A man with a turntable triggers memories of old-school musicals in Merry-Go-Round’s spiffy spoof The Drowsy Chaperone

Casting a key role, they tell us in Dramaturgy 101, colors the entire show. The idea of putting former Syracuse Stage artistic director Robert Moss in the role of the narrator, “The Man in the Chair,” of the musical spoof The Drowsy Chaperone, the season opener at Auburn’s Merry-Go-Round Playhouse, is not just a sop or a gimmick. Moss could fairly be called “beloved” (admittedly, an asset at the box office), but he also brings qualities otherwise hard to achieve: real authority worn lightly, bristling with irony.

Incredible as it may seem, this lovely bit of upmarket fluff has been the subject of a critical tong war in the blogosphere, which is why Australian star Geoffrey Rush was summoned home for the Sydney premiere earlier this year. Bizarre as it sounds, blogging loudmouths like John Kenjac claim that Chaperone disrespects the genre and demeans buffs who dote on vintage record collections. Yet Moss’ presence—ebullient, confident and wry—crushes such nonsense underfoot.

Ever since The Drowsy Chaperone came out of nowhere (actually, Toronto) to win big at the Tonys three years ago, most audiences have become familiar with the premise. The Man in the Chair, with a large collection of vinyl LP albums, shares his favorite from 1928, also called The Drowsy Chaperone, and conjures up characters and scenes from the back of a nondescript bedroom. So far this sounds like an update of The Boy Friend, Dames at Sea or Thoroughly Modern Millie, but with the Man in the Chair’s post-modernist commentary. Speaking of a tall, dominatrix-appearing beauty (Aleka Emerson) in tight period aviator’s pants, he muses, “She’s an aviatrix (two-beat pause), what we nowadays call a lesbian.”

Audiences who think they know the show will be surprised at how Merry-Go-Round producing director Ed Sayles has sharpened and revamped the concept. Torontonians Bob Martin and Don McKellar started out to provide entertainment for a groom’s stag party in 1998. Co-scripter Martin really was marrying Janet Van de Graaff, and those names are attached to the romantic leads of the show we see. When the wedding guests were crazy for the skits, composers Lisa Lambert and Greg Morrison were brought in to come up with music that sounded like the era of Vincent Youmans or DeSylva, Brown and Henderson. Chaperone went on to the Toronto Fringe Festival, becoming an unprecedented smash. Martin created the role of The Man in the Chair for himself so that he could appear on stage, in effect, twice, a role he retained in the May 2006 Broadway opening. 

In Auburn, Chaperone grows from being an aggrandized series of skits into a fully staged production. Sayles has banished the shabby bedroom and replaced it with a comfortable set by Rob Andrusko that could be modeled on a top-end apartment on Park Avenue. The Man in the Chair now sits or struts in front of the curtain, both at left and right, while the action unfolds more or less independently behind him. He may still control the show, as by moving the needle back in the groove to replay some action, but mostly the silly plot unfolds at will.

There is, of course, no such historical show from 1928 as The Drowsy Chaperone, nor did full cast productions and 33 1/3 rpm LP recordings appear for a long while after that time. But even casual musical-goers will recognize the milieu, themes and motifs from such golden oldies that are still performed, like Anything Goes or No, No Nanette. The title is wonderfully suggestive. Chaperones in America were only found among the moneyed classes, and if the old girl was drowsy, it means the youngsters are freer to get into mischief. This time the chaperone (Julie Cardia) is not only drowsy but tipsy, ready to enjoy forbidden liquid pleasure during Prohibition.

The plot, such as it is, has leggy showgirl Janet Van de Graff (Bethany Moore) giving up her job with Feldzieg’s Follies, to marry handsome oil tycoon Robert Martin (Michael VanGemert). Hulking producer Feldzieg (Brad Nacht), always seen with his Gracie Allen-like bimbo Kitty (Jenny Long), is under threat by two gangsters employed by his chief investor. They are two short, pun-happy thugs (Michael Munoz and Bryan Plofsky) who want to stop the wedding so that Janet will have to rejoin the company and save the investor. In his own futile attempt to stall the wedding, Feldzieg employs a bumbling Latin lothario named Adolpho (Bruce Warren) to seduce Janet. Disoriented, Adolpho mistakenly seeks out other female members of the wedding party.

As this cat’s cradle of plot lines tightens, we also get something resembling dramatic tension between the bride and groom. Robert, wearing a blindfold, is approached by Janet speaking in a barely detectible French accent, and Robert agrees to kiss her. So did Robert think he was kissing another woman? Horreur!

While Martin and McKellar wanted to spoof the paper-thin conventions of a bygone era they also reveal the strength of such jerry-built story lines. Every single character, even those not yet cited, exists to grab the spotlight or steal a scene. Even George (Danny Gardner), the comic best man, gets a share of gags and scores in a duet with the groom, “Cold Feets.” An empty-headed rich woman, Mrs. Tottendale (Sandra Karas), and the Arthur Treacher-sounding butler (Geno Carr) trade sharp repartee like a vaudeville duo on their own track. They also light up the stage in the first act’s “Fancy Dress” and “Love is Always Lovely” in the second.

Director Sayles, famous for his attention to casting, knew what he could get out of Karas and Carr, who have been company favorites over many summers. Likewise, leggy Bethany Moore, who was sexpot Ulla in the The Producers, invests Janet with such energy (not to mention splits in the dance number) that she begins to seem like a person rather than a cipher. Similarly, Bruce Warren takes hammy Adolpho to the max, a brilliantly contrived portrait of a skilled comedian spoofing a clumsy actor overacting.

As Merry-Go-Round has spelled out in several news releases, the company that has been billing itself as “Broadway in the Finger Lakes” is about to become the springboard for a full-scale musical theater festival. Think of it as a singing-and-dancing “Stratford in the Finger Lakes.” Given the superlative production values of The Drowsy Chaperone, Corinne Aquilina’s music direction, Lori Leshner’s choreography, Adam Frank’s lighting design and Travis Lope’s period costumes, the venture looks like a secure investment of local treasure and expectations.

This production runs through June 30. See Times Table for information.