The Drowsy Chaperone: deliciously ridiculous!
Photos:
PIC 1 Arden MacAlpine is fitted by costume mistress Melissa Boicey and expert seamstress Susan Irvine.
Photo: Raya Boicey
By Eleanor Crowder
There’s going to be a wedding! No, the wedding is off! No, the wedding is on! Wait, there are four weddings! Spoofing the end of the silent film era, The Drowsy Chaperone, a Canadian hit musical, went on to Broadway, winning a Tony in 1998. In rehearsal since last September, GNAG Theatre’s production runs April 9 to14.
What does it take to put a musical onstage? The kids in the cast will tell you. An awful lot of practice! True. Veterans of GNAG Theatre will say the pleasure of getting stage-ready is when practice itself becomes more and more fun. 186 hours of rehearsal X 13 kids, six teens, 23 adults and a six-member creative team = 8,928 hours of fun! Before an audience even sees us!
I asked some of our actors about that investment of time and energy. What’s their experience? Here’s what they said.
Rod Hagglund enjoys “the camaraderie of the actors, the energy of the kids, the fun of learning harmonies, dance moves and lines, the excitement of the audience, the focus of building a world together. What sucks you in and keeps you coming back is that moment when you feel the character’s emotions rush through you.”
What brings Arden MacAlpine the most joy is “when our fantastic music director finally says we got it right after weeks of working on challenging harmonies! The hardest part is holding myself together and not bursting out laughing mid-scene.”
John Wolfraim loves the sense of community. “Everyone is so welcoming and supportive, and out to have fun. Hardest is pairing the dance with the singing. By now we’re through the train wreck phase! The best part about this show is the characters. They are so over the top.”
Josh Shanbaum adds: “The language of the show is hilarious, on point and quick witted. It is very satisfying when we pull it off and a big laugh in rehearsal when we don’t.”
Agatha Alstrom returns every year “because I love the people, they become great friends. We have a lot of young folks in our GNAG musicals, and I love to see them develop from being very shy to very confident! The hardest moment is when production week is over – I never want it to be over!”
Carol, who is new to the cast this year, told us how the repetition and demands of rehearsal have changed her life. A concussion in 2013 left her struggling with migraines, cognition and memory. She was leading almost a monastic life. She auditioned, completely outside her comfort zone, as part of a radical new therapy prescribed by her concussion clinic. Their approach sends her in to busy social settings. She has seen significant improvement. She says: “Community theatre is incredibly welcoming. I am surrounded by such creativity, talent and collaboration in the cast and crew.”
According to Canterbury student Isabelle Desmarteau, “I come back to perform with GNAG Theatre every year because of how caring and loving everyone in the cast is. A month or so into rehearsals, everyone is like a big family.”
Leonore Evans’s family has always loved singing and dancing, but this is the first time that any of them are in a musical. “There are five of us; my brother, sister, my sister’s two kids and myself. We will likely be singing these songs together for years to come.”
Agatha Alstrom exclaims, “A musical that pokes fun at musicals! We guarantee our audience a good time.”
Adds Erin Hetherington, “The Drowsy Chaperone is two hours of pure joy – something we all need in our lives, now more than ever.
Eleanor Crowder has been directing GNAG shows since 2001. Catch her work with Bear & Co. at The Gladstone Theatre (www.bearandcompany.ca).
