Review: ”Suurenmoista!”

Havukainen sings –

I’m allowed to laugh!

We all love stories, and our minds are especially fascinated by stories that are based on real life that have actually happened to someone. The American singer Florence Foster Jenkins ‘ life has inspired writers before, but Peter Quilter’s stage work Glorious! is truly something magnificent, as the Finnish translation promises.
If seriously made recordings are considered hysterically funny, as Quilter considers it to be within earshot of our own time – and there was nothing wrong with the musicality of the singer’s contemporaries either – then isn’t that just a great starting point for trying to find out what it was all about?

It is often said in a dismissive way that a person is just a bubble. His reputation will then be much greater than his achievements and qualifications. Looking at it this way, this Florence really was a bubble, but oh, what a lovely one. He made his dreams come true, educated, recorded, gave concerts at a fairly advanced age, i.e. when it was financially possible for him. After all, his success – which was really unbelievably great – was not really taken away from anyone. Everyone liked him; “village madmen” is a page of the world that is liked. Courage and unconventionality were trumps in Florence’s case, and it didn’t make matters worse that she was an active woman and also quite a generous benefactor.

Who could not like Riitta Havukainen’s interpretation in this leading role? Funniness and energy fit Havukainen’s image as an artist, she is a comedian and also sings well. “However, now I have had to focus on the polished slippage. The collaboration between musician Lasse Hirvi and the singer works amazingly. The arias are allowed to go to the side roads without any fuss. Havukainen also succeeds in his mimicry. Enjoyably, she jumps and twirls around in horribly adorable outfits conjured up by Sari Salmela . The joyful fantasy of the costumes and the opulence of rhymes on stage fit credibly into Jyrki Seppä’s boldly grandiose set design.

Florence’s excellent close community – her accompanist (Jouko Klemettilä), her boyfriend (Pertti Koivula) and her friend (Eija Vilpas) – form a court whose loyalty should not be doubted. There is a guarantee of authenticity in affection, although each of these three also benefits from that friendship. There is no shortage of money. Thus, the pianist softens his employer’s lack of talent to the best of his ability, his partner keeps him in a good mood with whiskey, and his girlfriend beautifies concert halls with her manual skills. Neil Hardwick’s direction is snappy, the roles are strongly humorous, and the interpreters charge them with a cheerful personality.

Heidi Herala’s chef Mariana is as lively as Mexican spice, while Eeva-Liisa Haimelin’s thankless task is to play the role of an outspoken critic. The emergence of a counterforce on stage is the rising point of the narrative, and this episode – the scolding in the face – could have been sharper and more hurtful. Now it sounded like a mere “evil fairy’s” boast and was shielded into a strong support group.
However, the most important thing is probably the realization that human lovability sometimes depends on something completely different than general acceptability. This stage work proves that well.
And it made me laugh impossibly