This transcript was automatically generated and might contain errors.

[0:01] Jeffrey Scott Parsons: I used to joke that we had more fun working on that show than people should be allowed to have and still get paid for it.

[0:21] Jeffrey Scott Parsons: Welcome, everybody, to A Musical Theatre Podcast, where we discuss the cultural and emotional impact of some of our favorite musicals in theater history. My name is Jeffrey Scott Parsons. You can call me Jeff. Today, we are talking about THE DROWSY CHAPERONE, which was a listener request, first of all, from Morgan. She requested the show over a year ago. It was so interesting. I received the request and then put out feelers to different guests to see if they would be interested in talking about the show, and I couldn't find anybody. Everybody I talked to, at least, said, yeah, don't really want to talk about that one. So then I put it toward the bottom of the list. Then, not too long ago, I got a second listener request from Hannah.

She had just got done doing the show with her theater company. She played THE CHAPERONE. She said that they did the show during COVID with masks on and everyone was socially distant, but even with these less than ideal circumstances, the show was amazing. And this is what she had to say about DROWSY CHAPERONE. The main reason why DROWSY is so important to me is the main reason of the show. And the best that we can do is hope a bluebird will sing his song as we stumble along. To me, she writes, this means that no matter how bad things get, as long as we can find that one positive thing that makes us happy, everything will be alright as we continue our way through life. Knowing this, this show is so relevant to everyone during these scary times that we seem to stumble through. But if we can all find our own little bluebird, things should turn out alright. Isn't that sweet, Ken?

[1:57] Ken Werther: That is incredible. I love that.

[2:01] Jeffrey Scott Parsons: Thank you, Hannah, so much for being so sweet and thoughtful in your request. Long story short, too late, Morgan and Hannah have both requested the show, so now I was like, alright, we have got to find the perfect guest. And I did! Ladies and gentlemen, I mean, you're basically a man in chair at this point, right, Ken?

[2:22] Ken Werther: Oh, I absolutely am.

[2:26] Jeffrey Scott Parsons: It's our own man in chair. It's Mr. Ken Werther, everybody.

[2:30] Ken Werther: Hello, everybody.

[2:33] Jeffrey Scott Parsons: Now, Kenny, you're a dear friend of mine, and I'm so grateful that you're on the show. You also have a really beautiful little connection to The Drowsy Chaperone, because you were there at its American inception.

[2:43] Ken Werther: I was indeed.

[2:48] Jeffrey Scott Parsons: So at this point in Los Angeles, you were working for Center Theatre Group, which is a big organization in downtown Los Angeles that does a lot of premieres, a lot of out-of-town premieres before shows go to New York. And what were you doing for them? You were working...

[3:03] Ken Werther: I was working in the press office. I have a long history with CTG. And then along came this pre-Broadway, prior to Broadway musical. And its original title was A Gay Wedding.

[3:18] Ken Werther: It's true.

[3:21] Ken Werther: And of course, there's a very funny line in the show where the man in chair is describing the musical to the audience, and he says, whatever it is, fun, mayhem, and a gay wedding. And then he stops, and he looks out into the audience, and he says, of course, gay wedding had a different meaning back then. They actually struggled with the title, and sort of begrudgingly settled on The Drowsy Chaperone. The night the show closed in L.A., which happened to be Christmas Eve 2005, I cannot believe this thing was 15 years ago, I had a conversation with actually someone you know quite well, my friend David Elzer, who is also a publicist in town. And I saw him on Christmas Eve, and I had just come from the final performance at the Amundsen, and I was telling him how the audience reacted and how much they loved it, and what pandemonium there was at the stage door immediately following the performance. And I was sort of bemoaning the fact that we had trouble selling it, and that the critics had been, the reviews were good.

[4:39] Ken Werther: The reviews were very, very good. Pleasant, maybe.

[4:43] Ken Werther: Yeah, I think your word is right. Very pleasant reviews. The thing that motored the show through the rest of its six-week run after it opened and got reviewed was word of mouth. Audiences were having a ball. I think it's impossible to go to The Drowsy Chaperone if it's a solid production and not smile the whole way through.

[5:07] Jeffrey Scott Parsons: Absolutely.

[5:08] Ken Werther: Which is exactly the type of show where you then go out and tell somebody.

[5:12] Jeffrey Scott Parsons: Right.

[5:14] Ken Werther: And as a publicist, you know, my war cry is it doesn't matter how much money you spend on advertising, there is no better publicity than positive word of mouth. That's really what sells tickets, and producers know that, but here's my point. I'm infamous for talking around the point. I was bemoaning this problem to David Elzer, and he said to me as a marketing maven, as I like to call him, he said to me, Kenny, you can't really be surprised that you had trouble selling a show called The Drowsy Chaperone. He said, the word drowsy is death. You're subliminally telling your audience you may fall asleep. I guess, you know, and I have to be honest, I had never thought of that, and we didn't really talk about it in the office. I mean, I left that final performance so sad, not because of what we're talking about really, but because I had to say goodbye to everybody. And believe me, they were not all like that.

[6:32] Ken Werther: I cannot say the same for all.

[6:35] Ken Werther: No, I cannot. I mean, I don't want to name titles nine to five, the musical, but it, you know, there were ones that ended up not being all that much fun, leap of faith. So, yeah. Listen, I'm going straight to hell. You know, if poor Raul Esparza hears this, he's not going to be very happy. If Raul Esparza is listening to this, call me. We'll have a conversation.

[7:08] Jeffrey Scott Parsons: That's fantastic. By the way, you don't work for Center Theater Group anymore.

[7:12] Ken Werther: No, I do not.

