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Midvale Journal

Play Preview: ‘The Drowsy Chaperone’

May 16, 2018 10:26AM ● By Jana Klopsch

“The Drowsy Chaperone” opens at the Midvale Performing Arts Center on June 8 at 7 p.m. (stock photo)

By Heather Sky | [email protected]

“The Drowsy Chaperone” is a musical within a comedy set in the 1920s. The show-within-a-show concept was originally created as a bachelor party spoof, which evolved over a period of nine years and debuted in 1998. Music and lyrics were written by Lisa Lambert and Greg Morrison, with book by Bob Martin and Don McKellar. 

The metatheatre production is a parody of American musical comedy and follows a middle-aged musical theater fanatic, who comments on his favorite fictitious musical as he plays the jazzy LP record set in his dingy apartment. The story comes to life around him as the Man in Chair comments on the music, story, and actors of a play he has never actually seen — making cynical remarks, such as “Everything always works out in musicals. In the real world, nothing ever works out and the only people who burst into song are the hopelessly deranged.”

With such unforgettable songs as “Show Off,” “Accident Waiting to Happen,” “I Do, I Do in the Sky,” and “As We Stumble Along,” the over-the-top soundtrack hits all the right notes. Viewers are sure to be carried away by the elaborate set, zany dance numbers, and feverish imagination.

The show has been nominated for multiple Broadway (2006) and London (2008) theatre awards, winning five Tony Awards — including Best Book and Best Original Score — and seven Drama Desk Awards. The two-hour critically acclaimed musical runs June 8-16 at the Midvale Performing Arts Center. 695 W. Center St. in Midvale.