The Drowsy Chaperone Tour Review Thread

I wanted to show my support of the tour, but since I wouldn't take pictures OF the show itself, this is the best I can offer.

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Thank you so much for the pictures Miss Pennywise. It looks great.

Jonathan Crombie takes over the show in Cleveland on October the 16th. I hope you get a chance to see it and let us know how it all is going. It's exciting to see it rolling along nicely.

I wanted to re-post this website too. https://www.andreachamberlain.com. This is the Janet for the Tour and she was nice enough to post pictures from the show on her website. She looks great in her costumes. I love the costumes and set's so much for this show.

Now, let's hear it for the Dancing Monkeys!

So excited to hear Jon Crombie is starting soon...he was great as MiC on Broadway.

Andrea's pictures looked very good. Thank you. I am looking forward to what Cleveland has to say. I saw a very sketchy view of Moye as Aldopho. It's going to be tough but I am looking forward to seeing the new cast on the set. I think NYC will be fine with Saget in the Chair. I still love the whole NYC cast, I don't think that will ever change. I just expect to love the Tour just as much though.

Since they changed the logo have they changed any of the t-shirt designs yet?

I'm inclined to agree with Tag about Bob Martin. Don't get me wrong, I loved this show on Broadway and was so excited to hear that it was starting a national tour w/ Bob Martin, so I could see it again in Chicago. But now that he won't be there, I don't think I'm going to go see it. He (and the rest of the OBC) made that show the highlight of my NYC trip, and I would hate to have that memory altered by a less than perfect performance.

Ehh. We'll see. It doesn't hit Chicago for many months. A lot can change in that amount of time.

I loved Nancy Opel as Drowsy, and I am an avid Beth Leavel fan.

(But I did not care all that much for Elaine Paige's interpretation of the Chaperone even though I have been a big fan of hers for years.)

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But you haven't seen Jonathan Crombie as the Man in Chair so how do you know how well he plays the part? I have and he is very funny. This isn't too much like what he has done before on stage. He did play the Gangster in a few of its incarnations but you said you didn't see any of those shows either. He was rather a smart aleck in The Dishwashers but Randy Hughson had the best comedic lines in that Play. Here, Jonathan gets most of the funny parts all to himself. He plays them off really well.

Maybe we need to give Nancy a little more time. Beth has played the part for a very long time. She knows it like the back of her hand. Hopefully, she won't be afraid to play it Beth's way because it is a good rendition of the part. It's a great role so she has so much to aspire to. She isn't an amateur though, so I have more confidence in her than maybe someone else in the role.

Toronto reviews were mixed though weighed in favor of the show's new cast. If anything now I am more curious to see it for myself. I think you really need to have some references to the older Musicals to really appreciate Drowsy's humor but that isn't always the case. It's lack of seriousness is what makes me laugh over it. Casey is still directing, so I have some confidence in the ensembles presentation of the Production.

That's good to hear Tag. His Emmett was great but I honestly enjoyed the whole ensemble of The Dishwashers. I only saw Oxford Roof Climbers Rebellion in rehearsal but that went well and had some funny parts in it too.

I'm sorry, it is just Bob is great in the role, no doubt about it. I just don't want Crombie to get jinxed because Martin can't/doesn't want to Play the Tour. Very understandable.

There are more video's of interviews at Dancap here, https://www.dancapproductions.com/dancaptv/

I also appreciate your honesty. It was rough since both Jonathan and Andrea were in the show in NY. I don't think she had to go on stage during rehearsals but she was still an understudy for several parts at the time. I have more faith in it but it's my kind of show. Though I would probably like WWRY too.

I was just thinking about Bob mentioning the possibility of a Movie version of Drowsy. Maybe for an Indy release or direct to Video? I'm not sure it has wide market appeal but I would still love to see them be innovative and make the Movie version of the Broadway show.

Now when I can buy Barbie dressed characters from, The Drowsy Chaperone, you know they have really made it in the World of Musicals.

Updated On: 10/15/07 at 07:39 PM

Sorry you missed Jonathan but that's great they gave you a signed Poster. I can't wait to get mine! Mr. Crombie is usually one of the first guys out of the door after the show. Hopefully you can go back and see the show? If not maybe you can catch it elsewhere?

How did you like the new Aldolpho and Robert Martin?

These are fairly demanding roles for a new cast. It's rough when the original cast has such a following for another crew to follow.

Was Ms. Engel as adorable as always?

"How did you like the new Aldolpho and Robert Martin?

These are fairly demanding roles for a new cast. It's rough when the original cast has such a following for another crew to follow."

The Robert Martin was good. He brought an appropriate mix of zaniness and groom jitters to the role. He is also playing the role with his natural red hair. (If one wants to do a fanfic reincarnation, MiC is Gilbert lusting after Robert because Robert is Anne.)

Aldopho is the weak link in Drowsy IMHO. He has always annoyed me so I think no matter who plays him I won't care for the character. That said, the actor that played him was quite good.

I agree it is difficult to follow up such a strong cast as the Broadway cast well. However, they are doing a really good job. I'm sure they'll get better as the tour gets its legs. One could tell they were still settling into their roles somewhat (except Crombie, Engel, and Chamberlain, who seemed quite comfortable).

"Was Ms. Engel as adorable as always?"

I only met her a for a few seconds and she was in a 'hurry up and leave so I can get back to eating lunch' mood. I don't think the cast was expecting a person at the stage door. At all. (I was the only one back there.) They were all nice, but I kind of got the feeling that 'we are in Cleveland...not NYC...we shouldn't have to be dealing with this.' Or maybe I'm just reading that in it because I was nervous (first time stage dooring ever) and wasn't sure what to expect.

I actually made a boo-boo because I was so nervous. The guy who plays Robert Martin has distictly red curly hair and even though I recognized him when he walked out, I still asked him if he was in the show. I quickly mumbled something about how sometimes I don't recognize actors in real life...blah, blah. He didn't seem that annoyed, but still...it was a flammoxing moment to say the least.

I actually heard the backstage guy who got Ms. Engel for me apologizing to her for pulling her away from lunch...even though *he* was the the one who took me backstage to get her autograph. (I wasn't being stalkery or anything. He could have lied and said, 'she left already' or whatever. The way he apologized it sounded like it he was implying I was a nut who would stick around until I got an autograph. Which is true where JC is concerned, but not so much where Engel is concerned.) (He actually took me back to her rather than her having to come to me.)

I didn't say this in my orginal post, but I own Drowsy on bootleg with the orginal Broadway cast. I'm figured it was important to put it out there because

1. I will still go see a show live even if I own a bootleg copy of it. I will enjoy the memory of seeing it live (and knowing that Cleveland was the first U.S. city on the tour).
2. it is fun being able to compare a new cast and any adaptions made to a show--sets, costumes, whatever---to a live show (see, for example, the change to 'Show Off') to the original cast and stage it was on.

This is very off topic, but since threads get off topic all time, I am not going to apologize. I noticed in the back of my DC playbill that Baldwin Wallace College has been selected to do a 'non professional pilot production' of Phantom of the Opera. Is ALW getting ready to licence out the show for regional and local productions? BW mentioned it was part of 6 companies picked for this.