Tweet

Review Round-up: Did Drowsy Keep Critics Awake?

Elaine Paige may have delighted the invited first night audience at the UK premiere of The Drowsy Chaperone last night (6 June 2007, previews from 14 May) at the West End’s Novello Theatre (See Today’s WOS TV & 1st Night Photos), but what did the critics make of both her performance and of the original Canadian-born musical?

A parody of 1920s romantic musicals, The Drowsy Chaperone begins with a modern-day musical theatre addict (Bob Martin) who, to chase his blues away, drops the needle on his favourite LP, the 1928 musical comedy The Drowsy Chaperone. From the crackle of his hi-fi, the musical bursts to life on stage, telling the tale of a pampered Broadway starlet who wants to give up show business to get married, her producer who sets out to sabotage the nuptials, her chaperone (Paige), the debonair groom, the dizzy chorine, the Latin lover and a pair of gangsters who double as pastry chefs.

In addition to Paige and Martin, the London cast features features Summer Strallen, Nickolas Grace, John Partridge, Selina Chilton, Joseph Alessi, Anne Rogers, Nick Holder, Enyoman Gbesmete, Cameron Jack, Adam Stafford and Sean Kinglsey. The show has music and lyrics by Lisa Lambert and Greg Morrison and a book by Don McKellar and Martin.

The Drowsy Chaperone, which started life in 1998 as a sketch for a stag do in Toronto, opened at the Marquis Theatre in New York in May last year and won five 2006 Tony Awards. The UK premiere production reunites the Broadway creative team led by director-choreographer Casey Nicholas and designer David Gallo.

Whilst one overnight critic thought it lacked “the pinpoint accuracy of true satire”, others agreed that The Drowsy Chaperone is amusingly “fresh” entertainment that only the “self-importantly serious and the chronically depressed” would fail to enjoy. Of the performances, critics welcomed back the “big chesty voice” of Paige, while also praising the “stellar” turn from Summer Strallen as the starlet and bride-to-be Janet Van de Graaff and show co-creator and original Broadway star Bob Martin as the Man in Chair.

Paul Callan in the Daily Express - The show “brings back the wonderful Elaine Paige to the London stage in the show-stopping title role. She brings enormous style to her boozy character, particularly in the touching number ‘As We Stumble Along’. Summer Strallen has a sugar-sweet quality in her stylish pastiche of the ingenue role of Janet Van de Graaff. Her singing is charming to which she adds a deft touch for comic timing ... But the stunning performance of the evening is surely that of Bob Martin, the show's guide who takes us through his love of this parody musical. From the very start, he achieves a splendid intimacy with the audience, even a warmth and a friendship … My only reservation is that, although the show is under two hours, it would still have been a good idea to have an interval - despite what Bob Martin says. That apart, The Drowsy Chaperone is a frolicking great show of immense colour and pace - and a must to see.”

- by Jake Brunger

Related Content

Booking Tickets & Show Listings
	The Drowsy Chaperone Listing Page

Internal Links
	The Drowsy Chaperone - 7th Jun 2007 reviews