[7:13] Ken Werther: No, I do not. I left there in 2009, which was four years after The Drowsy Chaperone, but I did have the pleasure in 2006 of going to New York for some business reason. I forget what now. And I got to see the show on Broadway, which was exciting. That was only the second show in my career that I had worked on on the West Coast prior to Broadway that I got to see on Broadway. And in fact, the other one, which was Sweet Charity starring Debbie Allen, I was actually at the opening night, which was so exciting.

[7:51] Jeffrey Scott Parsons: That's two for two in my book.

[7:53] Ken Werther: That's pretty awesome. Yeah. I've been a lucky guy in my career. I should, you know, while I'm joking about shows that weren't so much fun, I should be clear. I have no complaints.

[8:05] Jeffrey Scott Parsons: That's beautiful. I saw The Drowsy Chaperone all by myself in New York as well. It was my New York showcase trip for college. All of us seniors went and did the showcase for agents and stuff, all of whom were very nice and said, call us when you move here. Cause like, what are they going to do for us? Anyway, while we were there though, I was like, I want to see The Drowsy Chaperone. I treasure my experiences where I go into a musical and I know nothing about it. And that was the case with this little show. It had just opened. It seemed like it was getting, like you said, good word of mouth. And I didn't know what it was about or any of the songs. So I was like, I have to go to this one. I get a ticket.

I believe from TKTS for the matinee. I show up the sweet woman. Who's the usher takes me to my seat. And as she's like guiding me down the aisle, she goes, have you heard? We're a hit. She was like, so proud of the show. And I loved that she had some ownership of it, that she's like working on it in front of house. It just felt like a family in a very real way. I smiled throughout the whole thing. And I don't know if I want to say this last part, who knows if I'll include it into the episode, but afterward I was at the stage door because I wanted to get signatures from everybody. And, and on my right was this little gaggle of gays who were, who were gossiping about all of the shows on Broadway.

And then somebody else on my left Sutton Foster this and Sutton Foster that and like just spouting off facts so that everybody could hear. And I looked at myself like from outside myself and thought, what am I doing right now? And it was the last time I ever waited around at the stage door for autograph.

[10:00] Ken Werther: Oh, but did you get them?

[10:01] Jeffrey Scott Parsons: No, I left.

[10:02] Ken Werther: You left.

[10:04] Jeffrey Scott Parsons: Yep. Very grateful. Not judgmental. I didn't feel sad or angry. It just felt like it was this moment of growing up.

[10:12] Ken Werther: You know, that's really interesting because I had an experience like that in my career. It's a stupid story and has nothing to do with the drowsy. It actually has to do with the musical curtains, which I also worked on prior to Broadway. Very fun. And interestingly, just as long as it comes up, that show got less enthusiastic reviews than the drowsy chaperone and did more, did better business.

[10:40] Ken Werther: Wow. Now, David Hyde Pierce was in it, of course, and he went on to win a Tony award for his performance. Karen Ziemba. Shout out.

[10:48] Jeffrey Scott Parsons: Oh, love her.

[10:50] Ken Werther: But the drowsy chaperone of course had no, well, it had a few sort of names like Georgia angle was in it. I should put thing is dead. Now I shouldn't call her a sort of name, but the show had legends, but not necessarily celebrities. How about that?

[11:07] Jeffrey Scott Parsons: Right.

[11:08] Ken Werther: And Sutton Foster was a huge star to theater people, but this was before her two television shows and everything else that she's done.

[11:15] Jeffrey Scott Parsons: That's true.

[11:16] Ken Werther: Sutton Foster, unbelievably beloved by her fans.

[11:21] Jeffrey Scott Parsons: Oh, and she should be.

[11:23] Ken Werther: It's true. And, and her story is so crazy, as you know, about being the understudy. It's like that story. Nobody, you know, you think it's never really a true thing that happens to people, but she was an understudy and they fired. Well, they, you know, they didn't say they fired her, but they fired the lead actress and she stepped in and won a Tony award and became a star.

[11:48] Jeffrey Scott Parsons: Thoroughly modern Millie.

[11:49] Ken Werther: Yep. She has a thing with the twenties. Tell you that.

[11:51] Jeffrey Scott Parsons: She does indeed. So in order to really talk about the history of the show, we actually have to go to Canada.

[12:02] Ken Werther: That's right.

[12:03] Jeffrey Scott Parsons: This beautiful little love letter to American musical theater was created by a bunch of Canadians.

[12:10] Ken Werther: Yes, absolutely true. As a wedding gift, Bob Martin, full name, Robert Martin was getting married to his wife, Janet Vandegraaff. Now, if you know the musical, these names sound very familiar. They are literally the names of the two lead characters within the musical, the drowsy chaperone sidebar, the drowsy chaperone for those who don't know is a musical within a show, right? We're watching this man, man in chair, listen to one of his favorite old shows, the drowsy chaperone. And as he's listening to it in his apartment, the show comes to life and we're able to see both him listening to it and telling us what's going on in the show, as well as see it play out in his living room. It's this wonderful piece of theater magic.

So within that show, the two lead characters are Robert Martin and Janet Vandegraaff, who are based on this real life couple who are getting married and their friends as a wedding gift decided to write a dirty little musical version of a 1920s show to celebrate their wedding. That was the first incarnation of the drowsy chaperone. It then got expanded and workshopped. They introduced the show within a show idea with man in chair, who was then played by who?

[13:36] Ken Werther: Bob Martin.

[13:38] Ken Werther: Bob Martin. It blows my mind. The levels of like meta that are happening here.

[13:44] Jeffrey Scott Parsons: Yep. It catches the eye of a couple of producers and then that's how it finds its way to Los Angeles. Now, am I kind of missing anything? Is there anything you want to add to that?

[13:54] Ken Werther: No, that's really what happened.

