‘JENNY LIND PRESENTS P.T. BARNUM’ – Singing is Perfectly Intoned to its History

By Ernest Kearney — Today most will know of Jenny Lind (October 6, 1820 – November 2, 1887), if at all, from the 2017 musical The Greatest Showman starring Hugh Jackman as P.T. Barnum and Rebecca Ferguson as Lind.

The film—while celebrated for its magnificent musical numbers—was criticized for being sub-par filmmaking and providing an even worse bio of the two main characters, especially of Lind.

In her one-woman show Jenny Lind Presents P.T. Barnum Shelley Cooper takes steps to repair the damage done by the film to the real-life singer. Cooper shows Lind did not have an affair with Barnum but was, in fact, a woman of strong religious and moral sentiments.  

Lind rose from poverty in her homeland of Sweden to become the most admired opera singer in Europe, and it was at her London debut in 1847 with Queen Victoria in the audience, that Barnum first saw her. 

She was a woman of plain appearance, and often remarked about herself that she had a “potato nose.”

It was not her beauty that attracted Barnum, but her value as a commodity, and he quickly signed her for a tour of America.

Cooper’s play centers on the tense and sometimes contentious relationship between the spiritual singer and the amoral promoter, as well as the singer’s opposition to the institution of slavery she found surrounding her in America.

Cooper has both the acting chops and vocal cords for the role of the “Swedish Nightingale,” which only serves to double the pleasure for audiences lucky enough to see her show.

A GOLD MEDAL to Cooper both for her show and for her dedication to the Hollywood Fringe.

Learn More at shelley-cooper.com

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Ernest Kearney - author
Written by

An award-winning L.A. playwright and rabble-rouser of note who has hoisted glasses with Orson Welles, been arrested on three continents and once beat up Charlie Manson. His first play, "Among the Vipers" was a semi-finalist in the Julie Harris Playwriting Competition and was featured in the Carnegie-Mellon Showcase of New Plays. It was produced at the NPT Theater in Ashland, Oregon and Los Angeles’ celebrated Odyssey Ensemble Theatre. His following play, “The Little Boy Who Loved Monsters” was produced at The Hollywood Actors Theater, where he earned praise from the Los Angeles Times for his “…inordinately creative writing.” The play went on to numerous other productions including Berlin’s The Black Theatre under the direction of Rainer Fassbinder who wrote in his program notes of Kearney, “He is a skilled playwright, but more importantly he is a dangerous one.” Ernest Kearney has worked as literary manager or as dramaturge for among others The Hudson Theater Guild, Nova Diem and the Odyssey Ensemble Theatre, where he still serves on the play selection committee. He has been the recipient of two Dramalogue Awards and a finalist or semi-finalist, three times, in the Julie Harris Playwriting Competition. His work has been performed by Michael Dunn, Sandra Tsing Loh, Jack Colvin and Billy Bob Thornton, and to date, either as playwright or director, he has upwards of a hundred and thirty productions under his belt, including a few at the Bob Baker Marionette Theater as puppeteer. Kearney remains focused on his writing, as well as living happily ever after with his lovely wife Marlene. His stage reviews and social essays can be found at TheTVolution.com and workingauthor.com. Follow him on Facebook.

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