Thoughts on Theater: Drowsy Chaperone

The Drowsy Chaperone, a musical with book by Bob Martin and Don McKellar and music and lyrics by Lisa Lambert and Greg Morrison, is by far one of my favorite musicals. Not only is the music amazing, it is also one of the funniest shows I have ever seen in my life.

This is no ordinary musical, The Drowsy Chaperone is a musical within a comedy. The story is about a middle aged musical theater fan that narrates the musical “The Drowsy Chaperone” to the audience when he puts on his record of his favorite show. “The Drowsy Chaperone” was a hit in 1928 and The Man in Chairs favorite musical.

The show starts off on the day of the Wedding of Robert Martin, oil tycoon, and Janet Van De Graaf, one of the biggest stars in Broadway. In the opening number “Fancy Dress” all of the characters are introduced. Mrs. Tottendale is the owner of the mansion that the wedding is taking place. Mrs. Tottendale is a old women who forgets everything and has no idea what is going 90% of the time. Her butler, Underling, is a old man that has to deal with Mrs. Tottendale and all of her forgetfulness. George is the best man to Robert and is overly stressed because he has weight of the wedding on his shoulders. Feldzieg, the producer of Feldzieg’s Follies, whose only point of attending to the Wedding is to convince Janet to not get married and stay with the Follies. Kitty, Feldzieg’s very dumb girlfriend, wants to be the new star of Feldzieg Follies since Janet is out of picture. Two Gangsters that are disguised as pastry chefs for the wedding but are only there to stop the wedding from happening and to make terrible baked good jokes. Aldolpho, a latin lover who is the self proclaimed “King of Romance” that loves all the ladies. Finally there is The Drowsy Chaperone, the maid of honor to Janet Van De Graaf, is an alcoholic during the Prohibition era that is jealous of Janet’s youth. Through out the day chaos breaks out. Feldzieg is threatened by the Gangsters to stop the wedding or else they will kill him. Robert is blindfolded by George to keep Robert from seeing Janet (because it is bad luck to see the bride on the wedding day). Feldzieg convinces Aldolpho to sleep with the bride, but Aldolpho mistakes the Drowsy Chaperone for the bride. In the end of this wild day everyone gets married in a big musical number.

This show is a must see. It will make you laugh, laugh, and laugh. This is a knee slapper and in my opinion one of the best shows that has been preformed on broadway in the last 10 years.

By Tyler Trudeau

If you liked this, check out:
Thoughts on Theater: Putnam Spelling Bee