Hot on the heels of their sensational A Gentleman’s Guide To Love And Murder, The Drowsy Chaperone makes it two big winners in a row for Actors’ Repertory Theatre Of Simi with performances to rival those of the original Broadway and touring casts.

Diehard musical theater buffs will surely recognize themselves in the show’s rhapsodic narrator Man In Chair (Kevin Ellis), who introduces us to a largely forgotten (and entirely fictional) 1928 Broadway chestnut that happens to share its title with the one we are seeing.

As the notes of a scratchily recorded Overture are replaced by those a live orchestra, Man In Chair’s studio apartment morphs into the foyer of Tottendale Manor, with guests arriving for the wedding of Broadway star Janet Van de Graff (Dawn Michelle) to oil tycoon Robert Martin (Vincent Perez).

Along for the ride are a pair of gangsters masquerading as pastry chefs (Scott Gilbert and Joey Grady), “Feldzieg Follies” impresario Mr. Feldzeig (Will Shupe) and his dumb blonde girlfriend Kitty (Mary Zastrow), Robert’s best man George (Kyle Cooknick), Latin Lothario Aldolpho (George Chavez), and Janet’s Drowsy (i.e. tipsy) Chaperone (MarLee Candell).

Completing the cast are lady of the manor Mrs. Tottendale (Denise Jaffe), her loyal Underling (Mueen Jahan), a gal-loving aviatrix named Trix (Shandar Robinson), and a trio of servants, reporters, aviators played by the multitasking Emma-Sophia Gordon, dance captain Caitlyn Rose Massey, and Gabriella Roberts.

The 1920s musical’s wisp of a plot (they were all wispy back then) has Follies’ Feldzeig hiring a pair of pastry chef gangsters to put a stop to Janet’s wedding, thereby guaranteeing that his leading lady will stay right where she belongs—in Feldzeig’s Follies, a scheme that also includes persuading Aldolpho to seduce Janet out of Robert’s arms, though unfortunately for Feldzeig, Aldolpho mistakes Janet’s chaperone for the bride-to-be, who’s out in the garden pretending to be a French girl in order to test Robert’s love.

Confused? No matter. You’ll be so thoroughly entertained by The Drowsy Chaperone (Tony-winning music and lyrics by Lisa Lambert & Greg Morrison, Tony-winning book by Bob Martin & Don McKellar) that plot pickiness will be the last thing on your mind, and with Robert Craig providing masterful direction every step of the way, except for scaled-down sets and a doing-the-best-they-can orchestra, the latest from Actors’ Repertory Theatre Of Simi is every bit as smashing as any topnotch regional production.

Ellis is everything Man In Chair should be, quirky, endearing, giddy, sweet, sardonic, and the best possible guide to the Golden Age of musical theater, and the Drowsy Chaperone cast he introduces us to could hardly be more fabulous.

As vivacious as she is bodacious, Michelle deserves and earns the evening’s loudest, longest ovation with an encore-worthy “Show Off” that shows off the Ventura-county star’s Broadway-caliber belt and acrobatic dance chops to match.

Stealing each and every scene they’re in are Chavez’s absolutamente magnifico Aldolpho, who could write a book on How To Be A Latin Lover and make it a best-seller; Candell’s equally scenery-chewing Chaperone, as deliciously dry as the driest of gin martinis; and Zastrow’s irresistible Kitty, investing the quintessential dumb blonde with a banshee screech of a voice that could shatter glass.

The side-splittingly in-sync Gilbert and Grady give the movies’ top comedy gangsters some tough competition, Shupe makes for a hilariously harried Mr. Felzig, and Perez follows Gentleman’s Guide’s Monty Navarro with another dashing, debonair charmer, joining Cooknick’s terrific George in a taptastic “Cold Feets.”

Jahan’s ever so proper Underling and Jaffe’s delightfully dotty Mrs. Tottendale earn repeated laughs with a spit-take to end all spit-takes, Robinson’s deus ex machina Trix is a vocal dynamo if there ever was one, and Gordon, Massey, and Roberts provide marvelously multi-tasking song-and-dance backup along the way.

Choreographer Becky Castells gives all of the above plenty of fancy footwork to do (Michelle, Perez, and Cooknick in particular), and Paul Bartlett shows up very briefly but amusingly as Man In Chair’s apartment building super.

Like A Gentleman’s Guide To Love And Murder, The Drowsy Chaperone shows off Shupe’s mastery at making scenic design magic minus Broadway bucks, Joshual Stapel’s colorful costumes are period/character-perfect gems, Luis Ramirez’s wigs and Eunice Sanchez’s properties merit their own design kudos, and Seth Kamenow’s vibrant lighting enhances all of the above.

Kevin Kahm provides an expert sound design aided by Kamenow’s live mix of amped vocals (Matt Park is music director) and the production’s front-of-stage orchestra under Cavit Celayir-Monezis’s baton.

The Drowsy Chaperone is produced by Jan Glasband. Dean Foster doubles as assistant to the director and stage manager. Bartlett and Zoe Reisman are stage crew.

I’ve been a huge Drowsy Chaperone fan since its pre-Broadway tryout at the Ahmanson. Actors’ Repertory Theatre Of Simi’s mid-sized revival may have only a teeny-tiny fraction of that production’s budget, but with tickets topping at less than $30, it’s the best musical theater bargain in town.

Actors’ Repertory Theatre Of Simi, Simi Valley Cultural Arts Center, 3050 Los Angeles Avenue, Simi Valley.
www.actorsrepofsimi.org

–Steven Stanley
August 9, 2019

Tags: Actors Repertory Theatre Of Simi, Bob Martin, Don McKellar, Greg Morrison, Lisa Lambert, Simi Valley Cultural Arts Center, Ventura County Theater Review