My son said that The Drowsy Chaperone was "the best show I've ever seen!" He's seen a lot of theater, so that's high praise. I agree with him – this show brings all the best of musical theater indulgence right front and center, without losing the heart and soul that makes it all worthwhile.
In the beginning, after the lights go down, a voice in the darkness talks about what it's like to sit in a darkened theater. This sets the stage for theater as a shared experience. It's so different from watching a video on your smartphone or even watching TV at home.
When the lights come up, we see the Man in Chair. He's feeling a bit blue, so he decides to put on one of his favorite records (yes, records) if we'll indulge him, and he talks us through the musical The Drowsy Chaperone as it plays. His living room becomes the stage, and one of the upstage entrances is through his refrigerator!
Jon Lutyens, who plays the Man in Chair, is one of my favorite local actors, and he modulates perfectly from deadpan deliveries all the way up to unmitigated, uncontrollable glee at his favorite numbers. The show-within-the-show as the Man describes it has all the requisite components of a major musical – the buddy tap dance number, the overwritten and overacted foreign character, the star vehicle, full company show-stopping songs, you name it. What a clever way to fill your stage with excess – by pointing out the excess!
But the key is the love that the Man has for the theater – the romance, the glamour, and mostly the ability to be whisked away from the real world for just a little while.
The show runs just under two hours with no intermission. There is some mild language, one seduction scene, and some ironic content that may be difficult for children to understand. That said, my third-grader was laughing so hard that he sometimes held his head in his hands! Kudos to the director, musical director and choreographer for putting together such a fabulous cast and showcasing them so well.
IF YOU GO
Where: Seattle Musical Theatre, 7120 62nd Ave. N.E. (Magnuson Park), Seattle.
When: Through March 5; Friday and Saturday at 7:30 p.m., Sunday at 2 p.m., Thursday Feb. 26 at 7:30 p.m.
Tickets: Adults $35-$40, seniors and students $30-$35.
Contact: 206-363-2809; www.seattlemusicaltheatre.org.
Machelle Allman is a Seattle educator, actor, and mom of a third-grader.