[14:02] Ken Werther: Most people don't know is that the word drowsy means a little tipsy. Yes, not just sleepy, which is what we think of it now. Another word would be like the boozy chaperone. The exactly right. At one point she says champagne makes me drowsy. Why would anyone put olives in a Gibson? Anyway, so many great lines. Oh, my God. Oh, my God. But that's what happened. Yes, that's what happened. The score is written by Lisa Lambert and Greg Morrison. The book was written by Bob Martin, aka Man in Chair, aka Robert Martin, the groom, and Don McKellar. Now in the time it took from it becoming a wedding gift to a Broadway musical, these friends also created a television show and I just have to take a moment to shout out slings and arrows because if you haven't seen this television show, oh my gosh, this television series, which was a Canadian TV show, it has three seasons, all about a Shakespearean repertory company in Canada, you must, must see it. It's absolutely delightful. Have you seen it?

[14:58] Jeffrey Scott Parsons: And mind you, I did not know anything about it at the time.

[15:01] Ken Werther: Really? When you were working on Drowsy?

[15:03] Jeffrey Scott Parsons: I had no idea what a Bob Martin was when I first, you know, when I first met him and, and people kept saying to me, oh my god, Bob Martin, Bob Martin, slings and arrows, Bob Martin, and I'd be like, uh...

[15:14] Ken Werther: It's a terrific series and gets you so jazzed about classical theatre. If there is an antagonist in the show, it's the people who are trying to invade the Shakespearean festival with musical theatre. Which is just fantastic.

[15:27] Jeffrey Scott Parsons: Hence, hence, something rotten, but that's a whole other conversation.

[15:30] Ken Werther: That's another episode.

[15:31] Jeffrey Scott Parsons: Right. What I would love to do before we start going through the show is to spend a little bit of time talking about the type of musical theatre that the Drowsy Chaperone, the musical within the musical, is both poking fun of and celebrating. Now, in order to do that, we got to go back to World War I, which seems kind of strange, but stick with me. Up until that point, the main musicals on Broadway were reviews and operetta, which was all essentially European, European composers. World War I happens, that kind of gives birth to the princess musicals. The princess musicals got their name from the Princess Theatre, which was a smaller theatre. It had actually less than 300 seats and a smaller stage, a smaller backstage.

It wasn't big enough to house those huge operettas and those huge review shows. The new generation of American musical theatre composers stepped up and said, let's write new little musicals that will be perfect for the Princess Theatre. The most famous of those composers is Jerome Kern, who revolutionized pop music at the turn of the century and eventually wrote Show Boat. He started writing, and other people soon joined, writing these little musicals that maybe had two sets instead of the huge chorus and multiple locations the operettas did. So much so that when the 1920s come around, there's this explosion of new material. And The Drowsy Chaperone, the show within the show, is pretending to be one of those shows.

They're very specific in the script. The Drowsy Chaperone is from 1928. So I went back in time and looked at how many musicals came out in the 1927-1928 Broadway season. Do you want to guess how many?

[18:04] Ken Werther: You tell me.

[18:05] Jeffrey Scott Parsons: 51 new musicals on Broadway.

[18:09] Ken Werther: Come on.

[18:11] Jeffrey Scott Parsons: 51. Most of them are forgotten. Good News was one of them. I know Good News. But so many of these I've never heard of before. Bottom Land. Keep your jokes to yourself. The Manhattaners, a la carte, Footlights, My Maryland, Half a Widow, Enchanted Isle, The Mary Malones. I mean, it just keeps going on. Sidewalks of New York. There's very little information about any of these shows.

[18:47] Ken Werther: That's wild.

[18:48] Jeffrey Scott Parsons: Other than we know some of the tropes. Some of the tropes were mistaken identities. Every show ends with a wedding. You know, like all of these little hallmarks, and many of them are on display here in The Drowsy Chaperone.

[19:04] Ken Werther: They are indeed. Now, the production The Drowsy Chaperone was directed and choreographed by Casey Nicholaw, who at this point hadn't really made his name as a director. He had been the choreographer for Spamalot. And I think we all saw Drowsy Chaperone and went, Oh, wow, I think maybe a lot of the great ideas in Spamalot were his.

[19:25] Jeffrey Scott Parsons: Not to belittle Mike Nichols.

[19:27] Ken Werther: I mean, he's no...

[19:29] Jeffrey Scott Parsons: No slouch either.

[19:30] Ken Werther: No, exactly. But this is one of the funniest, most creative directors and choreographers we have in terms of modern musical theater. He not only did this show, but he did The Book of Mormon, Aladdin, Mean Girls. I mean, he's a really busy guy.

[19:48] Jeffrey Scott Parsons: Yeah, he sure is. When the show opens, like you said, in 2006, it gets nominated for the most Tony Awards out of the entire season, which is incredible. It wins Best Book and Best Score. It doesn't win Best Musical, it loses to the juggernaut Jersey Boys.

[20:11] Ken Werther: Exactly.

[20:12] Jeffrey Scott Parsons: Which, I'll say this because you're giving me the platform.

[20:17] Ken Werther: Yeah, go for it.

[20:18] Jeffrey Scott Parsons: I have my own history with Jersey Boys, a very loving and beloved history with Jersey Boys. I met one of my best friends working on Jersey Boys at the Amundsen in 2007. However, I always felt that the Drowsy Chaperone got robbed of the Best Musical Tony, because if you look at what the parameters are for what makes a show the best musical of a season, if you put those two shows side by side, which one's more creative? Which one's more imaginative?

[21:04] Ken Werther: Well, Drowsy Chaperone certainly is incredibly creative. I was having a hard time even explaining how layered it is. I would probably push back a little, though, and say that Jersey Boys changed the game for contemporary musicals, because up until that point, the jukebox musicals had been trying to either just be reviews like Smokey Joe's Cafe, or create fictional story to then put the music of a certain catalog into that story.

[21:34] Jeffrey Scott Parsons: Mamma Mia.

[21:35] Ken Werther: Yeah, Mamma Mia all shook up. Whereas Jersey Boys decided to tell the story of the people who actually wrote the music. And since then, Beautiful, there have been so many other shows that have become huge, huge hits because it broke that ground.

