The Drowsy Chaperone

The Drowsy Chaperone started off life as thrown-together entertainment for a bachelor party. Initially a fake 1920s style musical for friends and family written by Canadian actors and writers, the show became one of those run-away success stories that fringe performers around the world dream of.

Cleverly constructed as a musical within a theatre show, the performance starts in the darkness with Geoffrey Rush’s character "the Man in the Chair" s’ voicing the fear that we all feel at the beginning of any show: Will it be any good? And I hope it’s not too long, 2 hours is o.k, but please not 3!’ The audience is immediately complicit with this un-named character, who guides us through one of his favourite musicals ‘The Drowsy Chaperone’, as he plays it on 2 LP records in his small apartment.

‘The Man in the Chair’ takes us through the musical, introducing both the characters, and giving us potted biographies of the 1920s actors playing the characters, as the apartment transforms into glorious Broadway. It is an enjoyable device to add to our enjoyment of the musical parody, and Geoffrey Rush inhabits his geeky character with verve and obvious delight.

The performers in the musical eat the scenery with lashings of relish and cheese. Given almost impossible scenarios to perform (singing while roller-skating blindfolded, or executing a routine of lightning-fast circus tricks), the actors bring their stock characters to life with a knowing wink to the audience. It is slick, fast, jolly and fun. Obvious jokes such as the record hitting a scratch and the live action getting stuck accordingly, and the sound being turned down when Rush’s character listens to the phone ring are nicely done and keep the show kicking along.

We only get inklings of Rush’s characters back-story, not even his name. He is having a blue day, has had a failed marriage, and seems to have a crush on the male lead in the musical. As a theatrical devise this character is particularly strong speaking campily directly to the audience, but is under-developed as a personal story that could offer more emotional depth to the show.

The US production of the The Drowsy Chaperone won a number of theatre awards in 2006 including the TONY award for best score and best book as well as the 2006 Drama Desk for Outstanding Musical. This Australian production comes with original direction, design, choreography and lighting and is crammed with Australian performing luminaries, making it a sure fire hit for the MTC. I can’t help wishing however that the original concept of the show could be adapted to fit the Melbourne cast, with such a wealth of potential humour directly pertaining to the careers and personalities of such well-loved performers as Rhonda Burchmore, Robyn Nevin and Shane Jacobson.

While I’m at it I also wish you could see the stage better from the back of the Playhouse, and that somehow the show could be performed acoustically. The singers all have powerful pipes, but amplified they sound tinny at times and there are inevitable sound mixing and microphone glitches.

If you grew up with a much-loved LP of Oklahoma and did the moves around your bedroom this is the show for you. But you don’t have to be a Broadway musical tragic to romp happily along with the talented cast of The Drowsy Chaperone.

MTC
Playhouse, The Arts Centre January 18 – February 20, 2010