Last year I saw The Addams Family and Elf The Musical at Draper Historic Theatre. One of these productions was outstanding and the other one was not so, clearly, I had to see another show as a tie breaker and I chose The Drowsy Chaperone last night. I love this show so much because it is a love letter to musical theatre (it features every trope that you can think of) and its power to transport the audience to a place where happy endings are possible for a few hours. Man in Chair (Christopher Stockstager) decides to listen to his cast recording of The Drowsy Chaperone, a popular musical from 1928, because he is feeling a little blue. The show comes to life in the middle of his apartment as he listens but he frequently interrupts to provide commentary and occasionally participates in the big production numbers. Mrs. Tottendale (Pam Winrow) and her Underling (Kian Byington) are hosting the wedding between the oil tycoon Robert Martin (Wes Seiler) and Broadway star Janet Van De Graaf (Kellie Seiler), who is giving up her glamorous career for love. Robert is leaving all of the wedding details to his friend and best man George (Gabe Velez) while Janet is relying on her Chaperone (Keri Hughes), who gets drowsy when she drinks, to keep her and the groom apart to avoid bad luck. Broadway producer Feldzieg (Josh Rayburn) wants to prevent his biggest star from leaving his show so he hires a Latin lover named Aldolpho (Matthew Davids) to seduce her in order to stop the wedding, an investor in the Feldzieg Follies is also worried and hires two gangsters (Spencer Bushman and Isaac King), disguised as pastry chefs, to disrupt the proceedings, but a ditzy chorus girl named Kitty (Makayla Porter) tries to prove to them that she can take her place. Mayhem ensues until Trix the Aviatrix (Haley Oliphant) provides the happy ending by agreeing to marry four couples on her plane while flying to Rio. I loved the entire cast but the standouts for me were Hughes because she is the ultimate diva in "As We Stumble Along" (I loved how the veteran performer tries to outshine the ingenue in this number), Davids because he is completely over-the-top in "I Am Aldolpho" (I laughed out loud at all of his antics with a cane), Velez because he is hysterically overwrought in "Wedding Bells 1" and "Wedding Bells 2" (this was his same characterization for Buddy the Elf but it is more appropriate in this show), and Stockstager because he is a perfect Man in Chair (especially his poignant monologue during "Love is Always Lovely in the End"). The choreography is fantastic, particularly in "Cold Feets" (I always love to see tap dancing), "Show Off" (it was clever to have Janet rise up from a trap door in the encore), "Toledo Surprise," "Bride's Lament," and "I Do, I Do in the Sky." It is hilarious every time the actors freeze (in some very elaborate poses) when Man in Chair stops the record and when they repeat the choreography over and over again when it has a scratch. The set of the apartment is ingenious and the cast utilizes the furniture very well for their entrances and exits (my favorites are when George emerges from one of the lower cabinets and when the Chaperone appears in a Murphy bed). The costumes are great because they include some fun details, such as the two cardigan sweaters worn by Man in Chair, the plaid plus fours with argyle socks and sweater vests worn by the gangsters, and the spats worn by the Underling. I loved everything about this production so you never know what you are going to get with community theatre! The show runs Mondays, Thursdays, Fridays, and Saturdays through May 9 and I highly recommend getting a ticket (go here).
Note: I loved Stockstager but my favorite Man in Chair is Jonathan Crombie (better known as Gilbert Blythe in Anne of Green Gables) from the Broadway touring production. Sigh!
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