I was lucky to get tickets to the last preview of THE DROWSY CHAPERONE on Saturday April 29! Boy, it was so exciting to sit in the Marquis and think, hey, this show started in Toronto and now it's about to open on Broadway! I was soooooo proud!

I won't go into great detail since the Masked Theatregoer already had his say in a previous post, so I'll just say that I had a really great time! The theatre darkened and as soon as the "Man In Chair" started speaking I was instantly transported back to 1999 at Theatre Passe Muraille. The sound of his voice was instantly recognizable! It is and it isn't the same show.

It's bigger and better, and I love the way "Man In Chair" isn't stuck in his chair anymore! But at it's heart it's still the same, which is a good thing. Bob Martin is brilliant, just brilliant. And I got to see Sutton Foster on stage again (I saw LITTLE WOMEN, but I'll never forgive myself for not seeing THOROUGHLY MODERN MILLIE) and boy that girl has pipes and legs! The whole cast is superb, and I especially enjoyed Beth Leavel as the Drowsy Chaperone. Oh, and I loved seeing Georgia Engel (boy, can that girl spit!).

I was looking at the Opening Night photos from Broadwayworld.com and Don McKellar, Lisa Lambert, Greg Morrison, and Bob Martin all have big silly grins! And I recognized Bob's wife, Janet Van de Graaf from all sorts of Canadian TV ads!

The reviews have been varied -- from absolute raves (Variety, Kamal Al-Solaylee at The Globe & Mail) to mixed (Ben Brantley at The New York Times) and not so nice (Clive Barnes at the New York Post and USA Today), but this is a word of mouth show, and all the mouths at the performance I saw were open wide, laughing, and smiling.

Technorati tags: Broadway Music Movie Musicals Musicals Blog Blogs Theater Theatre Entertainment