Quick as you can say "Fred and Adele Astaire," David Gallo's ingenious sets partly transform the drab dwelling into what is meant to be the various gilded rooms and frou-frou garden of a Long Island mansion. Instantly, the show materializes in the fellow's high-ceilinged Manhattan apartment with its gated windows.
It’s guaranteed to leave you happier as you walk out.Just after The Drowsy Chaperone begins, the musical comedy-loving narrator identified in the program as Man in Chair (Bob Martin) plays what is supposedly the original cast recording of a fictional '20s tuner called The Drowsy Chaperone. I’m excited for the audiences to see it because it’s a show that you don’t have to be a theater person to enjoy. “It’s been a pregnancy, literally for nine months. Since Restieri, Sutton and Wahl began planning the production nine months ago, Restieri said he is looking forward to finally seeing the project come together. “It also offers ways for the audience to escape into another world like this man does.” “It’s a beautiful show about imagination, reality and about coming to terms with the life you’ve built for yourself,” Restieri said. Specifically in the NU community - for people who are stressed out about perfection - it shows that it is okay for life to be less than perfect, Restieri said. The costumes and makeup are accurate to an extent but at the same time very stereotypical.”įourteen cast members will perform in “The Drowsy Chaperone,” one of the more lighthearted productions the NU theater community has produced recently, Sutton said.Īlthough the show is a lighthearted comedy, Sutton added that it is also thought-provoking and highlights the themes of escapism and storytelling. “It has a lot of flappers, glitz and glamour. “It’s all about what the man thinks the 1920s looks like instead of what it actually looks like,” Sutton said. The Weinberg junior added that the man’s world and the musical’s world are interconnected through the exchange of props, which are taken from the man’s world to create the 1920s world of the musical. What is unique about the 1920s world is that instead of being depicted accurately, the cliches of the decade are exaggerated in a similar way to the characters, explained co-producer Bailey Sutton. Throughout the show, the depressed man will pause the record and comment on the antics and characters in the musical, Restieri said.
Conflict ensues when a Follies producer attempts to stop the procession in order to get his performer back. In the world of the fictional musical, the characters join together to celebrate the wedding of a Follies star.
“It’s something everyone can understand and connect to.” “The fundamental idea is very ‘Three Stooges’ in a way,” she said. She said it features stylized comedic movement and dialogue, and a lot of back-and-forth slapstick. Set in present-day New York City, the plot follows a depressed man who finds comfort in the fictional 1920s musical “The Drowsy Chaperone.” As he plays the musical’s record in his apartment, the plot comes to life, forming a musical within the overarching comedy.Ĭommunication junior Emma Wahl directed the show, which she said is one of her favorite productions of all time. “They’re all heinous stereotypes and it plays to the absolute extremes.” “The characters are all absolute caricatures,” the Communication sophomore said. “The Drowsy Chaperone” is what co-producer Andrew Restieri, calls a musical within a comedy. The show, produced by NU’s Jewish Theatre Ensemble, premieres Thursday in the Norris Center Louis Room. A power-hungry Broadway producer, a ditzy flapper, and a Latin lover are all extreme musical theater character stereotypes that will be featured in an upcoming student production of “The Drowsy Chaperone.”
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