Winner of five Tonys, The Drowsy Chaperone has swept Broadway and stages around the world with its hilarious, heartwarming story of old musicals and the fans who love them.

As the curtain rises, we meet the “Man in Chair,” a quirky, withdrawn Broadway fanatic who seeks to cure his ennui by listening to a record of a fictional 1928 musical comedy, The Drowsy Chaperone. While the record plays, the musical comes to life, and the man’s little apartment is trans- formed into a glittering Broadway stage, peopled by dancing showgirls, singing gangsters, tycoons, playboys, and of course, by the Drowsy (meaning “Tipsy”) Chaperone, played by a blowsy 1920s Grande Dame of the theater.

This play-within-a-play tells the story of showgirl Janet Van De Graaff, the star of Feldzieg’s Follies, who plans to give up her chorus line life to marry oil tycoon Robert Martin. However, Janet’s producer is being menaced by two gangsters who work for his chief investor. They want the wedding called off to ensure that Janet stays with the Follies and keeps bringing in the crowds. Desperate to save his show and himself, Feldzieg hires Adolpho, an incompetent Latin lothario, to seduce Janet and ruin her engagement. Mistaken identities, dream sequences, spit takes, rousing anthems, high drama, low comedy, and eventual happy endings ensue. By the end of The Drowsy Chaperone, even the lonely Man in Chair has something to sing and dance about.

The Drowsy Chaperone – subtitled “A Musical Within a Comedy” – is a hilarious metatheatrical romp, a cheeky, original love song to the musical theater genre.

CAST (in order of appearance)

Man in Chair – Doug Schneider
Mrs. Tottendale – Linda C. Zuby
Underling – Ken Waller
Robert Martin – Ben Jamieson
George – Gary White
Feldzieg – Pat Owen
Kitty – Alice Reed
Gangster #1 – Edward Warwick
Gangster #2 – Nick Heiderstadt
Aldolpho – Chris Patrick
Janet Van De Graaff – Kimberly Hoffacker
The Drowsy Chaperone – Jane Scatena
Trix the Aviatrix – Cheryl Sandas
Superintendant – Michael J. Ustica
Ensemble – Aynsley Sandridge, Kristen Franklin, Lena Malcolm, Jessica Wilbert, Miller Murray Susen, Chelsea Greer

Director – Ray Nedzel
Musical Director – John Carden
Choreographer – Joncey Boggs
Stage Manager – Edwina Herring
Assistant Stage Manager – Anne-Laure Talbot
Lighting Design – J. Stoll
Set Design and Properties Master – Kerry Moran
Set Concept – Garret Queen
Costume Design – Amy Goffman, Tricia Emlet
Sound Design – Dave Stipe

Musicians
Piano – Kristin Baltes, Kip McCharen
Bass – Mark Goldstein
Drums – Jim Howe

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