The Drowsy Chaperone
The National Arts Centre
Oct. 31, 2009

4/5

As of 2009 the National Arts Centre (NAC) is celebrating its 40th anniversary. In honour of this momentous occasion it has introduced a stellar collection of upcoming and current performances. The forerunner for this celebration, “The Drowsy Chaperone,” took the stage Oct. 14 and concluded on Halloween night.

Writers Lisa Lambert, Greg Morrison and Don McKellar came together to create “a show that both parodied and paid homage to the great ‘screwball’ musical comedies of the 1920s” and it was intended to be a gift for one of their biggest fans, a bride-to-be.

The show was a smashing success at the wedding and was soon turned into a play for the Toronto Fringe Festival.

To prepare for this shift in both venue and audience the play was restructured and reshaped. Some of the risqué jokes which had appeared in the premiere performance were removed.

The Man in the Chair, an essential character, was added. This character was introduced by Bob Martin, the groom the play was originally written for.

Martin was added as a fourth writer as the play began to expand and would later star in it as the character he personally created. The Man in the Chair was created for the purpose of narrating the performance for the audience.

The NAC performance was truly a unique experience. The Man in the Chair who is now played by Jay Brazeau, is a very conscious narrator. He openly talks to the audience about his life, experiences and opinions.

This character gives the audience an interesting connection to the play, making them feel like one of their group is also an active participant.

While the Man in the Chair is primarily a viewer of the play, he does occasionally intertwine himself with the actors and their performance.

The basic plot of The Drowsy Chaperone revolves around a lonely, old man who has an unnatural love for musical comedies from the 1920s. The audience mysteriously finds themselves in this man’s apartment, but he acknowledges the audience’s existence. He then decides to put on his favourite record, The Drowsy Chaperone, and suddenly the 1920s play comes to life.

The idea of the record as a character in the play offers an unusual dimension. It allows the making of some humorous and somewhat unique jokes. Several times the record skips and lines are repeated until the Man in the Chair can reach the record player to rectify the situation. There is also a pretend intermission which is supposed to account for the changing of records. However, the wrong record is accidentally put on and the audience gets a “glimpse” of another 1920s play.

As the play was originally designed as a parody, it is very aware of and willing to make fun of itself. This is another unusual dynamic for a musical play which is normally more traditionally structured.  Both a cheesy song and a lame gag are specifically pointed out and made fun of by the narrator.

The Drowsy Chaperone was an enjoyable experience, although the music was a little disappointing. Normally one of the most enjoyable parts of a musical, the songs were not particularly memorable, with only “Show Off” having any of the zest possessed by a classic musical song.

The characters in The Drowsy Chaperone varied from mediocre to fantastic.

In particular, Janet, the bride-to-be, has fantastic stage presence, captivating the audience as she sings an array of cheesy and clever songs while performing various dance routines in a collection of eye-capturing, colourful and sparkly costumes.

The Man in the Chair says himself how the play is a storyline fabricated for the purpose of stringing together songs, and that is exactly what this play is.

The parody aspect of it offers a different flavour that most plays do not possess. It doesn’t make sense and the play knows that.