Golemba also has a fine voice and sense of humour that he displays to great effect in the number “Accident Waiting to Happen”. he is getting “Cold Feets”, and to warm them up he launches into a fantastic tap dance number where he is joined by his best man George (Tim Porter) in a remarkable show of energy and precision. Robert is getting nervous about the wedding, i.e.
Jayme Armstrong and Kyle Golemba are well matched as Janet and Robert since both performers are able to achieve the difficult task of looking attractive yet appearing slightly dim at the same time, ideal qualities in young lovers in the 1920s. Nadajewski’s comic timing is perfect and he makes his Man in Chair sympathetic since his deep desire to escape the everyday via musicals points to his ordinary life as being unfulfilling. It’s as if his Man in Chair knows his fund of trivia is meaningless to anyone else yet is compelled to reveal it anyway.
_190_.png "the drowsy chaperone songs")
He has his own wry, self-deprecating manner that infuses all he says. Having only ever seen Bob Martin, the creator of Man in Chair, play the role three times, I had always assumed that no one could ever equal his performance. Everyone’s plans go awry but still everything turns out right in the end.
Feldzieg’s plan is to have the famed Latin lover Aldolpho (Andrew Scanlon), seduce Janet so that Robert will call off the wedding. So does his mobster investor who has sent two Gangsters disguised as pastry chefs (Gregory Pember and Aaron Walpole) to insure that the marriage does not take place. In marrying Robert, Janet plans to give up the stage, but Feldzieg (Cliff Saunders) feels if she goes, his Follies will collapse. In order to make sure that the groom does not see the bride before the wedding, Janet has a Chaperone (Gabrielle Jones), who, though its it still Prohibition in America, is perpetually “drowsy” due to her drinking habit. The plot of the musical within the comedy concerns the upcoming marriage of Janet Van De Graaff (Jayme Armstrong), star of the Feldzieg Follies, to the heir of an oil fortune Robert Martin (Kyle Golemba). Hence, the show’s subtitle, “A Musical Within a Comedy”.
#THE DROWSY CHAPERONE SONGS PLUS#
The musical plus its commentary thus becomes a loving satire of the entire genre of musical comedy. Drowsy, including its frame, is one of those rare musicals where the dialogue is as witty as the songs. His commentary shows he is fully aware of the various failings of the piece, but he loves it anyway. Nevertheless, he is so knowledgeable about the performers and their careers that he can’t stop himself from constantly interrupting the action with his store of trivia about them and the show.
#THE DROWSY CHAPERONE SONGS FULL#
The Man in Chair (Mike Nadajewski), who is strangely aware that he has an audience, is very concerned about our remaining in the moment and being transported by the show to “another world, a world full of colour and music and glamour”. As the musical plays it comes to life in his apartment. To cheer himself up he decides to play a record on his old stereo set of the (fictional) 1928 musical The Drowsy Chaperone with music by Julie Gable and lyrics by Sidney Stein. The conceit of the show is that a lover of musicals, a mousy man in a sweater sitting in a chair in his drab one-room apartment (known simply as Man in Chair), is feeling a bit down today. With an ideal cast under the polished direction of Max Reimer, this version of Drowsy is one I could see again and again. With the Drayton production we have a show that perfectly balances the show’s level of intimacy (it all takes place in a bachelor apartment after all) with the glamour of a faux-1920s musical. The full-scale Mirvish incarnation at the Winter Garden Theatre in 2001 didn’t capture the show’s vitality and the Dancap presentation of the Broadway tour at the Elgin Theatre felt over-produced. The current Drayton Entertainment production is the most fun I have had seeing The Drowsy Chaperone since its early run in 1999 at Theatre Passe Muraille. Music and lyrics by Lisa Lambert & Greg Morrison, book by Bob Martin & Don McKellar, directed by Max Reimerĭrayton Entertainment, St.
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