The Drowsy Chaperone
The Drowsy Chaperone is a Canadian musical with music and lyrics by Lisa Lambert and Greg Morrison, and a book by Bob Martin and Don McKellar. The story concerns a middle-aged, asocial musical theater fan who, feeling "blue", decides to play for the audience an LP of his favorite musical, the fictional 1928 show The Drowsy Chaperone. As the record plays, the show - a parody of 1920s American musical comedy - comes to life onstage, as the man wryly comments on the music, story and actors. The Drowsy Chaperone debuted in 1998 at The Rivoli in Toronto, and, after a 2005 run in Los Angeles, opened on Broadway on May 1, 2006. The show was nominated for multiple Broadway and West End theatre awards, winning five Tony Awards and seven Drama Desk Awards. The show has had major productions in Toronto, Los Angeles, New York, London, Melbourne and Japan, as well as two North American tours as well as Batemans Bay in New South Wales. History The Drowsy Chaperone started in 1997, when Don McKellar, Lisa Lambert, Greg Morrison and several friends created a spoof of old musicals for the stag party of Bob Martin and Janet van de Graaf. In its first incarnation, there was no Man in chair, the musical styles ranged from the 1920s to the 1940s, and the jokes were more risqué. When the show was reshaped for the Toronto Fringe Festival, Martin became a co-writer, creating Man in chair to serve as a narrator/commentator for the piece. Following the Fringe staging, Toronto commercial theatre producer David Mirvish financed an expanded production at Toronto's 160-seat, independent Theatre Passe Muraille in 1999. Box office success and favourable notices led Mirvish in 2001 to finance further development and produce a full-scale version at Toronto's 1000-seat Winter Garden Theatre. During that production, Linda Intaschi, Associate Producer of Mirvish Productions, invited New York producer Roy Miller to see the musical. Miller saw potential in the show and he optioned the rights. With Canadian actor and fund-raiser Paul Mack, Miller produced a reading for the New York's National Alliance for Musical Theatre on 5 October 2004 – and invited Broadway producer Kevin McCollum. The reading captured McCollum's interest and eventually resulted in Miller, McCollum and Bob Boyett, Stephanie McClelland, Barbara Freitag and Jill Furman committing to producing the play. An out-of-town engagement followed at the Ahmanson Theatre in Los Angeles (2005), and after alterations, The Drowsy Chaperone opened on Broadway on 1 May 2006. Productions Broadway The Broadway production opened in May 2006 at the Marquis Theatre. It was directed and choreographed by Casey Nicholaw. The production featured sets by David Gallo, costumes by Gregg Barnes, lighting by Ken Billington and Brian Monahan, hair by Josh Marquette, and makeup by Justen M. Brosnan. The original cast featured Bob Martin as the Man in chair, Sutton Foster as Janet, Georgia Engel as Mrs. Tottendale, Edward Hibbert as Underling, and Beth Leavel as the Chaperone. Throughout the course of the show, replacements