[21:51] Jeffrey Scott Parsons: You're right. You're absolutely right. Interestingly, and I, you know, again, me and my big mouth, for which I am famous, the current Broadway hit Ain't Too Proud, the story of The Temptations, it did play Los Angeles. I wasn't working on it, of course, but it did play Los Angeles before it went to New York. And I saw it, my buddy Todd and I went to see it. And we both really enjoyed it. But on the ride home, I said to him, you know, that show is kind of Jersey Boys with The Temptations, that the structure of the show and again, not meaning to talk crap about Des McAnuff. I don't I mean, listen, he's responsible for Jersey Boys. Yeah. But I felt like he took everything that worked in Jersey Boys and threw it into Ain't Too Proud. The structure of the show was almost identical. But anyway, I'm off the subject as usual.

[22:50] Ken Werther: Interesting. At the same time, though, you can see how if it ain't broke, by all means, use it to spotlight some people of color.

[22:59] Jeffrey Scott Parsons: Well, oh, well, yes. And interestingly enough, you know, that's a very good point. And also, you know, just prior to Ain't Too Proud, Des directed the Donna Summer musical.

[23:14] Ken Werther: Right, right, right, right.

[23:15] Jeffrey Scott Parsons: And it did not fly.

[23:17] Ken Werther: Yep.

[23:18] Jeffrey Scott Parsons: And I never saw it. I wanted to see it when it opened in La Jolla. But I did something. I've always kind of regretted this. I did something that I always bitch at other people for doing. And that is I read a really bad review in the LA Times. And I decided not to spend $110. I did what the general public has a tendency to do that I'm as a publicist. I'm always like, why would you read? Why would you? If you want to go see something? Why would you not go just because somebody you don't even know said so? You know, I've spent a career as a publicist telling people, you have to keep in mind that it's only one person's opinion. And I was a bad boy. So I didn't see it.

[24:06] Ken Werther: But speaking of the Donna Summer musical, and LaChanze, The Color Purple was also the season of The Drowsy Chaperone. So the other Best Musical nominees were The Color Purple, which is also a beautiful show and probably was underappreciated in its time and got much more attention and acclaim in its revival with Cynthia Erivo. And also The Wedding Singer, which for all of its faults has one of the best opening numbers in all of musical theater.

[24:36] Jeffrey Scott Parsons: And the best closing number.

[24:38] Ken Werther: Oh, true. True. There are some great numbers in that show.

[24:41] Jeffrey Scott Parsons: Yes, there are some great numbers in that show. And I agree with you. Totally underrated. And you know, let's not forget Laura Benanti. I mean, hello, come on. She used to joke, she'd say the name of the show and somebody would applaud and she'd say, you're the person that saw that show. No, actually, she used to joke like that about women on the verge of a nervous breakdown.

[25:05] Ken Werther: Saw it. Can't wait to do an episode about it.

[25:07] Jeffrey Scott Parsons: Oh, okay. Okay. I love talking to you. But we got to move on or else we're never going to get through this.

[25:13] Ken Werther: Yes, please. I'm bad. You know I'm bad.

[25:16] Jeffrey Scott Parsons: No. For all those listening, Ken and I have gone to lunch many a time and it has turned into lunch and dinner.

[25:23] Ken Werther: Yeah, absolutely.

[25:25] Jeffrey Scott Parsons: So the show wins a couple of awards, including, like I said, best book and best score as well as Beth Leavel, who played the chaperone, the drowsy chaperone herself. And it runs for about 700 performances, which is not a huge, huge hit. But my goodness, it is a healthy run.

[25:45] Ken Werther: You know, what's interesting, too, is that on the calendar, 700 or 693, whatever the actual number is, is a year and a half. I mean, it's somehow, you know, somehow a year when you say a year and a half, it sounds like a lot more than 693 performances or even 700 performances. You know, it's weird.

[26:05] Jeffrey Scott Parsons: No, it's so true. And also, we're in a time where nothing's a huge hit unless it's around 10 years, right?

[26:12] Ken Werther: Right, right.

[26:13] Jeffrey Scott Parsons: But it has been done regionally. I've seen it regionally. And I, you know, according to our listeners, it is a much beloved show. So let's go through it, shall we?

[26:24] Ken Werther: Yes, let's. Absolutely.

[26:26] Jeffrey Scott Parsons: All right. The show opens in total darkness, right? The lights don't even come up. We just hear the voice of a middle age man kind of bitching about theater.

[26:37] Ken Werther: The first line of the show is, I hate theater. Which, if that line got a big laugh, you knew you had a great audience. Home free right away.

[26:48] Jeffrey Scott Parsons: Well, one of the reasons I personally love this show so much is that it is very nuanced in terms of how people who love musical theater have to deal with all of the things that make it theater, for better or worse, right? And right from the get go, Man in Chair is telling us, I'm that dude.

[27:10] Ken Werther: That's right.

[27:11] Jeffrey Scott Parsons: I love theater so much that I will pay the $110 to go see the show. But right before the overture starts, I'm terrified that it's going to be horrible.

[27:22] Ken Werther: And please, God, no audience participation.

[27:25] Jeffrey Scott Parsons: You stay on that stage where you belong. I didn't pay all this money to see the fourth wall come crashing down.

[27:36] Ken Werther: This writing is fantastic.

[27:37] Jeffrey Scott Parsons: Oh, it's amazing.

[27:38] Ken Werther: So the Man in Chair, which is what he's known as throughout the whole show, we don't even know his name. He tells us that when he is feeling down, or as he says, blue, he will listen to his records, his cast albums. Boy, oh boy, do I know that one. And instead of reaching for something that everybody knows like the Music Man, he reaches for the 1928.

