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The Drowsy Chaperone
Original Broadway Production
Original Broadway Production Poster
Music	Lisa Lambert and Greg Morrison
Lyrics	Lisa Lambert and Greg Morrison
Book	Bob Martin and Don McKellar
Theatre	Marquis Theatre
Opened	May 1, 2006
Closed	Still Running
Producer(s)	Kevin McCollum Roy Miller Boyett Ostar Productions Stephanie McClelland Barbara Freitag Jill Furman
Director	Casey Nicholaw
Choreographer	Casey Nicholaw
Scenic designer	David Gallo
Costume designer	Greg Barnes
Lighting designer	Ken Billington
Originally starring	Sutton Foster, Beth Leavel, Bob Martin, Georgia Engel, Edward Hibbert, Troy Britton Johnson, Danny Burstein

The Drowsy Chaperone is a musical with a book by Bob Martin and Don McKellar and music and lyrics by Lisa Lambert and Greg Morisson.

Contents 1 Synopsis 2 Initial development 3 Broadway Production 4 London Transfer 5 Song list 6 Original Broadway Cast 7 Awards and nominations 8 References 9 External links

Originally entitled An Accident Waiting to Happen, The Drowsy Chaperone is an homage to American musicals of the Gatsby era, focusing on Man in Chair, a mousy, vaguely depressive Broadway fanatic whose coping mechanism involves listening repeatedly to a recording of a 1928 stage show, The Drowsy Chaperone. When he first turns on his phonograph and static breaks from the speakers, he wistfully tells the audience, "I love that sound. To me, that’s the sound of a time machine starting up." By the time the first note sails out of his speakers, he's been transported to a magical dream world, one where the actors in the recording enter his dingy apartment and transform it into a gloriously garish set complete with seashell footlights, sparkly peacocks, glittery sugarplum trees, and costumes that would put the Ice Capades to shame. The show-within-a-show centers on a vain showgirl, who is about to marry a man she only just met, and her cigar-chomping producer, who doesn’t want to lose his valuable starlet. What follows is a pastiche of every cliched plot thread ever written, including mistaken identity, spit-takes, and gangsters on the lam, involving such campy characters as an all-knowing English butler, a Latino Lothario, and a daffy, cartwheeling heroine. Watching from his armchair, Man in Chair is torn between his desire to absorb every moment of the play as it unfolds and to insert his own personal footnotes as he continuously brings the audience in and out of the fantasy.

The show had its start in 1999, when McKellar, Lambert, and Morrison created a spoof of old musicals for the stag party before the wedding of their theatre friends Bob Martin and Janet Van De Graaff. In its first incarnation, there was no Man in Chair, the musical styles ranged from the 1920s to the 1940s, and the jokes were a lot more risqué. When the creators decided to reshape the show for the Toronto Fringe Festival, Martin jumped on board as a co-writer and they created Man in Chair to serve as a narrator/commentator for the piece, which underwent numerous changes as it made its way to Toronto's Theatre Passe Muraille in 1999, the city's Winter Garden in 2002, and Los Angeles in 2005.

After 32 previews, the Broadway production, directed and choreographed by Casey Nicholaw, opened on May 1, 2006 at the Marquis Theatre, where it continues to run. The original cast included Sutton Foster, Bob Martin, Georgia Engel, Edward Hibbert, Jason Kravits, Beth Leavel, Danny Burstein, Eddie Korbich, and Jennifer Smith.

The Drowsy Chaperone was the first musical written and composed by Canadians to open on Broadway in 26 years. It is the country's second successful Broadway musical, following in the footsteps of Baker Street, which ran for 311 performances in 1965-66.

