The premise of The Drowsy Chaperone is simple: there’s a musical (also called The Drowsy Chaperone) about a wedding within a play about a lonely man listening to the soundtrack of said musical. Simple. The execution of the show, on the other hand, is a complex undertaking that UVic’s Phoenix Theatre tackles with valiant effort.
The star of this show, in many ways, is the complex stage on which the story is told. There are several moving pieces to the set, including a large prop that will make any musical theatre buff nostalgic for Miss Saigon. Despite the mechanical complexities of the sets, they are simple and charming.
The over-the-top performance style of the actors in (the musical) The Drowsy Chaperone is consistent throughout the show—which I found incredibly entertaining for several of the characters, in particular, Justin Francis Lee’s George, Rahat Saini’s Drowsy Chaperone, and Nicholas Atkinson’s Aldolpho. However, the constant set-chewing by the cast became a little heavy handed when all the actors culminated together.
While most of the actors managed to steal the spotlight at one point or another with their shenanigans and hijinx, the consistent shining light in the performance was Douglas Peerless, our fourth-wall-breaking narrator, a character lovingly referred to as “Man in Chair.” Peerless is complex and nuanced, causing the audience to laugh out loud one moment and fight back tears alongside him the next. His raw, modern-day realness as the only major character outside the musical gives the perfect contrast to the show-stopping energy of The Drowsy Chaperone.
While the show may have been a little over the top at times (in its defense, it is a musical) Phoenix Theatre should be commended for tackling such an ambitious project. It’s clearly a huge undertaking and, for the most part, it really paid off. They nailed the razzle-dazzle, the quick-change costumes and sets, and the comedic timing of an old-time musical, while giving a real person for the audience to connect with in Peerless’ Man in Chair.
The Drowsy Chaperone
Various times, UVic’s Phoenix Theatre
Various prices, until Saturday, November 24
finearts.uvic.ca/theatre/mainstage