REVIEW: Chatham Players' DROWSY CHAPERONE's Comedy and Dancing Is Eye-opening and Entertaining!
One More Weekend
By Ruth Ross
Some people love watching old movies, especially musicals from the late 1920s.
I don’t.
Their inane, convoluted plots, crazy—often stereotypical—characters, and huge production numbers (think Busby Berkeley’s tap-dancing hundreds) leave me cold.
That attitude, however, doesn’t preclude me from enjoying a good spoof of the genre, something that The Drowsy Chaperone now onstage at the Chatham Community Playhouse, does quite well. (Above, L-R, gangsters Jeff Campbell and Mario Capriola terrorize Broadway producer Brendan Lynch-Littlejohn)
This entertaining meta-musical comedic parody involves a middle-aged, lonely, asocial musical theater fan, “Man in Chair,” who plays the record of his favorite (fictional) 1928 musical, The Drowsy Chaperone, filled with “mischief, mix-ups and a gay [meaning happy here!] wedding” about a soon-to-be-wed oil tycoon (Luke Basile, above) and a Broadway starlet (Devyn Joan Schoen, above) featuring gangsters and a tipsy chaperone. As the record plays, the play show comes to life in his apartment while the Man provides a running wry commentary throughout the show on the music, plot, and various actors.
Accompanied by a six-instrument orchestra led by Eric Van Hoven, the 18-member cast makes its way through a fast-paced, if ludicrous, plot under the firm direction of veteran Director John A.C. Kennedy. When the Man inserts himself into the “performance,” the cast must go into stop-action mode, often for several longish intervals! Scene changes involve the movement of props and some furniture on and off the small playing space; the only permanent set is the Man’s living room, complete with well-worn armchair, bookcases filled with record albums and, of course, a phonograph turntable. (Set designed by John A.C. Kennedy and Roy Pancirov)
The show opened on Broadway in May 2006, where it ran for 674 performances and 32 previews; it opened in London’s West End in 2007, mounted a North American tour that year, and went on international tour to Japan (2009), Australia (2010), Denmark (2013), and Brazil (2014). Now, 12 years later, the Man’s dialogue has been updated to include mentions of climate change and other contemporaneous people and events, keeping the play fresh, despite its being set in the Roaring Twenties!
As The Man in Chair, Aaron Kellner (above, with Sky Monroe as The Drowsy Chaperone) does the heavy lifting with his running commentary on the various (fictional) movie actors in starring roles, dissecting of their acting styles, and pointing out the parts he loves best—and hates most! Despite neither singing nor dancing, he is the show’s dramatic center—beyond the fourth wall—and a stand-in for the audience. His enthusiasm and lonely wistfulness make him a most sympathetic character, especially when the depth of his loneliness is revealed toward the end of the play. His collection of Broadway musical cast albums is his only link to the outside world.
The actors portraying the actors in the meta-musical are just as shallow as one would expect them to be; indeed, according to the Man, some of the actors have insisted that the plot be changed andtheir parts be enhanced, which makes for more mayhem.
In a splashy, reluctant farewell number, luscious Devyn Joah Schoen’s showgirl Janet Van De Graaf expresses her ambivalence about leaving the fame and attention to be a stay-at-home wife to the very handsome oilman Robert Martin (Luke Basile—with a magnificently white smile).
Pressed by two gangsters (hilarious Jeff Campbell and Mario Capriola impersonating pastry chefs) to prevent her from leaving the Feldzieg Follies (financed by their boss) and shutting it down, the impresario (a smarmy Brendan Lynch-Littlejohn, above with Mikayla Cintrón) hires a chaperone to prevent the bride and groom from seeing each other, effectively sabotaging the nuptials. He also engages an aging self-proclaimed “ladies’ man” named Adolpho (a bigger-than-life, scenery-chewing Edgar Hidalgo) to romance Janet, but the drowsy, always tipsy, chaperone (a marvelous Sky Monroe, who gets to sing a “rousing anthem to alcoholism”) gets her claws into him leading to mistaken identities and much merriment.
Other standouts include a very ditsy blonde ingenue named Kitty (adorable Mikayla Cintrón); Mrs. Tottendale, a rather senile dowager (imperious Ann Minski); her haughty butler, aptly named Underling (Don Howes; above with Minski); and a frazzled best man George (frantic Gus Ibranyi). A bit about vodka/ice water between Mrs. Tottendale and Underling brings the house down.
The Chatham Community Players have produced complex musical comedies before (Cabaret, Pippin and Chess come to mind), but the sheer amount of choreography and costumes needed for The Drowsy Chaperone nearly beggars belief. Kudos to Choreographer Julia Cassisi; getting all those actors to perform elaborate production numbers, many of them with extended tap dancing (not to mention a number on roller skates), is a feat neatly pulled off. Fran Harrison’s costumes are appropriate for the era and its stage; they are a riot of colors and styles, especially those worn by the Drowsy Chaperone. Alyson Pemoulié Halter’s makeup and wigs complete the impression of our being whisked back to a theater in the 1920s. (Above, Hidalgo and Lynch-Littlejohn)
True to form the plot of the “film” supports a slew of production numbers, there are a number of weddings by the end, and a deus-ex-machina, in the form of an Amelia Earhart-style aviatrix flies in to save the day for an ending that is so stupid it’s great!
The Drowsy Chaperone is the final production in the Chatham Community Players’ 104th (!) season. If you are looking for some diversion from the state of the world and love films and musicals of all eras, you will want to get on over the Chatham Playhouse to see it before it closes next weekend. Since many performances have sold out, order your tickets now.
The Chatham Playhouse is located at 23 N. Passaic Ave. in Chatham. Call the box office at 973.635.7363 or visit www.chathamplayers.org for tickets and information. There are many nice restaurants in Chatham and plenty of parking behind the playhouse.