A bold, comedic tribute to Florence Foster Jenkins, the world’s worst singer
In 2016, the film Florence Foster Jenkins was released. Starring Meryl Streep in one of her many Oscar-nominated performances, the biopic draws us into the lavish lifestyle of the New York City socialite and her strong love of music. Endlessly generous and ridiculously brave, Florence constantly pursued performing opera gigs at all the renowned venues – never realising that she is actually a horrendous singer.
Glorious! brings Florence’s absurd, comical story to the stage. The glitz and glamour of the film are stripped away in this production, instead giving us four insightful, dialogue-heavy scenes (two each, before and after the interval) depicting the last few months of the tone-deaf singer’s life. Although the set design and costumes are fairly simplistic, everything still looks very beautiful, and the actors have such a striking stage presence that it is impossible to describe Glorious! as anything other than dazzling.
Florence is played by Wendi Peters, a woman who is tiny in stature and gargantuan in personality. Every second of her presence as Florence is a delight from start to finish. With a big, beaming smile on her face, she takes to the stage and delivers each line with such brilliant comedic timing, her singing so awful it had us all laughing and cheering. Like Florence, Peters feeds off the positive energy of the audience, in turn giving us a thoroughly entertaining show.
Matthew James Morrison plays Cosmé McMoon, a talented yet struggling pianist who lands a high-paying job as Florence’s accompanist. Morrison holds his own well against the bold Peters, his reactions of shock and awkward movements eliciting frequent laughter from the audience. At times, and this may be because the actors were not wearing microphones, it was difficult to hear certain things Morrison was saying – the first two scenes began with a monologue by him, so missing several lines was disappointing. However, Morrison brought the camp, cool energy that Glorious! required of all its performers.
Glorious! is a thoroughly entertaining show, filled with laughter, bright colours, and splendour. It is incredibly well-written, and the close friendship between Florence and Cosmé is lovely to see unfolding. The performers all have incredible chemistry with each other, and how can they not with someone as jolly as Wendi Peters at the forefront? This is an endlessly fun production, ending too quickly and entertaining splendidly.
Glorious! is playing at the Theatre Royal Windsor from March 17 to March 21, 2026.