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. "tipsy") Chaperone (whom we understand is being played by a rather overbearing and potent grand dame of the theater), and Trix (a glamorous aviatrix a la Amelia Earhart). 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 ingénue Kitty, a pair of Gangsters disguised as the pastry chefs, Latin Lothario Adolpho (a Rudolph Valentino-type), Janet's Drowsy (i.e. 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. No sooner has the needle touched the record than we, together with the narrator, are transported to a 1928 Broadway theater and into "The Drowsy Chaperone", a play-within-a-play crammed full of every cliché, 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. The Drowsy Chaperone pays tribute to the Jazz-age shows of the 1920s and the power those shows held to transport us into a dazzling fantasy and to lift our spirits in times of sadness. It all begins when a die-hard musical-theater fan plays his favorite cast album on his turntable, and the musical literally bursts to life in his living room, telling the rambunctious tale of a brazen Broadway starlet trying to find, and keep, her true love. If you've ever sat in a dark theatre and thought, "Dear Lord in heaven, please let it be good," this is the show for you! A rare combination of unprecedented originality and blinding talent, THE DROWSY CHAPERONE boldly addresses a great unspoken desire in all of our hearts: to be entertained.
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