The show takes you back to 1928 to the early days of the Broadway musical

Photo courtesy Tim Ahlin
From left to right: Jason Eves (Adolpho), Peter Mandel (Man in Chair), Ken Christopher (Robert Martin), Riley Brown (Kitty), Nicole King-Yarbrough (Janet Van de Graff), and Ingrid Rottman (The Drowsy Chaperone).

Published February 26, 2023 on MorganHillLife.com

By Camille Bounds

Camille Bounds

Watching “The Drowsy Chaperon” at its Feb. 24 opening night, I wondered where all this exceptional talent and energy comes from in the South Valley Civic Theatre performers. This is entertainment!

First of all, an 11-piece orchestra is the real star of the show. Under the sure baton of music director Alan Chipman, who is conducting his 25th SVCT  show, the musicians came in with a full fine score of this complicated, always-on-the-move story.

Scene stealers comes with the endearing and charming Peter Mandel as “The Man in the Chair.” He is on stage for the entire performance, leading the audience through each scene with such lovable ambiance you at times want to hug him. Understudy Verose Deslonde as “Janet Van de Graff” went on with an afternoon notice that the lead actress could not make the performance. She delivered a solid first class performance with a great voice and delivery.

The show takes you back to 1928 to the early days of the Broadway musical, a time when producers could put their girlfriends in the show and gangsters were financial backers. It’s a mad romp. Song and dance production numbers, arranged by choreographer Christine Carrillo, are done at the drop of a hat without regard for any obvious or non-obvious reason. The old “boy gets girl, boy loses girl and boy gets girl back” plot is in full swing with an over-the-top fantastic corny finale to end all over-the-top corny finales.

Shout outs to Jenn Oliphant for her creative sets and Clara Shen-Tov for the enticing stage lighting. They turn a dingy apartment into upper estate scenes right before your eyes. And a kitchen “refrigerator” magically allows actors to make a grand entrance on the stage.

The cast was energetic and everyone delivers a great performance. Ken Christopher as the blind folded roller-skating bridegroom (sometime in tap shoes!) does a super job. Ingred Rottman’s boozy chaperone keep the humor going. The rest of the cast gave their all in delightful costumes by Michelle Griffin. Director Alan Chipman kept the production moving at a fast pace and had everyone on stage having such a good time.

As I always say, “It’s not what you do, it’s how you do it.”  And “The Drowsy Chaperone” really does it well. If you want to get away from it all one weekend evening this month, and you have to think about going easy on the gas, stay local and go to the Morgan Hill Community Playhouse and enjoy this hilarious show.

Click HERE to purchase tickets for “The Drowsy Chaperone”