[28:04] Ken Werther: The Drowsy Chaperone. And he knows that nobody in the audience has heard of it, obviously. So he pulls out the record, and he says, I would love to play it for you now. He's addressing the audience, which is interesting because there's no fourth wall. So he puts on the record and the overture starts. And when the show comes to life, it literally comes to life in his living room. The refrigerator opens and the whole little apartment transforms into this Broadway set and stage. Once again, smile on your face, can't take it away. Such a great idea. Yeah, such a great idea. The concept is just golden. And so the show begins. It's the day of a wedding, and we start meeting all of the characters who are part of this wedding.

First of all, we meet Mrs. Tussendale. Yeah, that's her name. She's older. She doesn't hear very well. It was originally played by Georgia Engel from The Mary Tyler Moore Show, who, of course, always had this little voice and didn't ever talk above this. And so to see her in a theater was just... Oh my God, you sound just like her. Well, thank you. Who knew I had a Georgia Engel? Look, I can't do Carol Channing, but my Georgia Engel is pretty fantastic. She also has this assistant named Underling. And is he like her butler? Yeah, he's the butler. Now, what's really fun about Man in Chair is that as he's explaining the plot to us, he's also explaining the behind the scenes of it all. We get to know not only these two characters in the show, we get to know the actors who were playing these characters.

And these two people were like vaudeville stars. They were a duo who always did sketches and songs and dances in vaudeville. And so they have kind of been plucked from that art form and shoved into musical theater. And so in this show, they keep coming out and doing these little one-offs in the same way that vaudeville would have been. Next up, we meet the groom, Robert, who we have, of course, talked about, Robert Martin. He was played by this actor named Percy Hyman, who was... I think I just realized that his last name is Hyman. I've seen the show a lot, and I just realized that right now. Isn't that funny? Ridiculous. So Percy Hyman was a star in advertisements for toothpaste, right? Yep.

And in the show, his best man is George. Next up, we meet Mr. Feldzig, and he is like a Florence Ziegfeld. In fact, if you kind of reorganize his name, Feldzig is actually Ziegfeld. He has his dumb blonde named Kitty, and she's really trying to become a leading lady and is hoping that she can do so because the bride, the one who's about to get married, has been Mr. Feldzig's leading lady, and now she's leaving the business in order to be, you know, just a demure wife. Next up, the gangsters who are posing as what? Bakery chefs. Pastry chefs. Bakery chefs. Oh, brother. Now, were these guys actually brothers? They were. Like in the cast, in the production. In real life. That's crazy. Garth and Jason.

How do you even find that? That feels like a needle in a haystack moment. You know, I don't actually know, to be honest. You know, I actually became kind of friendly with Jason. He's actually been in Los Angeles a few times with a very fun and clever nightclub act that he does. So I've helped him out a little bit with PR. But yeah, not twins, just brothers. They were so much fun. Now, the reason they're posing as pastry chefs is because they're actually gangsters trying to shake down Feldzig for money. Right. Then we have the grand entrance of the bride herself, Miss Janet Vandegraaff. Here to marry Robert Martin. Played by, of course, Son Foster. She has a chaperone who is there to, you know, make sure that she behaves.

Unfortunately, the chaperone is lit. Am I late? What a fantastic character. I mean, the chaperone is Man in Chair's favorite character, as she should be, because she's everything you want in a musical theater diva. A little boozy, very dry, and yet willing to completely wear a heart on her sleeve in a huge ballad. Let me just stop you quickly to give you a couple of little fun tidbits about that character, or I should say about the actor, Beth Leavel. Beth and Casey went way back. Casey was a performer.

[33:16] Ken Werther: Casey the director. Yeah. He and Beth were friends for a long time. He knew that she was perfect for this role. And he campaigned for her with the producers. And what the producers initially wanted was a so-called star in that role because the title was so problematic. They thought maybe they could. If we have Patti LuPone. Right. As the drowsy chaperone. And I think the one actress that I was aware they had been talking to quite a lot, who I think would have been fantastic, is Andrea Martin. She'd be great. However, watching Beth Leavel in this show was like watching a masterclass in musical comedy performance. It was so over the top and yet not offensively so. No, it's chewing the scenery in the best way.

In the best way. There's no way you would watch this performance and go, Oh, my God. And when on that famous Christmas Eve that I mentioned a little while ago, I said to her, I've been telling this story for 15 years. I said to her, I'll see you in June on television when you're accepting your Tony Award. And she said, No, no, don't. I don't even know. Don't say don't. I said, You'll see. And of course, she won. And they cut to during her acceptance speech, they cut to Casey Nicholaw, who was crying. Oh, and I called her. She lives in New Jersey. I called her home and I left a message on what in those days was still a machine. And I said, Hey, Beth, it's Ken Werther in Los Angeles. I just wanted to say, told you so.

Congratulations. Yeah, yeah. I mean, that you want to talk about a Tony Award winning performance. That was one. Yeah. No, that's like a quintessential featured actress home run. Yep. That's fantastic. So, yeah. What a fun memory. Thank you for sharing. Yeah, the show is loaded with them. I got to tell you.

[35:48] Ken Werther: Okay, so the next step, we have Trix, the AVA Trix, who is the only person of color in the entire freaking show. She basically comes on and says, I'll see at the end when they when they tie the knot. Oh, and I forgot Adolfo, of course, who is just I mean, now talk about chewing scenery. Oh, my God. Absolutely brilliant. But like, I'm not even sure why he's at the wedding. You know what I mean? Like, he's obviously there for comedy relief in this musical. But like, there's no dramatic reason for this crazy character to show up. No, no, you're right. I never thought about that. It's true. What is he doing there? He was this Italian guy who was known for playing all of these different ethnicities, all of which had offensive accents.

