What originated as a bachelor party improv, developed into a multiple-award recipient Broadway show, brimming with silly tunes, head-spinning dance moves, and genuine laughter. Add to it posh flipper-era costumes (Gregg Barnes), elaborate sets (David Gallo), sparkling champagne glasses (never mind the Prohibition), full moon, and a lonely dreamer who lives by the glamour of the past, and you got it—the best San Francisco summer musical, courtesy of SHN Theatres (directed and choreographed by Casey Nicholaw, conducted by Robert Billig). A play within a play, The Drowsy Chaperone wittily reverses two disparate realities—the one of Man in Chair (Jonathan Crombie) who listens to a 1928 recording of a title show in his dingy apartment, and the one of the show itself, telling a story of a starlet leaving stage for marriage. Interestingly, the names of the starlet, Janet Van De Graaff (Andrea Chamberlain) and her bridegroom, Robert Martin (Mark Ledbetter) are real names of the original couple whose upcoming wedding back in 1999 became an inspiration for the improv production. Thus, Martin co-authored a book with Don McKellar, and his friends Lisa Lambert and Greg Morrison wrote music and lyrics for the play, adding yet another layer of reality—our time, theatre crowd, uncontainable creativity on stage and off. The SHN show, timed and rhymed to perfection, besides those already mentioned features Nancy Opel in the role of the title character (“I drink for pleasure, not out of necessity”), Fran Jaye—a gospel, jazz and pop performer, whose amazing voice dominates the stage in the role of Trix, and Georgia Engel in the role of Mrs. Tottendale, which she originated on Broadway, to name just a few from the multi-talented cast. The show runs through August 17 at the Orpheum Theatre, 1192 Market at 8th Street, SF. To learn more, visit http://www.shnsf.com/. The show will continue its North American tour to San Diego, Sacramento, Denver, and Seattle.
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