The Drowsy Chaperone (2006 Original Broadway Cast) 
Category: Entertainment > Music
Good
-15
Each season for the past few years seems to have had a "little musical that could." A few seasons back, it was Urinetown. Two years ago it was Avenue Q. Last year it was Spelling Bee. This season, it's the oddly titled The Drowsy Chaperone.
Well, The Drowsy Chaperone is an unqualified joy. If you haven't heard of it, it basically starts with an aging theater queen who invites the audience to listen to one of his favorite musicals from the 1920s. He puts the record (yes, the record) on the turntable and the musical comes to life in his stuffy little NYC apartment. The musical, of course, is fictitious, but the ensuing hilarity is not.
Much of the fun comes from the aforementioned theater queen, known only as "man in the chair." His comments and asides are priceless. But there's also much fun to be had in the performances by the wonderful cast, led by Tony winner Sutton Foster. It's really unfair to single any one out, because the cast is uniformly hysterical. And just seeing Georgia Engle ("Georgette" from The Mary Tyler Moore Show) on stage is a treat in itself.
The show reminds me a lot of Urinetown, although they couldn't be more dissimilar in subject and tone. The big parallel is that, as with the staff of Urinetown, the creative team on The Drowsy Chaperone are all on the same page. Everything is of a piece: the book, the songs, the choreography, the set, the costumes, etc. They all have the same affectionate edge to them, and that's really what makes the show work.
Go see The Drowsy Chaperone. It's terrific.
-4
"The Drowsy Chaperone," about a man who listens to a musical about a wedding from the 1920s, is not necessarily the most exciting thing to hit Broadway--but it is very good. The songs are both great parodies of the typical traps of Broadway and good, catchy songs within themselves. Supposedly styled after 1920s music, they are melodic and fun to listen to.
In the cast, Sutton Foster stands out with her stunning, soaring voice. Georgia Engel's old woman "Mrs. Tottendale" is a hilarious addition, though she doesn't appear often.
No tracks really stand out--this is more of a CD where the whole thing is very good, but no one thing really great. There are no let downs, though. Highlights are "Show Off" (7), "As We Stumble Along" (9), "Love is Always Lovely In the End" (17) & "I Do, I Do in the Sky" (19). The CD also contains interspersed dialogue and two fabulous bonus tracks at the end--even better than some of the songs on the rest of the CD.
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Bad
4
Obviously, this music is entertaining to some, but I thought it was nothing but boring dribble. ZZzzz
