Review: 'The Drowsy Chaperone' Thoroughly Entertains
July 28, 2016 at 4:25 p.m.
By David [email protected]
You leave reality and your troubles behind you as you watch and listen to the world of the characters on stage.
Certainly, the production of the musical comedy "The Drowsy Chaperone" at the Ford Theater in the Honeywell Center in Wabash Wednesday night did just that.
For 100 minutes, the near-capacity audience was engaged in two intertwined stories that kept them smiling and laughing, wondering what craziness was going to happen next in the chaos. After it was all said and done, the performers on stage received a more than well-deserved standing ovation.
"The Drowsy Chaperone" opens with the stage lights off. You hear the voice of Man in Chair (Craig E. Treubert), who serves more or less as the musical's narrator.
Man in Chair is blue. To get away from his sadness, he puts on a record of the fictitious Broadway musical classic "The Drowsy Chaperone". What makes this element works is that if the record skips, the actors on the stage (in Man in Chair's imagination) performing "The Drowsy Chaperone" also skip. If the record stops, they stop. It is done so well, it's worth seeing the comedy just to see that play out.
Treubert really plays Man in Chair perfectly. You couldn't ask for a better actor in the part.
As "The Drowsy Chaperone" progresses, and Man in Chair offers his pieces of information about the show and actors, he also slowly reveals himself. The audience gets to find out what made Man in Chair blue, what his past was like and where he is in his life today. The gradual revelations are done marvelously well.
In the show within a show, Robert Martin (Bradley Allan Zarr), a rich oil tycoon, is planning to marry a glamorous actress, Janet Van De Graaff (Elizabeth Pawlowski). Martin's best man, George (Erik M. Christensen), is suppose to be making all the arrangements.
Of course, no marriages in entertainment ever go off without a hitch.
Van De Graaff's director, Feldzieg (Britt Hancock), doesn't want her to get married because then she won't be his top actress anymore and he has no show. Feldzieg's producer sends into two gangsters (Dennis Setteducati and Marc De La Concha) to make sure Feldzieg knows that he's watching his investment closely.
The actors playing Feldzieg and the two gangsters, again, are perfect. They hit their marks and become their characters so convincingly, you aren't sure they're acting at all.
Feldzieg tries to stop the marriage by having the self-proclaimed ladies' man Aldolpho (Roberto Carrasco) try and seduce Janet.
Now, done any other way, Aldolpho could have been racially offensive to Latinos. However, in "The Drowsy Chaperone", the musical is more like dissing the racial stereotypes that all-too-common are put in entertainment "for laughs." Yet, audiences will relax and enjoy the role of Aldolpho, especially as played by Carrasco.
To keep the bride from seeing the groom on their wedding day, George has the "Drowsy Chaperone" (Patti McClure) keep Janet from Robert. When the show means drowsy, however, it means drunk.
McClure, like all her castmates, is superb.
Throw in all this mix a befuddled Mrs. Tottendale (Kristin Netzband), her underling (Matt David), Feldzieg's ditzy girl Kitty (Lindsay Devino) and a female pilot named Trix (Deidra Grace), and you have yourself a very funny musical comedy.
With a show less than two hours long, there is no intermission, and that works here. Where an intermission should be, the Man in Chair keeps the audience entertained long enough for the scenery on stage to change and the other actors to change costumes.
And don't forget the music in the show.
After the overture, there are a dozen memorable songs that will get stuck in your head. "Colds Feet" is an exciting tap dance number, while "I Am Aldolpho" will make you bust a gut at the caricature of the character. "Toledo Surprise" just builds up until you're singing along, while "As We Stumble Along" is "The Drowsy Chaperone" theme song.[[In-content Ad]]If you missed this one-night only show at the Honeywell Center, you really missed out on an unforgettable show. I'd put it in my top three shows of all time.
"The Drowsy Chaperone" is on its second leg of a national tour. Maybe you can catch a flight and go see it at its next stop. You don't want to miss it!
