Broadway Watch - The Drowsy Chaperone

The Drowsy Chaperone Music & Lyrics by Lisa Lambert and Greg Morrison; Book by Bob McMartin and Don McKellar Directed and Choreographed by Casey Nicholaw Marquis Theatre Opened 1st May 2006 Extracts from various reviewers: “The look of exultation is unmistakable, and familiar to every musical theatre lover who's ever been transported by one of his or her favorite numbers. It washes across the face of our guide through the new musical The Drowsy Chaperone with all the regularity of the tides, the smile from deep within that suggests a feeling almost like being in love.” “At least in the hands of Martin, a veteran of Second City Toronto, "Man in Chair" is a charming, charitably cheery emcee. Not that most musical theatre lovers will need convincing: "Man in Chair" is the quintessential lovable show queen, one of that stalwart species common in New York, but with isolated populations the world over.” “This one wiles away the hours in his apartment, accompanied only by his trusty hi-fi (no CD players here, thank you) and a stack of LPs from his favorite shows. (Yes, just one stack. This is where suspension of disbelief begins.) One of his most cherished is a Gable & Stein guilty pleasure called The Drowsy Chaperone, some piffle from the first half of the 20th century combining vaudeville irreverence with Aarons-Freedley frivolity into a cavalcade of paper-thin hilarity.” “As "Man in Chair" plays the record, the colorful, quirky show materializes within the drab greys of his apartment, transporting him - and us - into the show itself.” “Through it all, "Man in Chair" provides wry background information about the show and its players, their personal histories before and since they appeared in The Drowsy Chaperone. He becomes in these snatches of dialogue, far and away the show's finest, the true theatrical connoisseur, contextualizing for us this show that allows him to escape his lonely, lovelorn world and return to the glorious Broadway... of 1928.” “…David Gallo's apartment set, into which Drowsy's marriage mansion inventively irrupts, is a clever creation, and Gregg Barnes's costumes are exquisite…” “…Martin's performance is a spirited reminder of the joy that musicals can inspire, and there can be no doubt from it, or his book, of his fondness for musicals and the people who adore them.” Talkin’ Broadway – Matthew Murray “Just after The Drowsy Chaperone begins, the musical comedy-loving narrator identified in the program as Man in Chair (Bob Martin) plays what is supposedly the original cast recording of a fictional '20s tuner called The Drowsy Chaperone. Instantly, the show materializes in the fellow's high-ceilinged Manhattan apartment with its gated windows. Quick as you can say "Fred and Adele Astaire," David Gallo's ingenious sets partly transform the drab dwelling into what is meant to be the various gilded rooms and frou-frou garden of a Long Island mansion.” “Yes, I know. Here we have yet another musical about musicals, enterprises so numerous we now have words for them: "metamusicals" and "self-referential musicals."” “By now, we should be worn out by the subject, shouldn't we? Lucky for us, an extremely talented group has gamboled into town with a new musical about musicals. They're songwriters Lisa Lambert and Greg Morrison, librettists Bob Martin (who also gives an award-winning performance as Man in Chair) and Don McKellar, director-choreographer Casey Nicholaw, and an ensemble of performers so accomplished that you want to jump in the air and click your heels. The best new musical of the season has arrived, and it ought to keep audiences smiling, laughing, and clapping their mitts off for some time to come -- even folks who have only the faintest understanding of what '20s musicals were like.” “While mocking the musical comedy formula, the Drowsy Chaperone crew supplies laugh upon laugh and clever number after clever number, some of which will knock your eyes out.” “The creators have structured their intermissionless, 85-minute whopper so adroitly that everyone in the ensemble gets an opportunity to sparkle in the spotlight… Here's a nonpareil musical-comedy cast being put through its paces by a fountain-of-whimsy director.” “The Drowsy Chaperone is founded on a slender thread of a premise that I feel duty-bound to report: Man in Chair claims that he's playing an original cast album but, for a musical that supposedly opened in 1928, there is almost no likelihood that a recording of "the full show with the original cast" would exist. Still, so what? Premises for musicals, especially '20s musical, have habitually been as thin as Foster in her finery -- and few have been so utterly the bee's knees as The Drowsy Chaperone.” Theater Mania – Peter Filichia “Don't let the title fool you. The last thing the delightful new musical The Drowsy Chaperone will do is put you to sleep. Besides being short and sweet, it's also fast-paced and very funny. Best of all, it's not based on a movie and it's not a jukebox musical. In fact, this inventive show boasts a clever concept that is fully realized in its witty book and cute '20s-style songs. Add a dazzling production and an ideal cast to the mix and you have a musical that's as sparkling, fizzy and refreshing as a glass of topflight champagne.” “The central character, called simply Man in Chair (Bob Martin, who also co-wrote the book with Don McKellar), loves old musicals. As the show begins, he is indeed sitting in a chair in his dreary one-room apartment wearing a cardigan sweater. After a brief diatribe about what's wrong with current musicals, he says that whenever he's feeling blue he likes to put on an old record—not a CD, he emphasizes, but a record. Out of his collection he pulls a double LP of a 1928 show called The Drowsy Chaperone. Once he plays the record, the musical comes to life in his apartment. In David Gallo's ingenious set design, the drab room gradually gives way to the colorful imaginary world of the musical.” “"All the characters are two-dimensional, and the plot is well-worn," the Man in Chair says. That may be so, but the characters are as cheery as they are stereotypical. Even better, Martin and McKellar's smart book gives the actors amusing backstories.” “For now, the wonderful cast is making The Drowsy Chaperone one of the sprightliest, funniest shows on Broadway. Martin co-wrote his role, so it's no wonder it fits him as comfortably as his cardigan. Foster doesn't get to tap dance, as she did in her Tony-winning turn in Thoroughly Modern Millie, but she does display comic flair along with her singing and dancing talents. It's Leavel who steals the show, however, hamming it up magnificently in her uproarious solo "As We Stumble Along."” “For all its winning qualities, The Drowsy Chaperone may be too frothy and whimsical for some tastes. Although it lasts just an hour and forty minutes, without an intermission, I began to tire of the '20s-inspired music by the time Engel and Hibbert sang the cutesy duet "Love Is Always Lovely in the End." Most of the songs are better than that one, but Lambert and Morrison's perky pastiche may not appeal to everyone.” “Nonetheless, this affectionate tribute to musicals should have theater buffs returning for second helpings of its engaging narration, cheerful tunes and faultless performances. Unabashedly escapist, it's musical comedy with the emphasis on comedy. As the Man in Chair says of the 1928 show he happily shares with us, "It does what a musical is supposed to do; it takes you to another world. And it gives you a little tune to carry in your head. Something to take you away from the dreary horrors of the real world. A little something for when you're feeling blue. You know?" Yes, we know. And that's why The Drowsy Chaperone is likely to be a big fat nostalgic hit.” Broadway.Com – William Stevenson Next Broadway Musical opening – Tarzan – 10th May