I’m an Accident Waiting to Happen – The Drowsy Chaperone

I felt some affection for this show before it even began, as it is, in effect, a Canadian show. Plus, it’s based on a love of musical theatre, which obviously appeals to me. 🙂

Happily, Bob Martin has reprised his role as ‘Man in Chair’ for this production. He really is the star of the show. I loved all his neuroticism, his comments on the show, and the way he joined in with the action at times, even if it was just dancing along in his chair. I can definitely relate. 😉 I could actually imagine Brent Carver doing this role, though it would, of course, be a huge waste of his voice. Still, does that mean there’s something Canadian about the part itself??

Elaine Paige was playing the Drowsy Chaperone, and I was happy to have the chance to see her on stage. She does a really good job with the comedic moments of this part, though she doesn’t sing a lot – and when she does, it’s drunkenly slurred. 🙂 Summer Strallen did a good job as Janet Van De Graaff, but I’m really disappointed to have missed Sutton Foster in the role. Sutton is so charming, and has such a huge voice, I can only imagine how perfect she would have been. John Patridge was wonderfully over-the-top as Robert Martin. I was familiar with him from the video version of Cats, where he played Rum Tum Tugger, so I knew he was a great dancer, and he gets a bit of a chance to show that off here. The tap dance number was great!

The rest of the cast were all very good as well. We had an understudy for Mrs. Tottenham, and she was really great, though perhaps a touch too young for the part. It’s really quite a small cast, and a short show as well, only 90 minutes long with no intermission. Overall, I did really enjoy it. Parts of the show were ridiculous, but somehow having the Man in Chair there saying that they were ridiculous made it okay. The set design was very good – the way the whole thing played out in the Man’s apartment was great. And of course I’m a huge fan of the overall message – that musicals can take us away, make us forget the problems of our every-day life. And this one succeeded in doing just that.