The Drowsy Chaperone

            So, what exactly is a drowsy chaperone?

            It’s one person who’s supposed to watch out for another, I suppose, except the one person is drowsy. Sleepy, perhaps, or maybe even inebriated.

            Okay, it’s the latter, when you’re talking about “The Drowsy Chaperone,” the new musical inside a comedy now playing at the Providence Performing Arts Center.

            The show won all sorts of awards on Broadway a couple of years ago – Best Musical, Best Book, Best Featured Actress and more. And after you’ve seen it, you’ll know why.

            The show starts in the dark. Man in Chair’s first line is, “I hate the theater.
            The soliloquy morphs into his theater prayer, the one he utters while waiting for the curtain to go up before any show. “Oh God, let this show be good!”

            The lights come up, and we see Man in Chair (he is never named) sitting in an arm chair by his record player, talking about the cast album of his favorite musical of all time, “The Drowsy Chaperone.”

            He puts it on the turntable, and as it begins to play, he talks about the function of the overture in musical theater. “It’s like a pu pu platter of tunes.”

            As he pours himself a cup of tea, a real orchestra picks up the melody, and the show springs to life around him, with Man in Chair offering running commentary and critiques.

            The plot of “The Drowsy Chaperone” – the musical inside the comedy of the same name – is fairly simple. Janet Van De Graaff is leaving Feldzieg’s Follies to marry Robert Martin, son of an oil tycoon.

            Feldzeig doesn’t want her to leave, and plots against the marriage, enlisting the aid of Aldolpho, the Latin Lover, to seduce Janet away from Robert.

            Simple.

            Andrea Chamberlain plays Janet like a real live Betty Boop. Her opening number, “Show Off,” professes her desire to leave behind all the things that she used to do to show off, all the while doing the things she used to do to show off. Very funny.

            Man in Chair tsk tsks the first appearance of Aldolpho, who relies on just about every stereotype you can imagine. “Today’s sophisticated audiences would never accept such broad racial stereotypes. We’ve banished them to Disney. Let the little children sort them out.”

            There’s a lot of inside theater humor in this show -         references to Elton John (“Must we keep up the charade?”), Les Miz, Miss Saigon and more.

            There’s a lot of humor around the technology surrounding a vinyl recording on a turntable. The record skips a couple of times – most effectively in the middle of a song where the entire cast has to repeat a certain phrase over and over again (movements included) until Man in Chair is able to get the needle back on track with a stomp on the floor.

            For folks in my age group, that was hilarious.

            Nancy Opel does a great job as Chaperone, a classy drunk who knows her job, and when and when not to do it. She’s very funny in “As We Stumble Along,” a belting tune about her travels along life’s highway. “A rousing anthem about alcoholism,” says Man in Chair.

            There’s a surprise appearance by Georgia Engel as Mrs. Tottendale, the befuddled mistress of the house where the wedding is to take place. It’s a role that Engel – who you might better remember as Georgette from “The Mary Tyler Moore Show” – originated on Broadway. Surprise in the sense that her performance is unbilled. It’s not a starring role, but it’s not an insignificant one either. She is very funny in a scene of repeated spit takes that should be called Ice Water & Vodka.

            James Moye (Aldolfo) is very funny in the scene where he attempts to seduce the Chaperone, who’s convinced him that she’s Janet Van Der Graaf.

            And Mark Ledbetter (Robert Martin) is similarly funny in “Accident Waiting to Happen,” performed on roller skates while blindfolded.

            Jonathan Crombie is a gem as Man in Chair. His comic timing is impeccable, and there’s a childlike enthusiasm about him as he embraces the show and the characters and the music.

            “The Drowsy Chaperone” is cleverly written, simply staged and fall on your butt funny. I haven’t laughed out loud that often in a long time.

“The Drowsy Chaperone”
Providence Performing Arts Center  (PPAC) (May 6 - May 11, 2008)
Providence, RI

Call (401) 421-ARTS for tickets, or log onto www.ppacri.org.