As a part of a welcome package to our neighborhood, we got Buy-One-Get-One-Free tickets to the Belk (the big theatre uptown [or is it theater? shouldn't I know this? I'm sure Christie can tell me. Help!]). I found out that The Drowsy Chaperone was coming - a musical that, honestly, I had only vaguely heard of. I tried to stay just as ignorant of it before we went because I wanted to be surprised and didn't really want to go in with any expectations.
When Chad and got there last night (about 2 minutes before curtain call because we forgot to get cash earlier for parking) we found that we were in the absolute last row of the balcony. I didn't really mind because we could still see everything that was happening on stage......that is, I didn't mind until.....
I started to wonder who was playing the main character. He seemed vaguely familiar, so I opened up my program and....JONATHAN CROMBIE! Since I am sure that name won't be familiar to most of you, it was GILBERT BLYTHE! I would have never guessed that it was him, because his voice sounded completely different, expect every once in awhile when he would say something like "about" or "sorry" and his Canadian accent would slip through. And all I could really see of him was a vague shape and a slightly balding head. It was still cool though. He did a wonderful job with his role.
The musical itself was a very pleasant surprise. It actually had good writing!! It was more "My Fair Lady" than "CATS". The songs were catchy and witty. It is a musical that pokes fun at musicals while still extolling their magic. Even Chad said, "That was a clever little play. About as good as musical can get" which doesn't really sound like a huge compliment, but from someone who is not a fan of the genre, it is.
I keep thinking about the songs and wanting to hear them again, especially one about how the heroine "put a monkey on a pedestal". Hilarious. If you have a chance to see this, do it.
And it is just nice to go out of the town for a night of theater (or theatre).
Oh, and that is a picture of Chad while we were waiting in line to get out of the parking garage.
