The Drowsy Chaperone in Concert | Feinstein’s/54 Below

SHOW OFF! The beloved musical comedy The Drowsy Chaperone will be celebrating it’s 10th Anniversary since it’s Broadway debut with a one night only reunion concert at Feinstein?s/54 Below on January 8th, 2018 at 7:30pm and at 9:30pm.

Cast members expecting to be part of this one night only reunion concert will include show’s creator and original star Bob Martin as “The Man in Chair”, and the show’s Tony winning star Beth Leavel (last seen in Bandstand Broadway) as the title role.

THE DROWSY CHAPERONE features a Tony winning book by Don McKellar and Bob Martin and score by Lisa Lambert and Greg Morrison. It is a hilarious play within a play story following a die-hard musical theatre fan who invites us into his depressing living room. As he drops the needle on his all-time favorite album, an outrageously funny musical from the 1920s entitled THE DROWSY CHAPERSONE, the musical comes all to life in his room. The actual musical itself tells the hilarious story of a glamorous bride and her uproarious wedding day, complete with thrills and surprises that take both the cast (literally) and the audience (metaphorically) soaring into the heavens.

The musical’s road to Broadway began in 1997 when McKellar, Lambert, and Morrison teamed up with a bunch of actors to put on a hilarious musical parody as live entertainment for Bob Martin and Janet van de Graaf (who is also a character in the show) at their bachelor party. It did really well that they decided to continued working on the show with Martin co-writing the book and creating the character of “Man in Chair” (the musical’s narrator and commentator throughout the show). It was then performed at the Toronto Fringe Festival before commercial theater producer David Mirvish went on to expand the show and have it put up in Toronto Theatre Passe Muraille in 1999 and later at Toronto’s Winter Garden Theatre in 2001.

From the success of the 2001 production, New York producer Roy Miller fell in love with the production and saw it’s potential future optioning the rights. The show then moved on to NYC for a reading part of the National Alliance for Musical Theatre in 2004 and they got another Broadway producer on board Kevin McCollum which he planned on bringing it to Broadway.

Before heading to NYC, THE DROWSY CHAPERONE had it’s world premiere out of town tryout in Los Angeles at the Ahmanson Theatre in 2005 before finally hitting Broadway’s Marquis Theatre in 2006 where it ran for a total of 706 performances.

It went on to be nominated for 13 Tony Awards in 2006 winning 5 including Best Book of a Musical (for Bob Martin and Don McKellar), Best Original Score (for Lisa Lambert and Greg Morrison), and Best Featured Actress in A Musical (for Beth Leavel). The Broadway cast featured….

Bob Martin (later Jonathan Crombie, John Glover and Bob Saget) as “Man in Chair”,

Beth Leavel as the title character,

Tony winner Sutton Foster (later Janine LaManna and Mara Davi Gaines) as “Janet Van De Graff”,

Georgia Engel (later Joanne Worley) as “Mrs. Tottendale”,

Tony nominee Danny Burnstein as “Aldolpho”,

and more.

Following the success of Broadway, THE DROSY CHAPERONE went on to wow audiences on tour across America, in London’s West End (with Elaine Paige in the title role), and around the world. Productions of the show are still happening in schools, community, and regional theaters everywhere.

So put on your best FANCY DRESS and head on down to Feinstein’s/54 Below to celebrate the 10th Anniversary of THE DROWSY CHAPERONE.

Who is excited?

The Drowsy Chaperone in Concert | Feinstein’s/54 Below

It has been 10 years since The Drowsy Chaperone (Fest ’04) concluded its successful Broadway run, and Man in Chair is …

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