My Sunday afternoon experience with The Drowsy Chaperone was nothing short of stupendous. Flawlessly timed comedy and delightful, wonderfully loopy shenanigans. I love my excursions with Firehouse Theatre and their mastery of musical theatre. Derek Whitener is a whiz-bang genius and (Dear God!) I can’t imagine how he managed the logistics of this show. It would make Rube Goldberg proud. To the cast and crew: How do you DO it???!! Doubled up on the Superfood? Tripled up on the Ovaltine? Red Bull and Jolt Cola? Kudos to you for your superb, brilliant performance, the unmitigated joy you brought me, and the spring you put in my step. Lon Barrera you sly boots! Shame on you. Making me giggle then touching my heart so profoundly at the end! There oughta be a law!
Identified only as Man-in-the Chair, our narrator and host, plays a vinyl recording for us of a (fictitious) 1928 musical called The Drowsy Chaperone. It’s all there. The young, gorgeous, adorable actress. The handsome, guileless, fresh-faced fiance who’s head over heels. Drowsy is set on the day of the wedding, but (naturally) there are complications. The producer is being hounded by thugs (disguised as pastry chefs) sent by a gangster with considerable money invested in the Broadway show. If the actress gets married and leaves the production, the show is kaput. Additional complications include a best man with too much to handle, serving liquor during prohibition, a ditzy blonde with clueless ambitions, and the notorious chaperone. Now, for those more savvy among you, the title itself should be a tip-off. Whatever else a chaperone might be (for Christ’s sake!) the last thing she should be is drowsy. “Drowsy” (so it seems) is code for schnockered, in polite company. This chaperone might be described as everyone’s favorite deranged Auntie, whose only concern might be: Where’s my next drink?
Written by Lisa Lambert and Greg Morrison (Music and Lyrics) Bob Martin and Don McKellar (Book)
The Drowsy Chaperone is that most confounding of all spectacles: a theatre comedy that actually comes off. The gags are almost nonstop, which, unless you’re Bug’s Bunny, is nearly always a recipe for disaster. Honest. It rarely works. It’s like watching those plate-spinners on Ed Sullivan. You think: they couldn’t possible push any further. But they make it happen. Then there’s our host. He interrupts the show, he digresses, he gossips, he confides the backstory of the starring performers. He has no illusions about musical comedy fitting into the workaday world of the 21st century, and summarily robs us of ours. And yet, it only revs up the musical itself.
Drowsy is the quintessential musical comedy, if ever there was one. Now we say “iconic” Ugh! It’s a valentine to the insane, glorious, fizzy, improbable world they create on the stage, to our awe and delight. It might also be a commentary on stardom, glamour, entertainment, and the cultivated illusion of intimacy. In The Threepenny Opera, Brecht consistently pulls us out of the story (to invite comparisons between theatre and actuality) and Drowsy does the same thing. It’s improbable that Man-in-the Chair is straight, but he might be. Martin and McKellar take very deliberate steps to reassure us that he is not creating this delusional, fantasy world, in forfeiture of the world as it is. Yet, the show culminates in his meeting and befriending (what I took to be) the characters? All this being said, with all it’s insistent, subversive hi-jinks, The Drowsy Chaperone is a breakthrough and a gift.
The Firehouse Theatre presents: The Drowsy Chaperone playing January 30th-February 23rd. (Closing weekend!) 2535 Valley View Ln. Farmers Branch, Texas 75234. (972) 620-3747. www.thefirehousetheatre.com