Lyric’s ‘Chaperone’ takes you to a happy place

By Rich Fahey

BOSTON – “The Drowsy Chaperone” is the right show at the right time.

The musical now at the Lyric Stage Company of Boston is a fast, funny, frothy concoction of music and dance that delights in its own silliness and ends up delighting the audience as well. It won 2006 Tony Awards for Best Score — Lisa Lambert and Greg Morrison’s toe-tapping songs – and Best Book, Bob Martin and Don McKellar’s original and funny ode to the Depression Era Busby Berkeley musicals, also borrowing from other works.

At the center of it all is an Everyman whom we’ll call Man in Chair (the splendid Paul Melendy), who after a brief blackout at the beginning of the play – the fourth wall collapses in the opening moments as we become his friends and confidants – announces “I hate theater.”

He really doesn’t, but it’s part of the malaise that has gripped him, a “non-specific sadness” that has left him feeling blue.

He does detest shows where the actors come out into the audience, and then proceeds to plant himself in the audience’s faces for the entire show.

One of his cure-alls for the blues comes in immersing himself in the two-record set of “The Drowsy Chaperone,” a 1928 musical in the style of Busby Berkeley with a plot that’s lighter than air.

As the record begins to play, the story comes to life on stage and Melendy’s character frequently interrupts to deliver anecdotes about the stars, poke fun at the plot, or just eat and drink.

“Chaperone” is a chance for some of the area’s finest actors to go over the top with their cartoonish characters. There’s dashing, upright would-be groom Robert Martin (Jared Troilo), rollerskating his way into your heart, hot to trot to marry the sultry actress/ingenue  Janet Van De Graff (Joy Clark).

Janet is keen on marrying Robert and then retiring from the stage, which is bad news for producer Feldzig (Damon Singletary), who is depending on Janet and whose girlfriend Kitty (Kristian Espiritu) sees herself replacing Janet.

George (Mark Linehan) is the harried best man charged with overseeing the details of the wedding, which is to be held at the estate of Mrs. Tottenham (Carolyn Saxon), a doddering widow with a head of household named Underling, with a hilariously droll portrayal by Todd Yard.  

Maureen Keillor is always a comic welcome presence and here she plays the title character of the chaperone, a constantly-tippling type – hence the name —  whose sole reason d’etat is to keep Robert and Janet apart before the wedding.

She still manages to get into trouble in the form of a Latin Lothario on steroids named Aldolpho (Christian Mancinas-Garcia), who boasts of his many sexual conquests in “Aldolpho.” He was supposed to find and bed Janet, but then…

The adroit casting by director/choreographer Larry Sousa brings together Ilyse Robbins and Kathy St. George as a couple of “pastry chefs” who are actually underworld types; cue the scene-stealing by the duo.

Sousa employs the tap-dancing skills of Troilo. Linehan and Yard in the knock-out production number “Cold Feet.” “As We Stumble Along” is another standout, the score getting a winning performance by Music Director Matthew Stern and his musicians.

The production details are up to the standard Lyric Stage has long since established. Cameron McEachern’s apartment gives Man in Chair space to work but has a generous open space to allow the production numbers to unfold, and, as is often the case, every inch of the intimate stage is used.  

John Malinowski’s lighting, Seth Bodie’s costumes and Alex Berg’s sound designs work hand-un-hand to bring the “show within a show” concept to life.

Ultimately, “The Drowsy Chaperone” is a love letter to the theater, and its ability to lift us out of a mundane and humdrum existence into another world where we can forget our problems and throw away the blues.

Let Melendy’s Man in Chair and his imagination take you to a happy place.

The Lyric Stage Company of Boston production of “The Drowsy Chaperone.” Music and lyrics by Lisa Lambert and Greg Morrison. Book by Bob Martin and Don McKellar. Directed and choreographed by Larry Sousa. Through May 12. Lyricstage.com.