[NEohioPAL] The Drowsy Chaperone Readies for Hudson Opening April 29th!!!

[Gary Maher]

"The Drowsy Chaperone" Took Unique Path to Coming Hudson Opening on April
29th

Award Winning Comedy with Music and Winner of Five Tony Awards Started out
as a Bachelor Party Gift

 

 

The Hudson Players (the Fox 8 Hotlist 2010 Akron/Canton Area Theater Group
of the Year) are readying the Tony award winning fresh from Broadway hit
comedy with music "The Drowsy Chaperone" for its opening on April 29 at 8
p.m. at the Barlow Community Center at 41 S. Oviatt St in Hudson. The group
will be one of the first theater groups in the area to present this crowd
pleasing musical comedy. With performances being held April 29, 30, May 6,
7, 13, 14, 15, 20 & 21, it's been called one of the funniest plays ever, but
it all actually started as a unique bachelor party gift written to include
the actual bride's name (which still remains in the show today). 

 

Composer Lisa Lambert explained that she was one of three "best men" to the
groom (the eventual star and co-writer of the final show, Bob Martin) and
that "The Drowsy Chaperone" was conceived as the second half of the
unconventional bachelor party they threw (Lambert, librettist Don McKeller
and co-composer Greg Morrison had all known Martin since high school).
Guests were actually charged admission to the show as a way to help pay for
the wedding. Everyone liked it so much the friends polished it up, added the
infamous 'Man in Chair' and started the show on it's journey to Broadway,
five Tony's and beyond (Hudson, Ohio in this case). The actual bride's name,
Janet Van De Graff, remains in the show as nod to the original concept and
as a fun ongoing gift to the couple.

The premise is that a man, known only as "Man in Chair," is so enraptured by
a recording of a classic musical that it comes to life as he spins the
platter in his living room. He fills us in on all the juicy gossip about the
actors in Broadway's glory age and tells the story that occurs between the
tracks of the recording.

The play within the play, meanwhile, is a pastiche of musical-theater tropes
in which a starlet named Janet Van De Graff is ready to give up the stage to
get married to an oil tycoon and settle down. This threatens the pocketbook
of her theatrical producer, and he determines to foil the wedding, in part
through the seductions of a Latin silent-film lothario. The "drowsy" (a
period euphemism for tipsy) chaperone is Janet's upstaging minder. In "The
Drowsy Chaperone" people tap dance for no reason, gangsters pretend to be
pastry chefs, Chaperones get tipsy, a latin lover pursues the bride and a
pilot invites a group of strangers to accompany her on a trip to Rio. It's
all ridiculous but that's what makes it so fun. As they say, ruses are
played, hi-jinks occur, and the plot spins everyone into musical comedy
euphoria.

Tickets are available now via the Hudson Players website at
www.hudsonplayers.com <http://www.hudsonplayers.com/>  or by calling the box
office at 330-655-8522. Single show tickets are only $14 each with group,
senior and student discounts available. The show is directed by Rich
Jagunic, one of the rotating directors at Theatre West Virginia. Cast
includes: Jason Simmons, Mark Moore, Suzanne Davis, Kayla Heichel, Jared
McGrath, Rantea Thompson, Michelle Dolciato, Steve Brofman, Roger Clary, Tom
Cirner, Theresa Marzullo, Ron Cuirle, Jennifer Matas, Marianne Karlson,
Kathy Steiner, Adrienne Dickson, Kirk Worcester, Sonny Sonnhalter, Gary
Maher and Chanda Porter. 

 

As an added benefit, opening the Hudson Players hope to announce their
2011-12 Season at opening night of "The Drowsy Chaperone" and opening night
audience members will be invited out after the show for a reception with
cast and crew.

 

The Hudson Players are an all volunteer non-profit community theater
organization. Volunteers are always welcome to assist with a variety of
tasks including publicity, poster distribution, set building, costumes and
more. Additional information is available at www.hudsonplayers.com
<http://www.hudsonplayers.com/> , by emailing info at hudsonplayers.com or by
calling 330-655-8522. 

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