![]() The reason you've never heard of The Drowsy Chaperone, which began Broadway performances April 3, is that it's brand new - not a revival, not based on a play, not inspired by a movie. What Man in Chair leads theatregoers to - when he plays an old LP on his Hi-Fi - is an obscure 1928 Broadway musical, The Drowsy Chaperone, by Gable & Stein, a pair of never-were songwriters whose show was as daffy and throwaway as any now-forgotten score from the golden age of American musicals.īut lonely Man in Chair, like so many other musical theatre mavens, finds treasure in the trash - he knows the plot is silly, but revels in the gems within the score, and delights in the backstage stories of the fictive showfolk who created the musical way back when. Unlike Harry Connick's turn in The Pajama Game this season, Man in Chair does not appear bare-chested in the evening, but audiences might find his work just as memorable, despite the muted earth tones of his homely garb. Played by Canadian actor Bob Martin, who also co-wrote the show's libretto (with Don McKellar), he wears a natty brown cardigan, baggy corduroys and comfortable shoes. ![]() Host, narrator and guide, the main man in the cast of characters goes by the name of Man in Chair. It is our collective and collaborative effort that makes the Pomona theatre program shine.Bob Martin in The Drowsy Chaperone Joan Marcus For those of you who sacrificed so that our students could participate in this production, I thank you. Thank you for choosing to spend an evening celebrating the value of the performing arts as part of a well-rounded high school education. Yet, this talented group of performers, technicians, and directors have met every challenge with creativity and dedication. The combination of narrative and musical theatre, stylized staging appropriate to the era of the 1920s, and creating interesting ways to tell the story in the small confines of a studio appartment are all challenges in the artistic direction of the production. ![]() He enthusiastically shares the wedding story of a Broadway startlet and her hansome groom and the hilarious antics that transpire on the way to the alter. His imagination comes alive while listening to his favorite musical, The Drowsy Chaperone, on the hi-fi. The show begins as we embark on a nostalgic journey with our Main in the Chair. This has made for some interesting choices and situations, but is is well worth it to see more students have the chance to experience being members of the cast. Because we value creating opportunities for as many students as possible, we have put together a cast that nearly triples the sixteen of the original Broadway production. Originally written for a cast of 16, the Catwalk Theatre Company decided to take a very different approach with this version of The Drowsy Chaperone. Watching from his armchair, Man in Chair is torn between his desire to absorb every moment of the play as it unfolds and to insert his own personal footnotes as he continuously brings the audience in and out of the fantasy What follows is a pastiche (hodge-podge) of every clichéd plot thread ever written, including mistaken identity, spit-takes, and gangsters on the lam, involving such campy characters as an all-knowing English butler, a Latino Lothario, and a daffy, cartwheeling heroine. The show-within-a-show centers on a vain showgirl, who is about to marry a man she only just met, and her cigar-chomping producer, who doesn’t want to lose his valuable starlet. To me, that’s the sound of a time machine starting up." By the time the first note sails out of his speakers, he's been transported to a magical dream world, one where the actors in the recording enter his dingy apartment and transform it into a gloriously garish set complete with seashell footlights, sparkly peacocks, glittery sugarplum trees, and costumes that would put the Ice Capades to shame. When he first turns on his phonograph and static breaks from the speakers, he wistfully tells the audience, "I love that sound. Act one begins with The Man in Chair, a mousy, vaguely depressive Broadway fanatic whose coping mechanism involves listening repeatedly to a recording of a 1928 stage show, The Drowsy Chaperone. The Drowsy Chaperone is an homage to American musicals of the Jazz Age.
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