At the beginning of The Drowsy Chaperone, our narrator, the Man in Chair prays “Oh, dear God, please let it be a good show. And let it be short!”
I write this director’s note with confidence that our production of this wonderful musical is both good (excellent, even) and short (you’ll be out in less than two hours). For those of you who may not be familiar with The Drowsy Chaperone, it’s a love letter to musical theatre. The Man in Chair is experiencing “a little self-conscious anxiety resulting in nonspecific sadness”, a state that he calls “blue”, and introduces us to one of his favorite shows: a fictitious 1920’s musical called “The Drowsy Chaperone”. The play within the play is a madcap farce of various showbiz stock characters making their way through a plot that contains “mix-ups, mayhem, and a gay wedding”, and while I won’t give any plot points away, don’t be too surprised if you see all three happen by the show’s end.
While today’s young theatre fanatics have Hamilton, Six, and Ride the Cyclone, I clung to shows like Spring Awakening, Rent, and The Drowsy Chaperone when I was their age. What all of those shows have in common is a dramatized depiction of very human characters struggling to cope with transitions in their lives. Faced with a low moment, our very own Man in Chair chooses to escape into whimsy, melody and fluff for a little while, and who can blame him? The Drowsy Chaperone is an over the top, hilarious and heartwarming Broadway style musical that hums to life inside a bachelor’s cluttered, New York City apartment. Through the Man in Chair, we get to experience a love letter to musical theatre, with all of its triumphs and shortcomings.
In 1997, composer and lyricist Lisa Lambert and Greg Morrison, along with book writers Bob Martin and Don McKellar, wrote Musical Theatre just such a love letter with their joyous, tongue-in-cheek pastiche The Drowsy Chaperone. Conceived as a spoof of old 1920 musicals to be performed at Martin’s stag party (for his wedding to Janet van de Graaff), the piece grew in the next eight years from a fringe festival favorite to a full-blown Broadway spectacular starring Sutton Foster, Danny Burstein and Beth Leavel. The show would go on to win 5 Tony Awards and 7 Drama Desk Awards, including Best Book and Best Score of a Musical.
I am certain that you will not only fall in love with these delightful characters and the hilarious situations they find themselves in, but also the phenomenal actors and stage crew bringing this story to life. I almost cannot believe that we started rehearsals barely a month ago, and here we are, ready to “show off” all of our talent and hard work.
Will there be hijinks, romantic entanglements, and outstanding singing and dancing? Yes! Will you leave humming these catchy tunes? Definitely! Will you leave hugging your loved ones a little tighter, knowing that you witnessed pure Musical Theatre joy in (less than) two hours? Absolutely!
Lastly, thank you for indulging me on this note, and for affording me the opportunity to direct my fourth production with Westfield Summer Stage. These performers and artists are incredibly gifted and some of the kindest humans I have ever been able to collaborate with, and to be a small part of their journey means everything to me.
- Gregory Stowers
