(updated 6/9/15)
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The Drowsy Chaperone is an homage to American musicals of the Jazz Age, examining the effect musicals have on the fans who adore them. The Man in Chair, a mousy, agoraphobic Broadway fanatic, seeking to cure his "non-specific sadness", listens to a recording of a fictional 1928 musical comedy, The Drowsy Chaperone. As he listens to this rare recording, he is transported into the musical. The characters appear in his dingy apartment, and it is transformed into an impressive Broadway set with seashell footlights, sparkling furniture, painted backdrops, and glitzy costumes. See full synopsis below. Some images from the rehearsals:
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In the opening number, "Fancy Dress", the premise and characters of the
show are introduced: it's the day of the wedding of oil tycoon Robert
Martin and Broadway star Janet Van De Graaff, who plans to give up her
career for married life. Those in attendance include aging hostess Mrs.
Tottendale; her loyal employee known only as Underling; Robert's best man,
George; Broadway producer Feldzieg, who is hoping to persuade Janet to
forgo marriage and continue starring in Feldzieg's Follies; ditzy flapper
Kitty, who hopes to take Janet's place in the Follies; two gangsters
disguised as pastry chefs; self-proclaimed famed Latin lover Aldolpho;
Janet's alcoholic Chaperone, who is supposed to keep her away from Robert
until the wedding; and Trix, an aviatrix.
The gangsters reveal to Feldzieg that their boss has invested in the
Follies and wants to make sure the show is a financial success, which it
presumably will not be without Janet. They tell Feldzieg that he must
sabotage the wedding and make sure Janet stays in show business. Feldzieg
enlists the vain, easily manipulated Aldolpho to seduce Janet and spoil
her relationship with Robert. Meanwhile, in his room, Robert realizes that
he is nervous about the wedding. To get rid of his "Cold Feets", he tap
dances, and George, who is also nervous, joins in the dance. George notes
that tap dancing could be injurious, so he suggests that Robert go roller
skating in the garden instead, while wearing a blindfold to keep him from
seeing Janet. Outside by the pool, Janet tells reporters that she is happy
to be getting married and ostensibly doesn't want to be an actress anymore
("Show Off"), but her song evolves into a big production number.
In Janet's room, Janet is having doubts about whether Robert really loves
her, and she asks the Chaperone for advice. The Chaperone responds with
the extemporaneous "As We Stumble Along", a "rousing anthem to
alcoholism", which, Man in Chair explains, the original actress playing
the Chaperone insisted on including in the show. More helpfully, the
chaperone tells Janet that she is feeling "drowsy" and must take a nap,
giving Janet the opportunity to ask Robert if he loves her. Janet leaves
for the garden, and Aldolpho enters, mistaking the Chaperone for Janet.
The Chaperone happily pretends to be Janet and allows Aldolpho to "seduce"
her ("I Am Aldolpho"). Janet meets the blindfolded and roller-skating
Robert in the garden, and she pretends to be a French woman, "Mimi," "from
ze middle part [of France], where zey make ze toast." She asks Robert how
he met his bride, and he describes their lovestruck first meeting
("Accident Waiting to Happen"). Carried away by his emotions, Robert
kisses "Mimi" because she seems just like Janet. Janet furiously storms
off because Robert has "kissed a strange French girl".
Kitty, hoping to take Janet's place in the Follies, tries to demonstrate
her mind-reading talents to Feldzieg, but he is unimpressed. The gangsters
confront Feldzieg, threatening him with a murderous "Toledo Surprise"
because he has not yet succeeded in cancelling the wedding. Feldzieg
distracts them by insisting that they actually have singing and dancing
talent, and they turn "Toledo Surprise" into an upbeat dance number.
Aldolpho, with the Chaperone on his arm, announces that he has seduced the
bride and the wedding is therefore cancelled, but Feldzieg angrily tells
him he has seduced the wrong woman. Janet announces that she is cancelling
the wedding, and Robert protests in vain that he only kissed "Mimi"
because she reminded him of Janet.
Man in Chair announces that this is the end of the first act and the first
record of the two-record set. He puts on another record, saying that the
audience can listen to the opening of the second act of The Drowsy
Chaperone, and leaves for the restroom. A scene set in an oriental palace
appears onstage, with characters in stereotypical oriental costumes and
the chaperone costumed as an Englishwoman in a hoopskirted dress ("Message
from A Nightingale"). Man in Chair hurriedly stops the record, explaining
to the audience that that was the wrong record?it was the musical The
Enchanted Nightingale, not the second act of The Drowsy Chaperone. He
finds the right record, and The Drowsy Chaperone continues.
In a musical dream sequence, Janet laments her lost romance and decides to
return to the stage ("Bride's Lament"). Mrs. Tottendale tells Underling
that the wedding will proceed as planned because "Love is Always Lovely"
in the end. She reveals to Underling that she is in love with him. The
Chaperone announces that there will be a wedding after all: she and
Aldolpho are getting married. Mrs. Tottendale announces that she and
Underling are getting married as well. Robert tells Janet that he loves
her, and she admits that she was really the French girl and agrees to
marry him. To appease the gangsters, Feldzieg tells them that he has
discovered a new star: Kitty. He asks her to demonstrate her mind-reading
talent, and when she "reads Feldzieg's mind", she announces that he is
asking her to marry him.
George, now best man for all four weddings, realizes that he has failed at
his most important task: finding a minister. Trix lands her plane in the
garden, announcing she is about to depart for Rio. Because a captain on
board a ship can perform marriages, everyone rationalizes that Trix, as a
pilot, can perform marriages on board a plane, and she can fly them all to
Rio for their honeymoons ("I Do, I Do in the Sky").
As the record is about to play the show's final chord, the power goes out
in Man in Chair's apartment, and a Superintendent arrives to check the
circuit breakers. The power returns, and the final chord plays. Alone in
his apartment, a disappointed Man in Chair begins singing "As We Stumble
Along" and is gradually joined by the cast of The Drowsy Chaperone, who
cheer him ("As We Stumble Along (Reprise)").
