme's final speech is also a bit of heartstring puller.

Scenographer and Costume Designer is Ingrid Hu. Florence's apartment is flash but not overtly flashy and has taste befitting a woman of Florence's stature and age. The costumes are wonderfully comedic.

Sound design is by Mark Goggins and Lighting design is by Mike Robertson. Derby Theatre's sound and lighting has always been one of my favourites, and this show holds up that opinion.

There's an accent coach involved with all the characters, and that's Greg Castiglioni.

There's some pieces of light classical music involved in the play: Mozart's "Queen Of the Night" taken from "The Magic Flute" and "The Laughing Song" from "Die Fledermaus" are both used for Florence to "perform".

This is a lovely show for light comedy and performance, maybe not so if you take your musical performances too seriously, but there's a message running through the storyline which should also be acknowledged, plus the play is less than two hours long including an interval. It's worth it just to see Florence's various costumes, and to witness two soap stars who are also local to the East Midlands.

"Glorious!" is at Derby Theatre until Saturday 28 February.