It might start to sound a bit pathetic now, my “I don’t like musicals” attitude and maybe I should alter it a little bit and say “I don’t like standard 13 in a dozen like musicals”.
I found an email in my inbox last week from a PR man connected to this musical and he made me an offer:
I give you 2 tickets for The Drowsy Chaperone – you write about it on your blog.
Didn’t take me long to decide.
The Drowsy Chaperone is about a man in a chair in his living room who happens to be a musical fan. When he is feeling blue he puts on his favourite record, a 1920’s recording of the Drowsy Chaperone musical and in his imagination the whole musical comes to live in his living room.
If this sounds lame to you – I agree. It would not have tickled me either.
But – in stead of just rolling out a standard musical with lots of songs and little originality, this was different. Yes there were lots of songs but there was even more humour. The scenes were brilliantly original, there was tap dancing (which I love!), rollerskating and there was even an airplane flying in. There was slapstick, and the characters were so overly caricatured (the Latin lover and the English butler were great) that it became immensely funny. The person who wrote this musical clearly had a very well developed imagination, a great sense of humour and a very creative mind.
Having the complete ensemble getting stuck in a song because the record got stuck on the record player was just one of the hilarious things that happened.
I wasn’t forced to write a positive review, it would have been fine if I had written that it was crap. It wasn’t crap – it was great! And I have no problem recommending it to anyone who is looking for a great night out.
Anyone famous in it? Yep: Elaine Page.
More info:
The Drowsy Chaperone
Novello theatre, London
[rating:4/5]
I’m going to see ‘Cats’ tonight in Chassé Theatre in Breda. :-)
Wow free tix, you must be getting a reputation.
I have to admit that I really don’t care for musicals at all. Even as a kid I had a great deal of trouble coming to terms with people suddenly bursting into song! Having said that though, I have seen the occasional musical on tv eg Chicago and really enjoyed it! I think it’s just having to part with the money to watch it that comes hard;)
Whilst everybody has been “whooting!” about Johnny Depp and Alan Rickman being in Tim Burton’s new film of the musical Sweeney Todd I’m afraid my heart did sink at the news. I mean, I can’t NOT see it but …
I’ve got a ticket to see The Entertainer at The Old Vic tomorrow. I’ll review it on my Journal.