A new production of the show is scheduled to begin performances on May 14, 2007 at the Novello Theatre in London's West End. Confirmed members of the cast currently include the established British musical theatre performer, Elaine Paige, as the Drowsy Chaperone, and Summer Strallen as Janet Van De Graaf. It is being produced by Sir Cameron Mackintosh, who saw the show in previews in New York and decided to support its transfer to London.^[1]

• Overture ... Orchestra
• Fancy Dress ... Company
• Cold Feets ... Robert, George
• Show Off ... Janet, Company
• As We Stumble Along ... Drowsy Chaperone
• I Am Aldolpho ...Aldolpho, Drowsy Chaperone
• Accident Waiting To Happen ... Robert, Janet
• Toledo Surprise ...Gangsters, Feldzieg, Kitty, Mrs. Tottendale, and Company
• Message From A Nightingale ... Kitty, Gangsters, Aldolpho, Drowsy Chaperone
• Bride's Lament ... Janet, Company
• Love Is Always Lovely In The End ... Mrs. Tottendale, Underling
• I Do, I Do In The Sky ... Trix, Company
• As We Stumble Along (Reprise) ... Company

The original cast recording contains a bonus track titled, "I Remember Love," which is a duet between Mrs. Tottendale and Underling. This song also contains a ukelele solo by Ukelele Lil as Mrs. Tottendale. It was replaced by "Love is Always Lovely in the End."

• Danny Burstein as Aldolpho
• Georgia Engel as Mrs. Tottendale
• Sutton Foster as Janet Van De Graaff
• Edward Hibbert as Underling
• Troy Britton Johnson as Robert Martin
• Eddie Korbich as George
• Garth Kravits as Gangster #2
• Jason Kravits as Gangster #1
• Beth Leavel as The Drowsy Chaperone
• Kecia Lewis-Evans as Trix
• Bob Martin as Man in Chair
• Jennifer Smith as Kitty
• Lenny Wolpe as Feldzieg
• Linda Griffin- Ensemble
• Angela Pupello- Ensemble
• Joey Sorge- Ensemble
• Patrick Wetzel- Ensemble

• Tony Award for Best Musical (nominee)
• Tony Award for Best Book of a Musical (winner)
• Tony Award for Best Original Score (winner)
• Tony Award for Best Actor in a Musical (Bob Martin, nominee)
• Tony Award for Best Actress in a Musical (Sutton Foster, nominee)
• Tony Award for Best Featured Actor in a Musical (Danny Burstein, nominee)
• Tony Award for Best Featured Actress in a Musical (Beth Leavel, winner)
• Tony Award for Best Choreography (nominee)
• Tony Award for Best Direction of a Musical (nominee)
• Tony Award for Best Orchestrations (nominee)
• Tony Award for Best Scenic Design of a Musical (winner)
• Tony Award for Best Costume Design of a Musical (winner)
• Tony Award for Best Lighting Design of a Musical (nominee)
• Theatre World Award (Bob Martin, winner)
• Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Musical (winner)
• Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Book of a Musical (winner)
• Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Actor in a Musical (Bob Martin, nominee)
• Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Actress in a Musical (Sutton Foster, nominee)
• Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Featured Actor in a Musical (Eddie Korbich, nominee)
• Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Featured Actress in a Musical (Beth Leavel, winner)
• Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Choreography (nominee)
• Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Director of a Musical (nominee)
• Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Orchestrations (nominee)
• Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Lyrics (winner)
• Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Set Design of a Musical (winner)
• Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Music (winner)
• Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Costume Design (winner)
• Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Sound Design (nominee)
• Outer Critics Circle Award for Outstanding Broadway Musical (nominee)
• Outer Critics Circle Award for Outstanding Featured Actress in a Musical (Beth Leavel, winner)
• Outer Critics Circle Award for Outstanding New Score (winner)
• Outer Critics Circle Award for Outstanding Set Design (winner)
• Outer Critics Circle Award for Outstanding Costume Design (winner)

1. ^ Source: Official London Theatre Guide http://www.officiallondontheatre.co.uk/news/display/cm/contentId/93014

• Official website Covers both Broadway and London productions
• The Drowsy Chaperone at The Internet Broadway Database
• Production: The Drowsy Chaperone Working in the Theatre Seminar video at American Theatre Wing.org, April 2006
• Sutton Foster Sutton Foster News & Forums
• Bob Martin - Downstage Center interview at American Theatre Wing.org, June 2006
• Beth Leavel fansite