-The Story:
-The Drowsy Chaperone is a late 90's musical by Bob Martin and Don McKellar. The story is told through the point of view through the show's narrator, known as Man in Chair, who spends his night listening to the 1928 musical "the Drowsy Chaperone" on his vinyl record player in his studio apartment. As the record plays through the night, we the audience see what he is envisioning how the show was performed originally in 1928 as he sits in his chair and commentates throughout.
-The plot of "the Drowsy Chaperone" (by the fictional Gable and Stein) revolves around the wedding day of Janet Van De Graff, a famous broadway showgirl who plans to give up her life on stage in favor of the married life, and Robert Martin, popular oil business owner. George, Robert's best man, urges the couple not to see each other before the ceremony for good luck. Their wedding guests include the hostess of the ceremony, Mrs.Tottendale, Underling (her butler), Mr. Feltzieg (Janet's former producer of the Feltzieg Follies), Kitty (a dim-witted member of the follies), Two gangsters disguised as pastry chefs, Aldolpho (famous latin ladies man), the Drowsy Chaperone (Janet's marital chaperone), and Trix (the aviatrix) because...why not?
-It cleverly satirizes the golden age of classic Broadway musical comedies. Not only capturing the absurdity of the traditional tropes from other pre existing musical comedies (including Kiss Me Kate, Anything Goes, and many others) but also establishing it's own alternate universe with the show's cast members and each of their own backstories referencing and satirizing big named Broadway and Hollywood actors of the mid twentieth century.
-The Cast and the DIrection:
-The Man in Chair is played by Matthew Lundergan. He clearly represents us the audience as well as every die-hard fan of broadway musicals. Familiarizing himself with not only the the story of the show but the history behind the original production and the cast members as well. He becomes passionately invested in the experience of the show and gets overly frustrated when elements of the real world break his concentration from the record.
-The Chaperone is played by McKenzie Kimball. She plays this role with a high power of class and comedic cynicism. The best way to describe her performance, is a sophisticated renegade with the musical range on par with Judy Garland. Stealing every scene she is in.
-Janet Van De Graff is played by Alyssa Ivy Bene, who gorgeously captures the beauty of the talented young ingenue of the stage and screen out of the golden age of postmodern showmanship.
-The cast is riddled with with comedic duos with hilarious routines harkening back to classic Vaudeville and Burlesque entertainers. Robert Martin is played by Stephen Zubricki IV, who plays the suave yet absent-minded leading man referencing back to Jimmy Stewart and Carry Grant. The best man George, played by Sam Nudler, serves as the comedic counterpart to Zubricki's straight man of the comedic duo these two are established as.
-The second duo takes the form of Mrs. Tottendale, played by Hannah Cagney, and Underling, played by Nikos Koutsogiannis. The chemistry and routines between these two harkens back to the recycling comedic acts, like Abbott and Costello. A shorter, dim-witted, optimistic character working off of a taller, more intelligent, and more cynical counterpart performing "lame" routines that go on forever and ever.
-The third duo is Mr. Feltzieg, played by Andy Portertfield, and Kitty, played by Emma Quinlan. This duo plays more on the dim-witted vs the cynically intelligent, more so than Tottendale and Underling.
-The Final duo are the undercover gangsters/pastry chefs, played hilariously by Matt Stanley and David Picariello. These two encapsulate pun-filled word-play comedy in relation to the Marx Brothers. Stealing every moment these two are on stage.
-Finally, one who gets as much laughs as the others, is Aldolpho, played by Asa Pedi, the larger-than-life exotic ladies man who brings the classic trope of mistaken identities to the this ensemble of hilarity.
-The style and tone of the story as well as the decorum of the ensemble is brought out to the fullest under the direction by SSU professor David Allen George. In the comedies he directs, he always takes the comedic elements and brings the ten steps further. Drowsy Chaperone is no exception. All I can say is, there is no better match made in heaven between this show and this director to help foster in the up and coming graduating classes into the newly reopened Sophia Gordon Mainstage Theatre for Salem State University.
-Overall Thoughts:
-This show not only satirizes musical theatre, but it also celebrates what audiences love about it and the influence it has on all of us. in the Prologue of the show, the Man in Chair laments about the depressing harshness of real life and pleads to the audience to understand why this musical means so much to him. Acknowledging the absurdity of it, but also recognizing the importance of that absurdity. In these times of fear, depression, indifference, uncertainty, hatred, and anxiety, one thing is certain. As we stumble along through the dark times ahead of us, the absurdity of musical theatre, as well as general theatre, as well as art itself will be there to take us to other worlds. Simpler worlds. Where logic be damned, where people's emotions can be expressed by breaking out into extravagant song and dance, and where one can marry the person they love and their love for each other will always be lovely in the end.
-The Drowsy Chaperone opens at the new Sophia Gordon Theatre Thursday April 20th at 7:30pm and will be preformed additionally on 04/21 at 7:30pm, 04/23 at 2pm, 04/27-29 at 7:30pm and 04/30 at 2pm. Tickets can be purchased online at salemstatetickets.com
