Souvenir is a “deceptively complicated piece” (Chicago Tribune) – funny and light on the surface, yet delving more deeply into the lives and psyches of its two characters than one might initially realize – and we’re so pleased that the critics have seen it that way.  Some of their thoughts on the multi-layered nature of the play are below.  We’d love to hear yours.  (To comment, just click on the title of this entry, then scroll down to find the comment area below.)

“Temperley also probes such fascinating matters as how singers really never hear what everyone else hears, and thus they don’t really know how they sound. They all take things on trust. More interesting yet, the piece also explores the question as to whether such little things as correct notes, pitch and rhythm really matter as much as the guardians of culture say they do. If you can move people without them – maybe move people more because you don’t have them – then who needs them?” -Chicago Tribune

“[Powers] succeeds in making Jenkins seem less a figure of fun than a true American original. She has a game foil in Anders, who brings out the tenderness in McMoon’s reluctant ability to overlook his patron’s flaws, which might otherwise seem like opportunism.” -Time Out Chicago

“Everyone with a need for artistic self-expression is not necessarily artistic. But who is to say what is art? Florence Foster Jenkins had the means to do what she felt was her destiny.” -TheaterWorld.com

“[Cosme McMoon] accepted a well-paying gig he thought would be short-lived and under-the-radar, but it turned out to be life-changing as for years he provided impeccable musical accompaniment for a woman who seemed blithely unaware of how dreadful her singing was, or, if she knew, simply believed that art was simply what you imagined it to be in all its glory.” -Chicago Sun-Times