Drowsy Chaperone

A man, seemingly lonely, sits in a chair in what looks like an urban studio apartment. He’s sad, he’s anxious; he tells us he's feeling blue. He cheers himself up by putting on an old record (yes children, a record), the 1928 musical comedy, "The Drowsy Chaperone" by the fictional writing team of Gable and Stein. He also acts as our host for the night, directly addressing the audience. The musical, as he admits, is fairly lousy. Yeah – the songs are good, but the storyline, set in New York during prohibition, is contrived. The characters are stereotypes. Sound like a bad night out for you? You’d be so far wrong. The Drowsy Chaperone revels in its kitsch; and camp as Jonathan Crombie is as ‘the Man in the Chair’ (we never learn his name), his personality superbly embellishes some pretty snappy one-liners, and brilliantly overcomes what superficially would be seen as a feeble idea for a show. Drowsy Chaperone Review