BROADWAY SNAP-SHOT
by Russell Bouthiller

Dateline: MAY 23, 2006

THE DROWSY CHAPERONE

Dust off your old LPs and bring the hi-fi down from the attic, there may be a buried treasure pressed into vinyl. This is what audiences are discovering at the Marquis Theatre where the new show—and, now, five-time Tony winner—THE DROWSY CHAPERONE, has awakened an otherwise sluggish end-of-season fare insofar as original musicals go.

Starring the delightfully perky Sutton Foster and Bob Martin, who along with Don McKellar won this year's Tony for Best Book of a Musical, THE DROWSY CHAPERONE simultaneously honors and lampoons the frothy song-and-dance musicals of the 1920s. Directed and choreographed by Casey Nicholaw with music by Lisa Lambert and Greg Morrison (Tony-winners for Best Score), THE DROWSY CHAPERONE urges us to consider what propels a good musical.

Opening with a darkened stage, the voice of the Man in the Chair (Martin) reminisces over those bygone days when a show by the likes of a Gershwin or Porter opened to great anticipation. As to the state of today's theatre, this old veteran offers only hard-bitten cynicism. "Please, Elton John, must we continue this charade?"

To escape his ennui, the Man in the Chair puts on a record of his favorite show, THE DROWSY CHAPERONE, and the moment becomes transformed. With cheesy furniture and muted colors giving way to sparkle and glitz, his low-rent studio suddenly gets renovated into the dazzling set of a Broadway extravaganza of yesteryear. The Man in the Chair is surrounded by a host of quirky characters and is swept into an adorably predictable plot.

The show-within-a-show follows Janet Van De Graaf (Foster), a delightful starlet who intends to give up the glamour of the footlights to becomes the wife of the debonair Robert Martin (Troy Britton Johnson). In her Act One number "Show Off," Foster does a rousing turn, pulling off cartwheels and splits to illustrate what she no-longer needs in life.

Of course, it's this quaint self-delusion, which we don't buy for a moment, that makes Janet so darn cute. And, who better for the role than Foster who practically trademarked the sugary sweet flapper in her Tony-winning performance in THOROUGHLY MODERN MILLIE?

The rest of the cast looks and sounds like stock players from Hollywood's RKO Studios. The title character played by Beth Leavel gives a scene-stealing performance as the sleepy watchdog and earned a Tony for her efforts. Nominated for his role as the Latin lover, Aldolpho, Danny Burstein stands out with his shimmering teeth and ceramic hairdo.

The inimitable Georgia Engel from "The Mary Tyler Moore Show" does a spit-take routine with Edward Hibbert that is one of the silliest things ever staged. Lenny Wolpe as the producer, Feldzeig, and Jennifer Smith as the ditzy Kitty are quite colorful. So, too, are Jason Kravits and Garth Kravits as a pair of gangsters. David Gallo brought home a Tony for his innovative set designs. Surprisingly, despite the plethora of Tony Awards, the Best Musical honor went to another show: JERSEY BOYS. Go figure.