My two pennies:
The Man In The Chair was me in thirty years. I identified with him on so many levels, even though he has a different personality. We both share a passion. And a passion to share that passion. A genuine love. We can sit alone in our living room listening to a cast recording and be content.
The problem with the show was the score. It's an average score by today's standards. If "The Drowsy Chaperone" (not the Broadway show at the Marquis Theatre, but the show within the Broadway show at the Marquis Theatre) had come out in the '40s or early '50s it would have been a hit. But it has no historical significance to us because it never existed.
Now what if "The Man In The Chair" was listening to Anything Goes? It's reverse - Cole Porter never existed except as a creation of a name for a 2006 musical. The score was created for this 2006 musical. We, the audience, never heard of Cole Porter nor his music nor his shows because he never existed. So for the first time ever in 2006 we hear these songs and "Anything Goes" is chopped up into fragments. The Man In The Chair narrates the story and in segments it becomes alive before our eyes. I think everyone would have mix reactions.
(Cole Porter's music has become famous. If the songwriters of "The Drowsy Chaperone" had written more songs back in the day they would have become just as famous (remember, because The Drowsy Chaperone would have been a hit back then)). It's sooo hard to get my point across because a) how dare I compare the music in Drowsy Chaperone to that of Cole Porter's and b) you really have to have an open mind to understand what I'm trying to say in order for it to make sense.
Whew - my brain is racked. Just go see the damn show - it's sweet!
"The Spectacle has, indeed, an emotional attraction of its own, but, of all the parts, it is the least artistic, and connected least with the art of poetry. For the power of Tragedy, we may be sure, is felt even apart from representation and actors. Besides, the production of spectacular effects depends more on the art of the stage machinist than on that of the poet."
--Aristotle
