The Drowsy Chaperone
Overview
 
The Drowsy Chaperone is a musical
Musical theatre
Musical theatre is a form of theatre combining songs, spoken dialogue, acting, and dance. The emotional content of the piece – humor, pathos, love, anger – as well as the story itself, is communicated through the words, music, movement and technical aspects of the entertainment as an...

 with book by Bob Martin
Bob Martin (comedian)
Bob Martin is a writer, actor, and comedian from Toronto, Ontario, Canada born in England circa 1963. He has both performed in and written many TV shows. He also provides the voice of Cuddles the comfort doll on the Canadian TV show Puppets Who Kill, aired on The Comedy Network.He starred in the...

 and Don McKellar
Don McKellar
-Personal life:McKellar was born in Toronto, Ontario to a lawyer father and teacher mother. He attended Glenview Senior Public School, Lawrence Park Collegiate Institute and later studied English at the University of Toronto's Victoria College...

 and music and lyrics by Lisa Lambert
Lisa Lambert
Lisa Lambert is an actress, comedy writer, and Tony Award winning composer, best known for writing the lyrics and music to The Drowsy Chaperone.-Career:...

 and Greg Morrison
Greg Morrison
Greg Morrison is an Tony Award–winning and Drama Desk Award–winning Canadian writer and composer best known for his work on the music and lyrics of The Drowsy Chaperone, which he wrote with Lisa Lambert. He also has extensive credits directing and musical directing shows across the United States,...

. It debuted in 1998 at The Rivoli
The Rivoli
The Rivoli is a bar, restaurant and performance space, established in 1982, on Queen Street West in Toronto, Ontario. The club originally earned a reputation as one of Canada's hippest music clubs, and many major Canadian comedy and musical performers have played on its stage, including The Kids in...

 in Toronto and opened on Broadway
Broadway theatre
Broadway theatre, commonly called simply Broadway, refers to theatrical performances presented in one of the 40 professional theatres with 500 or more seats located in the Theatre District centered along Broadway, and in Lincoln Center, in Manhattan in New York City...

 on 1 May 2006. The show won the Tony Award
Tony Award
The Antoinette Perry Award for Excellence in Theatre, more commonly known as a Tony Award, recognizes achievement in live Broadway theatre. The awards are presented by the American Theatre Wing and The Broadway League at an annual ceremony in New York City. The awards are given for Broadway...

 for Best Book and Best Score. It started as a spoof of old musicals written by friends for the wedding of Martin and his wife, Janet. The show has had major productions in Toronto
Toronto
Toronto is the provincial capital of Ontario and the largest city in Canada. It is located in Southern Ontario on the northwestern shore of Lake Ontario. A relatively modern city, Toronto's history dates back to the late-18th century, when its land was first purchased by the British monarchy from...

, Los Angeles, New York, London, and Japan, as well as two North American tours.
The Drowsy Chaperone is an homage
Homage
Homage is a show or demonstration of respect or dedication to someone or something, sometimes by simple declaration but often by some more oblique reference, artistic or poetic....

 to American
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 musicals of the Jazz Age
Jazz Age
The Jazz Age was a movement that took place during the 1920s or the Roaring Twenties from which jazz music and dance emerged. The movement came about with the introduction of mainstream radio and the end of the war. This era ended in the 1930s with the beginning of The Great Depression but has...

, examining the effect musicals have on the fans who adore them

The Man in Chair, a mousy, agoraphobic Broadway
Broadway theatre
Broadway theatre, commonly called simply Broadway, refers to theatrical performances presented in one of the 40 professional theatres with 500 or more seats located in the Theatre District centered along Broadway, and in Lincoln Center, in Manhattan in New York City...

 fanatic
Fanaticism
Fanaticism is a belief or behavior involving uncritical zeal, particularly for an extreme religious or political cause or in some cases sports, or with an obsessive enthusiasm for a pastime or hobby...

, seeking to cure his "non-specific sadness", listens to a recording of a fictional 1928 musical comedy, The Drowsy Chaperone.
Quotations

Yes, it's the flimsy plot device that gets the plot going.

Try not to think of the poodles.

Are you surprised to hear I was married? Well..."

During an accident at a performance of "The Drowsy Chaperone" in which the murphy bed containg The Drowsy Chaperone and Aldolpho broke: Rent-controlled apartment. You get what you pay for.

We have a bride who’s giving up the stage for love, her debonair bridegroom, a harried producer, jovial gangsters posing as pastry chefs, and an aviatrix - what we now call a lesbian.

re: actor playing Aldolpho and the Chinese emperor: He was the man of 1,000 accents, all of them offensive.

""So, that was the Drowsy Chaperone. Oh, I love it so much! I-uh-I know it is not a perfect show, the spit-take scene is lame and the monkey motif is labored...but it does what a musical is supposed to do! It takes you to another world and it..it gives you a little tune to carry in your head for...for...when you're feeling blue, you know? As we stumble along on life's funny journey. As we stumble along into the blue."

 
x
OK