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You leave reality and your troubles behind you as you watch and listen to the world of the characters on stage.
Certainly, the production of the musical comedy "The Drowsy Chaperone" at the Ford Theater in the Honeywell Center in Wabash Wednesday night did just that.
For 100 minutes, the near-capacity audience was engaged in two intertwined stories that kept them smiling and laughing, wondering what craziness was going to happen next in the chaos. After it was all said and done, the performers on stage received a more than well-deserved standing ovation.
"The Drowsy Chaperone" opens with the stage lights off. You hear the voice of Man in Chair (Craig E. Treubert), who serves more or less as the musical's narrator.
Man in Chair is blue. To get away from his sadness, he puts on a record of the fictitious Broadway musical classic "The Drowsy Chaperone". What makes this element works is that if the record skips, the actors on the stage (in Man in Chair's imagination) performing "The Drowsy Chaperone" also skip. If the record stops, they stop. It is done so well, it's worth seeing the comedy just to see that play out.
Treubert really plays Man in Chair perfectly. You couldn't ask for a better actor in the part.
As "The Drowsy Chaperone" progresses, and Man in Chair offers his pieces of information about the show and actors, he also slowly reveals himself. The audience gets to find out what made Man in Chair blue, what his past was like and where he is in his life today. The gradual revelations are done marvelously well.
In the show within a show, Robert Martin (Bradley Allan Zarr), a rich oil tycoon, is planning to marry a glamorous actress, Janet Van De Graaff (Elizabeth Pawlowski). Martin's best man, George (Erik M. Christensen), is suppose to be making all the arrangements.
Of course, no marriages in entertainment ever go off without a hitch.
Van De Graaff's director, Feldzieg (Britt Hancock), doesn't want her to get married because then she won't be his top actress anymore and he has no show. Feldzieg's producer sends into two gangsters (Dennis Setteducati and Marc De La Concha) to make sure Feldzieg knows that he's watching his investment closely.
The actors playing Feldzieg and the two gangsters, again, are perfect. They hit their marks and become their characters so convincingly, you aren't sure they're acting at all.
Feldzieg tries to stop the marriage by having the self-proclaimed ladies' man Aldolpho (Roberto Carrasco) try and seduce Janet.
Now, done any other way, Aldolpho could have been racially offensive to Latinos. However, in "The Drowsy Chaperone", the musical is more like dissing the racial stereotypes that all-too-common are put in entertainment "for laughs." Yet, audiences will relax and enjoy the role of Aldolpho, especially as played by Carrasco.
To keep the bride from seeing the groom on their wedding day, George has the "Drowsy Chaperone" (Patti McClure) keep Janet from Robert. When the show means drowsy, however, it means drunk.
McClure, like all her castmates, is superb.
Throw in all this mix a befuddled Mrs. Tottendale (Kristin Netzband), her underling (Matt David), Feldzieg's ditzy girl Kitty (Lindsay Devino) and a female pilot named Trix (Deidra Grace), and you have yourself a very funny musical comedy.
With a show less than two hours long, there is no intermission, and that works here. Where an intermission should be, the Man in Chair keeps the audience entertained long enough for the scenery on stage to change and the other actors to change costumes.
And don't forget the music in the show.
After the overture, there are a dozen memorable songs that will get stuck in your head. "Colds Feet" is an exciting tap dance number, while "I Am Aldolpho" will make you bust a gut at the caricature of the character. "Toledo Surprise" just builds up until you're singing along, while "As We Stumble Along" is "The Drowsy Chaperone" theme song.[[In-content Ad]]If you missed this one-night only show at the Honeywell Center, you really missed out on an unforgettable show. I'd put it in my top three shows of all time.
"The Drowsy Chaperone" is on its second leg of a national tour. Maybe you can catch a flight and go see it at its next stop. You don't want to miss it!
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