The Drowsy Chaperone at the Empress

I really love the musical The Drowsy Chaperone because not only is it one of the funniest shows I've ever seen but it is a poignant ode to the power that musical theatre has to transport you away from the real world and all of your problems to a place where happy endings are possible for a few hours.  I saw a production at the Empress Theatre last night and I had so much fun!  Man in Chair (Ryan Fallis) is feeling a little bit blue so he decides to listen to the cast recording of The Drowsy Chaperone, a popular musical from 1928.  As he listens to the record, the actors appear in his apartment and bring the show to life with frequent pauses for his commentary on all of the theatre tropes used in the show.  Mrs. Tottendale (Chalise Craig) and her Underling (Brian Mecham) are hosting the wedding of oil tycoon Robert Martin (Patrick Hawkins) and Broadway star Janet Van De Graaff (Alayna Bria), who is giving up her glamorous career for love.  Robert is leaving the wedding details to George (Ezekiel Petersen), his best friend and best man, while Janet's Chaperone (Candice J. Jorgensen), who gets "drowsy" when she drinks, is charged with keeping the couple apart to avoid bad luck.  Broadway producer Feldzieg (Nate Fairclough) is unhappy about losing his biggest star and sets out to stop the wedding by hiring a Latin lover named Adolpho (Michael Ricks) to seduce the bride.  An investor in the Feldzieg Follies is also worried about losing its biggest star and hires two gangsters (Trae Fairclough and Nathaniel DiVall), disguised as pastry chefs, to stop the wedding.  A ditzy chorus girl named Kitty (Kandace Keddington) is hoping to take Janet's place.  Mayhem ensues, especially when Main in Chair puts the wrong record on at the beginning of Act 2 and the cast starts performing a song from Message From a Nightingale instead, but the happy ending comes eventually when Trix the Aviatrix (Marie Roe) is enlisted to marry four couples on her plane while flying to Rio.  The best part of this show is Fallis as Man in Chair because he is absolutely hilarious when he joins in with the choreography during "Toledo Surprise" and "Bride's Lament" but he also shows a lot of vulnerability when he compares the show to his life during a rant against the song "Love is Always Lovely in the End."  I also really enjoyed it when he spontaneously interacted with audience members (including me!).  Other standouts in the cast are Hawkins (I loved his tap dancing in "Cold Feets" and his roller skating in "Accident Waiting to Happen"), Ricks (I loved every entrance he makes), and Jorgensen (I loved it when she pushes Janet out of the way during "As We Stumble Along").  Once again, the use of the intimate space is incredibly clever with the Man's apartment at one end of the stage and an Art Deco hotel lobby complete with elevator at the other.  I also loved the plane and the staging of "I Do, I Do in the Sky."  I laughed and laughed through the entire show and I highly recommend getting a ticket (go here) for one of the two remaining performances.