{"id":2926,"date":"2008-07-13T16:52:00","date_gmt":"2008-07-13T23:52:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/cahighways.org\/wordpress\/?p=2926"},"modified":"2008-07-13T16:52:00","modified_gmt":"2008-07-13T23:52:00","slug":"a-treatment-for-unspecified-sadness-what-i-call-the-blues","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cahighways.org\/wordpress\/?p=2926","title":{"rendered":"A Treatment for Unspecified Sadness, What I Call The Blues"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/a>I Hate Theatre.<\/p>\n

And with those words, we\u2019re introduced to the world of \u201cThe Drowsy Chaperone<\/a><\/i>\u201d, the show we saw this afternoon at The Ahmanson Theatre<\/a>. The National Tour production<\/a> is in Los Angeles for two weeks, and we finally got a chance to see the show (I\u2019ve been kicking myself for the longest time, as it originated in Los Angeles back in 2005).<\/p>\n

The Drowsy Chaperone is hard show to describe, although the subtitle actually describes it best: \u201cA Musical Within A Comedy\u201d. As with \u201cCurtains<\/i>\u201d, Drowsy Chaperone is a love letter to musical theatre of yesteryear, told through the eyes of a character named, uhh, \u201cMan In Chair\u201d. To escape from his unspecific sadness, he plays his favorite musical record: The 1928 Gable-Stine Musical \u201cThe Drowsy Chaperone\u201d, which comes to life in his living room. That musical is a silly farce about an actress leaving the stage to marry her true love, the producer who doesn\u2019t want her to leave, and the various hijinks that lead to the wedding. After all, this is a 1920\u2019s musical: you really expect a coherent plot? The story exists solely to connect the songs. Anyway, the characters in this musical are the ditsy Mrs. Tottendale (host of the wedding), her butler Underling, the groom Robert Martin, his best man George, the producer Feldzieg and his chorine Kitty, two gangsters, the handsome leading man Adolfo, the bride Janet Van De Graaff, her chaperone, and Trix, the Aviatrix.<\/p>\n

Actingwise, the cast was excellent. Jonathan Crombie<\/a> was an excellent \u201cMan In Chair\u201d — he played the role with the right humor, emotion, and playfulness required. Georgia Engel<\/a> continued to play the wonderful ditzy Mrs. Tottendale (she plays such roles to perfection). Andrea Chamberlain<\/a> was a remarkable Janet Van De Graaff, singing and dancing up a storm. Another strong singer and dancer was Nancy Opel<\/a> as the Drowsy Chaperone. Other notables in the cast were Dale Hensley<\/a> as Adolfo, Robert Dorfman<\/a> as Underling — both of whom gave suitably comic perfmances. Other cast members were Mark Ledbetter<\/a> as Robert Martin, Richard Vida<\/a> as George, Cliff Bemis<\/a> as Feldzig, Marla Mindelle<\/a> as Kitty, Paul and Peter Riopelle<\/a> as the two Gangsters, and Fran Jaye<\/a> as Trix. Rounding out the ensemble were Kevin Crewell<\/a>, Jen Taylor Farrell<\/a>, Tiffany Haas<\/a>, Chuck Rea, and Jennifer Swiderski.
\n[All actors are members of \"\u00e6\" Actors Equity<\/a>]<\/font><\/p>\n

If you look at the reviews out there, they will agree that the acting is excellent. Some, however, will fault the show for being a bad musical. Those that do are missing the point. Yes, the internal musical \u201cThe Drowsy Chaperone\u201d is a bad musical — as were most musicals of the 1920s. They were excuses for escapism, they were excuses to tie together existing vaudeville acts and novelty pieces. But they had great music to go with those throway characters — and this musical is a celebration of how musicals used to be a way to escape. Today we are faced with realism and heavy stories, from In The Heights<\/i> to Rent<\/i> to even Avenue Q<\/i>. I think many reviewers have lost the perspective of just enjoying the show, and as you watch Man in Chair, you can see how much the world of the musical is his escape, his way of coping with the world. As a musical lover myself, I know the feeling well.<\/p>\n

There are somethings you can\u2019t escape. In this musical, it was sound problems. Early on, the sound was a bit tinny. Even worse, at the final number, Trix\u2019s mic failed. Luckily she could belt to the back of the house, and the sound man quickly rebalanced other mics so that all performers were on an even keel, and still could be heard. The Ahmanson\u2019s good accoustics helped here, but I\u2019m sure there was panic in the tech booth. This was the first matinee of a show that just moved in, so I\u2019m sure they will work it out. As for other technical aspects: the set was interesting, being Man In Chair\u2019s apartment. I was impressed at the Murphy Bed that kept changing bedclothes (while folded up), and even got loaded with actors and actresses before being lowered. There were also numerous seemless costume changes on stage, executed flawlessly. There were a few lighting things that were innovated (such as using a table lamp as a follow spot), but otherwise it was typical 1920 lighting.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Drowsy Chaperone\u201d features music and lyrics by Lisa Lambert<\/a> and Greg Morrison<\/a>, with book by Bob Martin<\/a> and Don McKellar<\/a>. The production was directed and choreographed by Casey Nicholaw<\/a>. Scenic design was by David Gallo<\/a>. Costume design was by Gregg Barnes<\/a>. Lighting design was by Ken Billington<\/a> and Brian Monahan<\/a>. Sound design was by Acme Sound Partners<\/a>. Hair was by Josh Marquette, with Makeup by Justen M. Brosnan. <\/p>\n

The musical quality of the production was excellent. Orchestrations were by Larry Blank, with dance and incidental music arrangements by Glen Kelly. Music supervision and vocal arrangements were by Phil Reno. Music direction was by Robert Billig, assisted by Tom Whiddon. <\/p>\n

\u201cThe Drowsy Chaperone\u201d continues at the Ahmanson Theatre until July 20, 2008.<\/p>\n

Next up on our theatre calendar is a concert: \u201cBig Bad Voodoo Daddy<\/a>\u201d at the Hollywood Bowl<\/a> ((Wed 7\/16 @ 8pm). Next Saturday evening theatre resumes with \u201cParade<\/a><\/i>\u201d at Neighborhood Playhouse, Palos Verdes<\/a> (Sat 7\/19 @ 8pm), \u201cLooped<\/i>\u201d at Pasadena Playhouse<\/a> (Sat 7\/26 @ 8pm), \u201cSinging in the Rain<\/a><\/i>\u201d at Cabrillo Music Theatre<\/a> (Sat 8\/2 @ 2pm), and \u201cAssassins<\/a><\/i>\u201d at West Coast Ensemble<\/a> (Sun 8\/10 @ 2pm).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I Hate Theatre. And with those words, we\u2019re introduced to the world of \u201cThe Drowsy Chaperone\u201d, the show we saw this afternoon at The Ahmanson Theatre. The National Tour production is in Los Angeles for two weeks, and we finally got a chance to see the show (I\u2019ve been kicking myself for the longest time, Read More …<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[51,28,1],"tags":[299,464,284],"class_list":["post-2926","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-reviews","category-theatre","category-lj-xfer","tag-reviews-2008","tag-taper-ahmanson","tag-theatre-2008"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cahighways.org\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2926","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cahighways.org\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cahighways.org\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cahighways.org\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cahighways.org\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2926"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/cahighways.org\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2926\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cahighways.org\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2926"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cahighways.org\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2926"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cahighways.org\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2926"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}