The man of a thousand accents, every one of them offensive. This is what I'm talking about. This show is able to really talk about what it means to love musical theater and also grapple with the fact that there are some really racist parts of its history. Oh, my God. You know, that line when Robert Martin and George are going to dance at the beginning of the show? Yeah. And Robert starts to dance and George says, Wow, where'd you learn that? And Robert says, Oh, it's a step an old Negro taught me. Oh, my God. Of course, it's a joke. That was the whole idea of it. Making fun of every single convention of musicals.

[37:25] Ken Werther: Yeah, right. That are absolutely part of its origins. We can actually talk about this right now because I think there are other shows that have tried to do this and have aged really poorly. Thoroughly Modern Millie being one of them. Dames That See Another, in which they're trying to poke fun at the horrible racist things that we used to do in this art form. But in recreating them and encouraging an audience to laugh at them, it feels like it's still racist. And I've had friends say to me that they don't think Drowsy Chaperone should be produced because there are these moments that almost celebrate offensive stereotypes by encouraging people to laugh at them instead of really take stock in the harmful effects and consequences of them.

I totally see what they're saying. And I think the difference with the Drowsy Chaperone versus, say, Dames That See and Thoroughly Modern Millie is that we have the man in chair in Drowsy. We have somebody from present day and we see them and hear them judging the stereotype, right? Whereas those other shows take place in that time period. So there is no perspective from modern day to look back on it and be like, this is problematic and this is what we used to do. So how many times that you've been in or choreographed and directed Dames That See, were you asked to remove Singapore Sioux? I've done it. I've done it four times, half of which Singapore Sioux was taken out. And I think it should always be taken out.

Ken Werther has a philosophy that he tries to live by. Now I'm talking in the third person like that idiot that used to be in the White House. Good humor makes all things tolerable. And as serious a problem, you know, as has finally risen to the top about racism in this country, I think we always as humans have to be able to laugh at some piece of it. Obviously, there's a lot about it that is not, well, none of it's funny, but I just feel like you have to be able to have a little chuckle. Look, humor is at the top of my list in terms of coping mechanisms. It does allow us to explore things that might otherwise feel scary and unspeakable. I do think that as things become more speakable, we have to readjust and decide, who are we putting it on for?

I think that in theater, we have a really skewed audience in terms of white people. So to be encouraging a lot of white people to laugh about racism, maybe isn't the most effective thing. You know what I mean? If we had more of a diverse audience and we could all get together and laugh about it, maybe that's less problematic. But I do think that Drowsy is as close as anything I've seen in really finding the right approach to being accountable for what is in our past and also laughing at it.

[41:00] Jeffrey Scott Parsons: Very well put. I must say, I couldn't agree with you more with regard to the evolution of things as things change and more information does come to the fore, which brings to mind, as long as we're talking about this now, the intermission gag in this show. For everybody who doesn't know, the Drowsy Chaperone, in terms of us going to see the Drowsy Chaperone, is a 90-no, no intermission. But within the show, the 1920s show, it does have an intermission. During that moment, when the man in chair goes to use the bathroom, I think, his record changes and it starts playing this other show that is very reminiscent of the King and I type musical that's pointing out how archaic and skewed and wrong so many of those musicals were. And it's doing so by also incorporating the actors from the Drowsy Chaperone into that show.

[42:05] Ken Werther: Right. Now, again, this was 15 years ago. That same Christmas Eve, I got into a real set-to with David about that sequence, that moment. He insisted that it was offensive and there was no way around it. I remember being so distressed with that notion. I argued with him, would I be so quick to be that dismissive today? I'm not sure. I'm not sure. I still think, well, looking back on it, let me say, the memory of it is still very funny to me, let me put it that way. It is to me as well. I totally recognize that I'm a white privileged person. Maybe I don't even have an argument to make in this arena. As I've listened to the music and kind of gone through it again, are there moments that could be dialed back a little bit?

Absolutely. Does the song that is playing during that moment need to be so stereotypical? Maybe not. Do they need to hit it so hard? Maybe not. You know what I mean? It's a line that keeps changing the more that we learn and listen, and I hope that we do.

[43:36] Jeffrey Scott Parsons: Yes, I agree with you. Just recently, I think, well, say in the last year during quarantine, when I would be laying in bed at night when I should have been sleeping and I was scrolling through YouTube, I kept finding full productions of The Drowsy Chaperone that were done at one high school or another or one college or another, and at least two that I remember watching cut out that gag. And you know what, as you're sitting there saying it and you're talking about a high school production, I don't think I'd want high school kids to participate in that. I really wouldn't. Also, if you didn't ever see it, you wouldn't know, obviously, you wouldn't know you were missing anything. It's a complete non sequitur.

[44:27] Ken Werther: Right. This is a great conversation. Thank you so much for being willing to have it. I know it gets tricky.

[44:31] Jeffrey Scott Parsons: Oh, my God. I'm sure we're going to hear from some of your listeners that have plenty to say about what we're saying.

[44:38] Ken Werther: Absolutely. And they absolutely have every right to. I hope I do hear from them.

[44:44] Jeffrey Scott Parsons: I hope you do, too. So back to the show. After the opening number, after we meet everybody, we have a cute little tap number called Cold Feets, which is Robert and George. Once again, at its best, it's a sweet little tap number. At its worst, it's evidence that white people stole tap dance from black people. Then this is the moment where we see the man in chair in his apartment start receiving phone calls. And he kind of uses it to liken it to when somebody's cell phone goes off in the theater. Like, don't you just hate it when a phone interrupts a theatrical experience, which is exactly what's happening on stage. So he just lets it ring so the answering machine will pick it up. It's not the only time that it happens in the show.

