by Andrew Juhl
Iowa City - This review is going to be short and sweet: go see The Drowsy Chaperone. Go online, and get your tickets now if you can; don’t trust that there will be seats available if you just show up, because once word gets out about how good this show is, there very well might not be.
No, I’m not even going to bother with a summary of the premise. You don’t know what it’s about? You don’t need to. It’s funny, and it’s well done by ICCT. If you really care so much, look it up elsewhere, but I can guarantee you right here and now that if you like theatre, musicals, comedy, dancing, singing, laughing OR getting a good deal for your money, then you will like this show. I cannot recommend it highly enough. Of all local community theatre productions I’ve been to in the last few years, this production ranks as one my absolute favorites.
Literally everyone in the cast, from the major players to the ensemble, does a fantastic job. Actors CJ Jones and Adam Kopfman deserve resounding applause for their song “Cold Feets,” of which I wish not to discuss further for fear of ruining the surprise for first-timers. And a tip-of-the-hat to Rob Keech (“Adolpho”) is also warranted. Keech is an absolute scene-stealer, and the one character in the show where every audience member will perk up in their seats with delight the second he rejoins the stage.
I absolutely have to single out Dustin Sorrell, however, who does an amazing job as the narrator/main character of the show. Mr. Sorrell’s timing and delivery were impeccable, and if you’re anything like me, by the end of the show you’ll want nothing less than to take his swishy fop-top awesomeness home with you for leftovers in the morning.
This production also contains the single best lighting design and sound effects I have seen in any ICCT production I have ever attended. The set is also impressively designed—one of the most complex and sophisticated I have witnessed in a community theatre production. There will be times where you’ll see someone make an entrance and marvel at the ingenuity of the design.
The one low point of opening night was the numerous mic problems experienced by the cast and crew. The hot mics, feedback, and cut-off voices really took me out of the show. I have faith that ICCT and the cast and crew will be spending some extra time for the coming shows working on this singular problem with the production.
Director and Music Director Ben Bentler should be proud. Choreographer Jill Beardsley should be, as well. They have done a wonderful, stunning job with this show. I can only assume it was a labor of love, and that hard work definitely shows.
The Drowsy Chaperone runs through the 8th, with Thursday, Friday and Saturday night shows at 7:30, Sunday matinees at 2:00. Do yourself, your community theatre volunteers, and your diaphragm a good turn: go and see it.
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Showing posts with label Drowsy Chaperone. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Drowsy Chaperone. Show all posts
Sunday, May 1, 2011
Tuesday, April 26, 2011
Drowsy Chaperone opens this weekend
Iowa City - We asked Jen Gerbyshak, Publicity Writer for ICCT, to tell us about their next production, The Drowsy Chaperone by Bob Martin and Don McKellar. If the show is half as entertaining as Jen's description, we're in for a real treat. Take it away, Jen...
“The Drowsy Chaperone? I’ve never heard of that—what’s it about?”
Without fail, every time I’ve mentioned my upcoming play to one of my coworkers, church family, or fellow volunteers, that’s the response I’ve gotten. They know me—know I’m an entertaining sort of person—so they ask it with some interest, trusting that I’m going to invite them to an evening of true entertainment. But the first response is always, “I’ve never heard of it.” So I’ve come up with the perfect reply:
The Drowsy Chaperone is the funniest show you’ve never heard of.
And that is a pure fact. First produced in Toronto in 1998, this show was carefully constructed by writers Bob Martin and Don McKellar to keep the audience laughing as hard as possible for as long as possible without actually passing out from asphyxiation. It runs only about an hour and fifteen minutes, but in that time, there are more quips, sight-gags, satirical jibes, puns and parody than you can shake a shtick at.
The performance begins with a man making dinner. We never do find out what his name is; his official designation in the script is Man in Chair. He wanders about the set, his apartment, and finally settles down in a seat in the audience and delivers the first line that will set the tone for the entire show: “I hate theater.”
Man in Chair is increasingly and delectably neurotic throughout the show as he ushers the audience through a recording of his favorite musical, The Drowsy Chaperone, which is a spoof of all the Broadway classics. Like bonus commentary on a DVD, Man in Chair gives us insider information on the ‘actors’, ‘production’ and ‘plot’ (and I do use the term loosely) of The Drowsy Chaperone, and as he does so, the action comes to life right there in his living room.
Everything you could hope for from a parody of Broadway’s Golden Age is there: highly unlikely romance, random song-and-dance numbers, mile-wide plot holes, straw-man antagonists, sweeping stereotypes, and impossibly convenient resolutions. But there’s more. Subtitled ‘a musical-within-a-play’, Drowsy is actually a parody-within-a-satire, with layers of comedy so brilliantly written that you’ll want to come back, and bring a friend.
But for all its wry, self-deprecating humor, this show is really about love. Not the fairy-tale, flash-in-the-pan passion of story and song, but the love of old companions who have seen us through our bluest moments. It’s picking up The Hobbit on a cold winter’s night. It’s putting on that Beatles CD for the five thousandth time because you had a fight with your boyfriend. A pure, simple affection which never disappoints because its object remains—or has always been—in your imagination.
Drowsy’s young cast does not disappoint, either. Far from being intimidated by the technical challenges that the production poses, they execute their demanding roles with the kind of verve that legendary farce is made of. They play off each other like a game of racquetball, they dance with gusto, and they have pipes. The sheer sound the ensemble creates during some of the full-chorus numbers is nothing short of jaw-dropping. And they need every ounce of energy to execute the blocking and choreography put together by director Ben Bentler and choreographer Jill Beardsley, the pair who engineered ICCT’s astonishing production of Wonderful Town last spring. Bentler and Beardsley are masters of spectacle, and the zaniness of The Drowsy Chaperone is a perfect vehicle for their combined artistic vision.
