Throughout the show, Man in Chair will continue to comment and explain the action with asides to the audience.įeldzeig is agonizing over the fact that his top meal ticket, Janet, is leaving showbiz to get married. Tottendale and her Underling, a proper butler dashing bridegroom, Robert Martin harried and bumbling best man, George producer, Feldzeig (a thinly-disguised homage to legendary Broadway producer, Florenz Zeigfeld) ditsy, would-be showgirl ingenue, Kitty a pair of Gangsters disguised as the pastry chefs Latin lothario, Aldolpho (a Rudolph Valentino-type) Janet's Drowsy (i.e., "tipsy") Chaperone (whom we understand is being played by a rather overbearing and potent grand dame of the theatre) and Trix, a glamorous aviatrix, a la Amelia Earhart. We are introduced to a barrage of characters during an introductory opening number ("Fancy Dress"), including Mrs. Tottendale, a wealthy dowager, is the site of an imminent wedding between showgirl, Janet Van De Graff, to oil tycoon, Robert Martin.
#Drowsy chaperone full#
No sooner has the needle touched the record than we, together with the narrator, are transported to a 1928 Broadway theatre and into The Drowsy Chaperone, a play-within-a-play, crammed full of every cliche, gag and gimmick from the golden age of musicals. He is a fan of vintage musicals, who seems to be suffering from free-floating depression, and he quickly decides to cheer things up by playing a record of the original cast recording of a (fictional) Broadway musical entitled The Drowsy Chaperone. The audience is greeted by the narrator, Man in Chair, sitting on a darkened stage. Because of its many featured roles and accessible script, The Drowsy Chaperone will fit perfectly into any company's season. Hailed by New York Magazine as "The Perfect Broadway Musical," The Drowsy Chaperone is a masterful meta-musical, poking fun at all the tropes that characterize the musical theatre genre. Mix in two lovers on the eve of their wedding, a bumbling best man, a desperate theatre producer, a not-so-bright hostess, two gangsters posing as pastry chefs, a misguided Don Juan and an intoxicated chaperone, and you have the ingredients for an evening of madcap delight. The recording comes to life and The Drowsy Chaperone begins as the man in the chair looks on.
With the houselights down, a man in a chair appears on stage and puts on his favorite record: the cast recording of a fictitious 1928 musical. Winner of five Tony Awards, including Best Book and Best Original Score, The Drowsy Chaperone is a loving send-up of the Jazz Age musical, featuring one show-stopping song and dance number after another.
0 kommentar(er)
