I went to see the Drowsy Chaperone last night at the musical's opening night at the Orpheum. I have to say, I was impressed. We go to these types of things quite a bit. Plays, musicals, etc and I almost always enjoy them but at times I think I only enjoy them because I think I'm supposed. This production, on the other hand, was just plain enjoyable. There was a time, it might have been before I was born, when people just went to the theater to see a show, have a good time, and forget about everything else for a short while. Given the state of our nation and economy, maybe that's a philosophy worth adopting again.
I think a lot of people forget, or they don't even realize, just how beautiful the Orpheum really is. Just go and sit in the audience and look around you at this place and it's ridiculous that this crazy, historic place sits right in the middle of downtown and people take it for granted. Well if you've ever wanted to go in but thought that theater wasn't really your thing or maybe it's just
to sensitive or to high brow for you, then just take the time this week to check out the Drowsy Chaperone and simply enjoy being somewhere unique and take in a musical that doesn't take itself too seriously.
The actors do a great job. The scenery is really eye popping and unique. It keeps your attention and is very believable staging. The music is funny, enjoyable and it doesn't try too hard (which is the problem with half of what's on stage nowadays). The characters in the musical itself are great. Memorable, funny, unique and well cast. The approach to the story telling is also different, in a good way. The show is about a musical-theater lover, sitting in a chair in his apartment, playing a record of an obscure 1920s musical. As it plays, the apartment becomes the set of the show-within-the-show, characters tumbling out of the refrigerator and the apartment itself merging with the world of the 1920's to become like some strange, imagination version of a 1920's world, squashed together with a reclusive, shut-in, eccentric's apartment.
Sounds a bit odd. But that's why it's good.
So get out of your house, go appreciate something new, and support a historic institution in your own hometown! The show is funny and it's not intimidating to a newcomer nor is it pandering and low-brow to a seasoned veteran. Just go and forget your worries for a while and enjoy sitting in the dark with hundreds of other strangers while you stare at people performing silly songs on stage! Just have some fun, that's what this production is all about!
Also, these pictures represent why this era was so much cooler than our own. It's just another world and I love Great Gatsby era stuff!