We then go to Janet, who, of course, like we said, is this star, but she's giving up showbiz to marry Roberts. The actress who was playing Janet Vandegraaff was known as the Oops Girl. Like, she was a big star because in all of her movies, she was so gorgeous that a man would wreck his car and then the camera would cut to her and she'd go, oops, you know. So that's her whole thing. And she does this amazing number called Show Off, in which she says, I am through with show business. I don't want to show off. I just want to get married, and then proceeds to show off for the next four minutes, including cartwheels and splits and quick costume changes and juggling. And I mean, it's everything. Ventriloquism. Ventriloquism. Every little gag you could want in a number. It's fantastic.

[46:28] Ken Werther: Now, here's a little piece of trivia for you.

[46:31] Jeffrey Scott Parsons: Please.

[46:31] Ken Werther: During the final rehearsal room run through of that show, Sutton broke her wrist.

[46:37] Jeffrey Scott Parsons: You're kidding.

[46:38] Ken Werther: Doing that number.

[46:40] Jeffrey Scott Parsons: Doing all of the cartwheels?

[46:41] Ken Werther: I'm sorry. I'm sorry. It wasn't that number. It was an accident waiting to happen, which comes up after that. Yeah. And of course, everybody went hysterical because the first preview, I mean, they were just about to move across the street to the theater. And, you know, that was another fun thing about working on that show. They built it in, you know, down the hall from my office.

[47:01] Jeffrey Scott Parsons: Oh, wow.

[47:02] Ken Werther: So, you know, talk about being a musical theater queen. It was just amazing to, you know, watch this thing get built from the ground up. And I remember that that run through thinking, oh, my God, this show is a hit. This is like amazing. Yeah, she slipped and she fell backward and she, of course, put her hands out to catch herself and she snapped a small bone in one of her wrists. And so she did the first I forget how many previews we did before the critics came in. She had a cast on her arm.

[47:40] Jeffrey Scott Parsons: Wow.

[47:41] Ken Werther: And she was a trooper. I mean, you know, as Maggie Jones says in 42nd Street, she's a trooper. Put an ace bandage on it. You know, I mean, she literally it was amazing. And the only thing she couldn't do for like a week was this sort of handstand, this arm twirl that she did. But once her wrist was OK, she went right back to doing it.

[48:03] Jeffrey Scott Parsons: Gosh, dang it. Good for her. Quick sidebar, which I there are so many sidebars in this episode already. I directed a show and a girl came in, you know, and it was in like a rehearsal room with mirrors. And I specifically made sure that the tables were situated so that the actor didn't feel like they were staring at themselves in the mirror while they were giving the audition. And a girl came in and she's like, I've prepared show off from The Drowsy Chaperone. I was like, awesome. Can't wait to hear it. She starts performing the number and keeps looking at herself in the mirror like she can't help it. It's the facing the other way. But she keeps turning to like look at herself. And I don't think that it was a choice. But I think if it had been a choice, she may have gotten the role because that's brilliant. You sing show off and then you literally can't stop looking at yourself in the mirror. That's fantastic.

[49:01] Ken Werther: Yeah, that's a riot. Now, Feltzig is realizing, OK, she's really serious. She's going to leave show business. I need to find a way to convince her not to leave. So he employs Adolfo, who is, of course, this ridiculous Latin lover, to seduce her so that she breaks off the wedding. Cue the vaudeville couple who comes out. It has nothing to do with the plot, as do many of these sorts of things in old shows. They're just there to make the audience laugh. Tottendale and Underling come on and do this kind of who's on first comedy bit with spit takes. And Tottendale just keeps doing spit takes into Underling's face. The man in chair hates that scene.

[49:52] Jeffrey Scott Parsons: Yes. Right. Which I have moments like that in old shows as well. I like, oh, I love this show, except for that part. By all means, can we fast forward?

[49:57] Ken Werther: Yeah. Now we are in the bridal suite where Janet isn't sure if she can really go through with the wedding, which allows the drowsy chaperone, her, you know, her confidant and mentor to step forward and sing an anthem. And for the actress playing the drowsy chaperone, it was in her contract that she always got to sing a big anthem. And so she sings this big belty song as we stumble along. The anthem works and Janet realizes that she needs to find out if Robert really does love her. The chaperone says, whatever you do, don't go wandering through the garden seeking out your fiancé to ask him the question upon which your future happiness depends. And then that's exactly what Janet does. Then Adolfo comes in and thinks that the chaperone is the bride, which once again proves that he has no reason being at the wedding.

He doesn't even know who the bride is. And because he thinks that the chaperone is the bride, he begins to seduce her in this song called, appropriately, Adolfo. Cut to the end of that number. She sleeps with him. The end. That's great. Now, when Janet goes searching for Robert, he is very concerned about not seeing her because it's, of course, bad luck to see the bride before the wedding. So he has put on a blindfold, but he also wanted to go roller skating. So now he's roller skating with a blindfold on singing a song called I'm an Accident Waiting to Happen, which is exactly what happened in the rehearsal room. And that's when Sutton Foster broke her wrist. The irony on top of irony is absolutely.

So Janet finds Robert and pretends to be a French woman, mistaken identity, in order to test him to see if he will be true to her. He, of course, is drawn to her because she's actually his bride and they kiss and she is heartbroken because he cheated on her with her. Skipping to the end of this act, we have the pastry chefs who come in and help us get into Toledo Surprise, which how would you describe this number? I think they work for some big investor in the show or something. There's some crazy connection there. But, you know, they've been hired to shake him down. And so they've come back to say, you know, well, you know, I haven't heard that she's not getting married yet. And so, you know, and to try to save himself, he teaches them a dance step called well, the song that goes with the dance step is called Toledo Surprise.

It's really quite funny how quickly the pastry chefs fall for the ruse. It's like they get carried away being performers. And that's when the whole thing becomes a big rousing musical number. Everybody's doing the choreography. Everybody's doing it. And then Aldolfo comes in and announces there's no wedding because he slept with the bride. And then Feldzig looks and sees the chaperone and says, that is not the bride, you idiot. And says the wedding is off. The wedding is on. Then Janet comes running in and says the wedding is off. And why? Because Robert kissed a French girl. Her name is Mimi. She's very beautiful, which is also a very funny thing. Then all of them get into the Toledo Surprise song and dance.

