The next FOLA movie will be "Florence Foster Jenkins" on Saturday, May 26 at 7 PM in the Frank Heald Auditorium in Ludlow Town Hall.

This is a movie about an opera singer - really about an opera singer with no talent. The movie, Florence Foster Jenkins, is a 2016 biographical comedy-drama film directed by Stephen Frears and written by Nicholas Martin. The film stars Meryl Streep as Florence Foster Jenkins, a New York heiress who became an opera singer known for her painful lack of singing skill. Hugh Grant plays her husband and manager.

The movie concentrates on Jenkins musical efforts during World War II in New York city. What follows is her efforts to entertain the troops by buying out Carnegie Hall and giving tickets to service members. When the service members respond to Jenkins' singing with laughter, members of the Verdi Club, shout them down and demand that they show respect to Jenkins.

Cole Porter and Tallulah Bankhead are the among that audience. When the music critic for the New York Post newspaper says he will write a damning criticism of her performance, her husband buys up all the issues of the paper.

Florence Foster Jenkins was an American socialite and amateur soprano who was known and mocked for her flamboyant performance costumes and notably poor singing ability. The historian Stephen Pile ranked her "the world's worst opera singer".

Despite (or perhaps because of) her technical incompetence, she became a prominent musical cult figure in New York City during the 1920s, 1930s, and 1940s. Cole Porter, Gian Carlo Menotti, Lily Pons, Sir Thomas Beecham, and other celebrities were fans. Enrico Caruso is said to have "regarded her with affection and respect". The poet William Meredith wrote that what Jenkins provided "... was never exactly an aesthetic experience, or only to the degree that an early Christian among the lions provided an aesthetic experience".

Meryl Streep was praised for her role as Jenkins by the movies director who noted that "You can only sing badly if you are good singer."

As with all FOLA movies, everyone is invited and it's free; donations are appreciated. Popcorn will be supplied by Berkshire Bank with water provided by FOLA. For information, call (802)228-7239 or visit our web site at www.fola.us.