Événement

Musical - The Drowsy Chaperone

If you love musical theatre, nostalgia, and sarcasm,The Drowsy Chaperone wraps
them all up in one colorful package.

This Canadian musical has humble origins: it began as a wedding gift, was revived for
the Toronto Fringe Festival, then was picked up by Mirvish Productions, and later
went to Broadway, where it received five Tony Awards.The Drowsy Chaperone is a
loving tribute to the power of music and theatre to rescue us from loneliness.
Ironic, then, that its opening line, delivered by the solitary apartment dweller known
only as Man in Chair, is I hate theatre! But not all theatre: in an effort to escape his
self-conscious anxiety resulting in nonspecific sadness, he pulls out one of his
favourite records, the soundtrack to a (fictional) 1928 musical calledThe Drowsy
Chaperone.As he listens to it, the show comes to life around him.

The plot of the play-within- the-play is a parody of 1920s musical theatre: Janet, a
star, is giving up her career to marry Robert. On their wedding day, the martini-loving
Chaperone is tasked with keeping the bride and groom apart just for the day, but
Broadway producer Feldzieg is determined to stop the nuptials altogether so he can
keep Janet on-stage. Throw in a bimbo starlet, a society matron and her butler, a pair
of gangsters disguised as bakers, a Lothario, and (why not?) an aviatrix, and youve
got all the ingredients for full-on musical mayhem.
The songs themselveswhich range from Toledo Surprise, in which a threat
disguised as a recipe turns into a big dance number, to Brides Lament, which sees
the stage overrun with monkeysare huge fun.

Bob Martin and Don McKellars book offers another layer of pleasure in the Mans
many comments, filling us in on the lives of the actors in the musical (one died at
home and was partially eaten by his poodles), or offering disclaimers on certain
scenes. His sardonic commentary simultaneously mocks and pays tribute to musical-
theatre conventions while revealing a character who is fussy, lonely, and not always
intentionally funny.