By DAVID DUPONT
BG Independent News
Regional theater companies aren’t sleeping on the potential of the musical “The Drowsy Chaperone.”
The comic musical made its Broadway debut in 2006 after starting life as a stag party entertainment put on by a bunch of theater folks. The groom Bob Martin liked it so much, he helped refine it and create the iconic “Man in Chair” role, and kept the name of his fiancée Janet van de Graaf as the name of the musical’s would-be bride.
I’ve written about the show dating back to November 2016 at BGSU and then the Black Swamp Players’ February 2020 production, with its Woman in Chair, and it’s been staged by other troupes in the area. Now it’s 3B Productions turn to take a crack at it. 3B’s “The Drowsy Chaperone” will be on stage at the Maumee Indoor Theater tonight (March 11) and Saturday, March 12, at 8 p.m. and Sunday, March 13 at 2:30 p.m.
The subtitle is “A musical within a comedy,” but it has also been referred to as “a one-man show with a musical in reference to how central the role of Man in Chair is.
That role makes the show. That role is what keeps it fresh after repeat viewings.
3B has cast Mitchell Antesky as Man in Chair. He’s taken his seat in the role before at the Fremont Community Theatre back in 2014 in a production he helped direct.
The concept is this: The lights come up on Man in Chair, he’s not named, as he sits in his apartment. He quickly establishes himself as a theater aficionado with firm opinions, including hating it when characters speak to the audience. He is feeling blue, and as he does when feeling blue he pulls out the LP of his favorite musical, a 1928 gem, “The Drowsy Chaperone.”
As he drops the needle on the record the musical comes to life in his apartment, with comedy bits, production numbers, rousing anthems, love and heartbreak, and love in the end. Let’s not forget gangsters.
All this, as the Man admits, is trivial and cheesy and formulaic. Yet, for some reason, it has captivated The Man for years. And that’s the crux of the part. Clearly being blue is nothing new for him, something is eating at him, and what troubling him reveals itself as the extravaganza plays out, interrupted by phone calls that he refuses to answer.
The actor playing The Man, or Woman, in Chair colors the production. The character can be neurotic or depressed or maybe just kind of blue. That last is the tack that Antesky takes, and that keeps everything frothy for 3B’s edition.
Silliness prevails in the musical within a play. The audience arrives at the mansion of Mrs. Tottendale (Jill Reinstein), attended by her underling (Bradley King). The doddering Tottendale is excited to be hosting a wedding, that is when she remembers that she’s hosting a wedding. The interplay between her and underling, only name the poor fellow gets, is comic, and involves a spit scene.
The Man in Chair notes that he’s been unable to find much about the actors playing the roles, other than they were vaudevillians, and she performed as Ukulele Lil.
Throughout the show the Man interrupts to provide such tidbits about the lives, and deaths, of the actors, as well as insight into the mechanics of musicals.
The couple to be wed are Robert Martin (Kyle Moninger), the scion of an oil rich family, and Janet Van De Graaf (Nicole Navarre), a star showgirl who will leave the stage behind to become Mrs. Martin.
And as she tells the assembled reporters, she’s ready for a change. She’s tired of showing off, which is just what she does in the production number “Show Off.” Navarre pulls off the over-the-top number with flair.
She’s accompanied by the title character played by Lydia Schafer, who is drowsy because she’s always drinking some manner of alcoholic beverage.
Robert’s side kick is his fusty best man George (Andrew Austin) who is frazzled with his responsibilities of making sure everything goes right. That includes insisting on maintaining the tradition that the bride and groom cannot see each other before the wedding.
And that’s the plot, the Man said. The story exists only to connect the production numbers, as in porn, he adds. The songs and production numbers spring from the slightest suggestion.
Robert mentions he has cold feet, and a tap dance routine ensues.
The two gangsters disguised as pastry chefs (Shannon Ruhe and Amber Wilkes) can’t just threaten the theater producer Feldzieg (Andy Roberts) they threaten him with the comically menacing “Toledo Surprise.” Feldzieg’s girlfriend, the requisite ditzy blond Kitty (Courtney Austin), enthusiastically joins in. Kitty’s goal is to take over for Janet as the leading lady of the musical Feldzieg is producing and which the gangsters’ employer is financing.
That’s why Feldzieg is intent on breaking up the wedding so he doesn’t lose his star. Bring on the Latin lover Adolpho (Eric Hillenbrand). The actor who played the character was the sort who was cast in a variety of ethnic roles, the Man in Chair informs us.
He’s supposed to seduce the bride. Seduction is his specialty as he explains to the chaperone in his feature number “Adolpho.”
The chaperone has her own feature, as required by her contract we’re informed. Asked for inspirational advice by Janet, all she can offer is “As We Stumble Along.”
But “The Drowsy Chaperone” doesn’t stumble in any way. It flies high through to the happy ending aided by the sudden and random appearance of Trix the Aviatrix (Brittany Kupresanin). Though just as the show is hitting its big final chord, the electricity in the Man’s apartment goes out. The superintendent (Scott Antesky) arrives to fix the problem, but the moment, for the moment, is gone. The Man will stumble along with the help of “The Drowsy Chaperone” cast to the end.
Surely, even if the main character does address the audience, this is a musical Man in Chair, and others less obsessed with musical theater, will thoroughly enjoy.