And an infinitely entertaining evening out. Man in Chair sums it up best this way: “Musicals are supposed to be fun, and that’s what this show is: fun.” Don’t miss out on it!
The show runs April 29th-May 1st and May 6th-8th. Friday and Saturday night performances will start at 7:30, Sunday matinees at 2:00. For tickets, visit West Music in Coralville or the Robert A. Lee Recreation Center in downtown Iowa City, or purchase your tickets online.
“The Drowsy Chaperone? I’ve never heard of that—what’s it about?”
Without fail, every time I’ve mentioned my upcoming play to one of my coworkers, church family, or fellow volunteers, that’s the response I’ve gotten. They know me—know I’m an entertaining sort of person—so they ask it with some interest, trusting that I’m going to invite them to an evening of true entertainment. But the first response is always, “I’ve never heard of it.” So I’ve come up with the perfect reply:
The Drowsy Chaperone is the funniest show you’ve never heard of.
And that is a pure fact. First produced in Toronto in 1998, this show was carefully constructed by writers Bob Martin and Don McKellar to keep the audience laughing as hard as possible for as long as possible without actually passing out from asphyxiation. It runs only about an hour and fifteen minutes, but in that time, there are more quips, sight-gags, satirical jibes, puns and parody than you can shake a shtick at.
The performance begins with a man making dinner. We never do find out what his name is; his official designation in the script is Man in Chair. He wanders about the set, his apartment, and finally settles down in a seat in the audience and delivers the first line that will set the tone for the entire show: “I hate theater.”
Man in Chair is increasingly and delectably neurotic throughout the show as he ushers the audience through a recording of his favorite musical, The Drowsy Chaperone, which is a spoof of all the Broadway classics. Like bonus commentary on a DVD, Man in Chair gives us insider information on the ‘actors’, ‘production’ and ‘plot’ (and I do use the term loosely) of The Drowsy Chaperone, and as he does so, the action comes to life right there in his living room.
Everything you could hope for from a parody of Broadway’s Golden Age is there: highly unlikely romance, random song-and-dance numbers, mile-wide plot holes, straw-man antagonists, sweeping stereotypes, and impossibly convenient resolutions. But there’s more. Subtitled ‘a musical-within-a-play’, Drowsy is actually a parody-within-a-satire, with layers of comedy so brilliantly written that you’ll want to come back, and bring a friend.
But for all its wry, self-deprecating humor, this show is really about love. Not the fairy-tale, flash-in-the-pan passion of story and song, but the love of old companions who have seen us through our bluest moments. It’s picking up The Hobbit on a cold winter’s night. It’s putting on that Beatles CD for the five thousandth time because you had a fight with your boyfriend. A pure, simple affection which never disappoints because its object remains—or has always been—in your imagination.
Drowsy’s young cast does not disappoint, either. Far from being intimidated by the technical challenges that the production poses, they execute their demanding roles with the kind of verve that legendary farce is made of. They play off each other like a game of racquetball, they dance with gusto, and they have pipes. The sheer sound the ensemble creates during some of the full-chorus numbers is nothing short of jaw-dropping. And they need every ounce of energy to execute the blocking and choreography put together by director Ben Bentler and choreographer Jill Beardsley, the pair who engineered ICCT’s astonishing production of Wonderful Town last spring. Bentler and Beardsley are masters of spectacle, and the zaniness of The Drowsy Chaperone is a perfect vehicle for their combined artistic vision.
And an infinitely entertaining evening out. Man in Chair sums it up best this way: “Musicals are supposed to be fun, and that’s what this show is: fun.” Don’t miss out on it!
The show runs April 29th-May 1st and May 6th-8th. Friday and Saturday night performances will start at 7:30, Sunday matinees at 2:00. For tickets, visit West Music in Coralville or the Robert A. Lee Recreation Center in downtown Iowa City, or purchase your tickets online.
Wednesday, January 5, 2011
ICCT Announces Auditions for Chaperone
Iowa City - The Iowa City Community Theatre is holding auditions for the musical farce The Drowsy Chaperone. A play within a play, the show starts with the 'Man in Chair,' a recluse who spends his life with recordings of Golden Age Broadway musicals. When he puts on a record of his favorite — The Drowsy Chaperone — the action bursts onto stage and the audience gets to watch both the wildly improbable romantic comedy musical and the Man in Chair as he puts in his two cents along the way. Featuring music hall performers, gangsters, aging socialites, young lovers, a bumbling Lothario, a deus ex machina aviatrix and the titular tipsy (‘drowsy’) chaperone, The Drowsy Chaperone is a riotous homage to the classics of the Broadway stage, where no matter how hopelessly complicated things get in Act I, you can count on wedding bells by the end of Act II.
Auditions will be held January 23rd--25th at the following times and locations:
January 23 2-5pm Meeting Room A IC Public Library
January 24 7-9pm Robert A Lee Rec Center
January 25 7-10pm Johnson County Fairgrounds (Callbacks, plus extended auditions)
If you have any questions, contact director Ben Bentler by email at pianoartist@mac.com or by phone at (319) 512-9834.
Auditions will be held January 23rd--25th at the following times and locations:
January 23 2-5pm Meeting Room A IC Public Library
January 24 7-9pm Robert A Lee Rec Center
January 25 7-10pm Johnson County Fairgrounds (Callbacks, plus extended auditions)
If you have any questions, contact director Ben Bentler by email at pianoartist@mac.com or by phone at (319) 512-9834.
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