And then, you know, there's the conflict for the first act curtain, because now it's like, is the wedding going to happen? Is the wedding not going to happen? It's just, oh, my God. Oh, it's such happy memories. Act one comes to a close in terms of the drowsy chaperone. Once again, we don't take an intermission. Act two begins with one of my favorite moments in the whole show. I put a monkey on a pedestal. Now, when the man in chair introduces the song, which is Janet mourning the fact that her wedding isn't going to happen, he says, the tune is lovely. Ignore the lyrics. The lyrics are terrible. And she begins to sing, I put a monkey on a pedestal, which is just the most silly thing you've ever heard.

Now, in the CD booklet and possibly in the souvenir program as well, they really took advantage of the opportunities for creativity and created liner notes for the actual show within the show. And within that, there's a whole little written statement from the composer of that show, Sidney Stein, and it's entitled How I Came to Write the Drowsy Chaperone. It says, I met Abe Flom at P.S. 137 in Brooklyn in 1910. He was a skinny little fellow, not much to look at, never said much or called attention to himself. But one thing he always did possess in abundance was a profound lack of talent. So it happened, dear reader, this one fine day in the summer of 1926, Abe Flom, researching a novel at the monkey house of the Bronx Zoo, slipped on a banana peel, the back of his cranium making fatal contact with the concrete steps underfoot.

But he left behind in his moth-eaten briefcase a slim, unfinished volume inauspiciously titled Honeymoonin' to Do. It was at first glance, like Abe himself, not much to look at. Yet in this hapless hugger mugger, however, there were the germs, and I do mean that in every sense of the word, of the components of a promising musical. And he goes on to say that Monkey in a Pedestal is an

[56:07] Jeffrey Scott Parsons: Welcome back to A Musical Theatre Podcast! Today, we are diving into the whimsical world of "The Drowsy Chaperone" with our special guest, Ken Werther.

[56:37] Ken Werther: Thank you for having me, Jeff! I'm excited to talk about this delightful musical.

[57:07] Jeffrey Scott Parsons: "The Drowsy Chaperone" is such a unique piece. What do you think makes it stand out in the realm of musical theatre?

[57:37] Ken Werther: I think it’s the way it pays homage to the musical theatre genre while also being a bit of a parody. It’s sweet, goofy, and has a lot of heart.

[58:07] Jeffrey Scott Parsons: Absolutely! And the characters are so memorable. Do you have a favorite character from the show?

[58:37] Ken Werther: I have to say, I love the Drowsy Chaperone herself. She’s such a fun character, and her antics really bring a lot of humor to the show.

[59:07] Jeffrey Scott Parsons: She definitely adds a unique flair! The way the show breaks the fourth wall is also quite clever.

[59:37] Ken Werther: Yes, it really engages the audience in a way that feels intimate and personal. It’s like you’re sharing a moment with the narrator.

[1:00:07] Jeffrey Scott Parsons: Speaking of the narrator, the Man in the Chair is such a pivotal role. What do you think about his journey throughout the musical?

[1:00:37] Ken Werther: His journey is fascinating because it reflects the audience's own experience with musicals. He’s not just a narrator; he’s a fan, and his love for the show is infectious.

[1:01:07] Jeffrey Scott Parsons: That’s a great point! The emotional connection he has with the music really resonates.

[1:01:37] Ken Werther: Exactly! It’s a love letter to the genre, and you can feel that passion in every moment.

[1:02:07] Jeffrey Scott Parsons: And the music itself is so catchy. Do you have a favorite song from the show?

[1:02:37] Ken Werther: I really enjoy "As We Stumble Along." It’s such a fun number, and it captures the essence of the show perfectly.

[1:03:07] Jeffrey Scott Parsons: That song is a highlight for sure! The humor and the message about life’s unpredictability are so relatable.

[1:03:37] Ken Werther: Absolutely! It’s a reminder that we’re all just trying to navigate through life, and sometimes we stumble along the way.

[1:04:07] Jeffrey Scott Parsons: Well said! The show also touches on some deeper themes, like love and friendship. How do you think those themes are portrayed?

[1:04:37] Ken Werther: They’re portrayed in such a light-hearted way, but they still carry weight. The relationships between the characters are genuine, and you can see the love and support they have for one another.

[1:05:07] Jeffrey Scott Parsons: That’s true! It’s a perfect blend of comedy and heartfelt moments.

[1:05:37] Ken Werther: Exactly! It’s what makes "The Drowsy Chaperone" so special. It’s not just a funny show; it’s also deeply emotional.

[1:06:07] Jeffrey Scott Parsons: And the production elements really enhance that experience. The set design and costumes are so vibrant!

[1:06:37] Ken Werther: They really are! The visual aspects of the show complement the storytelling beautifully, creating an immersive experience for the audience.

[1:06:51] Jeffrey Scott Parsons: It’s a feast for the eyes as well as the ears!

[1:07:07] Ken Werther: Absolutely! And I think that’s part of what makes musical theatre so magical.

[1:07:37] Jeffrey Scott Parsons: Well, Ken, thank you so much for sharing your insights on "The Drowsy Chaperone." It’s been a pleasure having you on the podcast.

[1:08:07] Ken Werther: Thank you for having me, Jeff! I had a great time discussing this wonderful musical.

[1:08:37] Jeffrey Scott Parsons: And to our listeners, thank you for tuning in! Be sure to join us next time for more conversations about the musicals we love.

[1:09:07] Ken Werther: Don’t forget to rate and follow the podcast!

[1:09:37] Jeffrey Scott Parsons: Yes, please do! It helps us reach more musical theatre fans. Until next time, keep celebrating the magic of musicals!