You may have heard of a play-within-a-play but a musical-within-a-musical is another matter entirely. The Drowsy Chaperone, presented here by the Edinburgh University Savoy Opera Group, was awarded reams of Tony and Drama Desk Awards when it premiered on Broadway and has since, a bit like its subject matter, become something of a cult phenomenon. It follows the story of a host known only as Man in Chair. The Man in the Chair (or MC... see what they did there?) talks about all things Broadway, playing the soundtrack to his favourite musical - the Drowsy Chaperone - to the audience, explaining his love for the craft.
It’s a musical theatre aficionado’s dream, and EUSOG do well to pull it off. Vocally, the musical is sung to perfection, Roz Ford in particular belting her way through the score at a considerable volume, succeeding to drown out the rather loud band in a way most of her co-stars didn’t quite manage. As the fiancée of Frank Derrington’s Robert Martin, Ford’s performance as Janet van de Graaff is fantastic - a combination of wit and poise perfectly complimenting the rest of the action.
Where the show pulls itself down is in its simplicity. It feels as if the choreography and the direction have been kept basic in order to guarantee the cast have little chance of making a mess of the whole thing. That in itself is fine - the old maxim that it’s better to do something simple right than something complicated wrong still stands - but it’s a shame in the show’s most famous song Show Off, when Ford isn’t actually given much opportunity to do so. Nobody is really expecting Sutton Foster’s famous performance, featuring backflips, quick changes and cartwheels, but something a bit more daring than what was presented wouldn’t have been a bad move. That said, Ford’s vocals in themselves showed off enough to allow for a hearty cheer from the audience, both in her encore and at the end of the song.
This is a very competent and strong performance of a well-loved musical, that deserves all the praise it can get. Performances across the board are strong and there is no weak link pulling the production down. Some cast members shine in individual sections, and there is nothing lost in the comedy by keeping it simple, ultimately that is what this musical sets out to do - make you laugh. And laugh you shall.
