MIDVALE — It’s always interesting as a theatre critic and patron to see how different shows evolve over the years. For example, I first saw The Drowsy Chaperone in 2006 when it was in previews on Broadway. I loved it and laughed hysterically throughout. That original production went on to win five Tony awards and be a huge critical and commercial success. Since then, I have seen it many times and the companies that staged the musical have continued to tweak it, changing the songs, tone and jokes. The Sugar Factory Playhouse‘s production had some of the biggest changes I’ve seen, but it maintained that hilarious heart and soul I fell in love with in 2006, and makes for a delightful night of theatre for any musical lover.
The Drowsy Chaperone has music and lyrics by Lisa Lambert and Greg Morrison with a book by Bob Martin and Don McKellar. It is meant to be both a parody of and loving homage to old school musicals by Rodgers and Hammerstein, Irving Berlin, Cole Porter, and Lerner and Loewe. It features a Man in Chair lead character and narrator who is listening to one of his old records of the fictional 1928 musical The Drowsy Chaperone. As he listens, the musical comes to life in his apartment with his accompanying cynical and very funny commentary.
Sugar Factory had a younger Man in Chair than most, with Devin Spann taking on the role and highlighting the awkward nature of the character to great effect. His performance of the line “Mature contemporary audiences are too sophisticated to enjoy broad racial stereotypes on the stage, so we’ve banished them to Disney” in a Mickey Mouse voice was particularly hilarious.
The Drowsy Chaperone lives and dies on the chemistry of its cast and this production had that in spades. It felt like everyone onstage was having a great time, which gave its silliness an authenticity and allowed the jokes to land as they should. I particularly enjoyed Monte Garcia as Aldolpho. His role requires the broadest comedic acting of all the characters, but he went for it and delivered the laughs. I also enjoyed Maria Becerra as Janet Van De Graaff; her iconic “Show Off” number was executed with just the right amount of false humility and maximum bravado.
Show closes July 20
The production is staged at Midvale Performing Arts Center, which has a relatively small stage, but director Michelle Groves and set designer Vic Groves managed to fit a lot of action into a small space. In the tradition of the show, Man in Chair’s apartment comes to life around him with people coming out of the fridge and even a murphy bed. While this was a lot of fun the large full kitchen set could have been used even more and the actors could have come out of additional spaces—that said, everything the scenic designer did choose to do was entertaining. (I particularly liked at the end credits when Aldolpho and the Drowsy Chaperone were in the murphy bed together when it unfolded.)
This production contained a number of changes to The Drowsy Chaperone that I had never seen before. The gag for “Message from a Nightingale” was still there (unlike other productions I’ve seen) but the song wasn’t present. The biggest change, however, was “Bride’s Lament” was changed from a monkey motif to bunny. I’m not really a fan of shows being sanitized to avoid offending people—the whole point of parody is to point out the offenses and then mock them; thereby, making us both laugh and think about what we’ve passed as entertainment in the past. However, in this case a change of animal was fairly benign and they did work in a pretty funny gag about it being “half way between show tunes and Looney Tunes” and a “Bugs-by Berkeley number.” Nevertheless, the change was surprising and made this production stand out.
Sugar Factory did not have a POC actress play Trix the Aviatrix; while this choice is within MTI guidelines, I felt it was a bit of a shame as it lessened the sharpness of the show’s commentary on tokenism and what Broadway gives itself credit for as being “progressive.”
All that said, The Drowsy Chaperone is very funny and will definitely get lots of chuckles, particularly from musical theatre devotees. This is especially true for sarcastic lines like: “Dear God, please let it be a good show…Please, Elton John, must we continue this charade?” That’s funny stuff. But the show is not just cynical gags—it also has a big heart, paying tribute to the escapism of musical theatre and how it “gives you a little tune to carry in your head for when you’re feeling blue.”
…Isn’t it the truth? That’s what musicals do for me and it’s certainly what The Drowsy Chaperone at Sugar Factory can do for any audience member.
These reviews are made possible by a grant from the Salt Lake County Zoo, Arts, and Parks program.
