Never-off-stage, his reactions as he sings and dances along with the stars, don’t distract us from the musical’s action yet maintain our attention all the same as he wryly comments on the music, story and actors. It is Ashwood, however, who anchors the show as the gentle, but giddily-gleeful musical aficionado Man in Chair.
And Katilyn Burton brings a lot of laughs to the archetypal ditzy blonde role of useless chorus girl Kitty, who hopes to take Janet’s place in Follies, especially in Kitty’s clueless mind reading act revelation to Feldzieg as to his feelings towards her. Rice is also particularly noteworthy in his perfectly-embellished performance as the fabulously debonair bridegroom Robert, a self-confessed ‘Accident Waiting to Happen’. Of the most over-the-top character appearances amongst the madcappery, it is Thomas who commands our attention as Aldolpho storming on stage to tango ‘I Am Aldolpho’, clearly relishing his every hammy moment as the faded Latino lover. Clearly anything can happen in the nonsensical storytelling of the Cole Porter sort being parodied. There’s even an aviatrix (Vivien Wood) and jovial vaudevillian-style saboteur gangsters (Aaron Anderson and Astin Hammermeister) who double as pastry chefs in aim to ensure the wedding doesn’t occur so Follies will happen with Janet and be a financial success. It’s quite the line-up of two-dimensional characters brought to exaggerated life by the talented cast. In the B plot, desperate Follies theatre producer, Feldzieg (Nathaniel Young) plots to sabotage the wedding plans through the introduction of wacky Latin lover Aldolpho (Christopher Thomas).
And here-in lies the extent of the flimsy central conflict… the challenge of keeping the fiancées apart on their wedding day. The carefree friend, confidante and chaperone (Vanessa Rainwright), whose drowsiness comes from drinking champagne, is always eager to steal spotlight from pampered Broadway starlet, Janet Van De Graff (Carly Wilson), who wants to give up showbiz to marry oil tycoon Robert Martin (Rhys Rice) at the fabulous Long Island estate of the aging and absent-minded Mrs Tottendale (Jacqui Cuny). The quirky Tony award winning musical’s title comes from one of cast of characters gathered for a prohibition-era wedding, introduced in the initial, rollicking number ‘Fancy Dress’. It’s all very meta in a marvellously exuberant and entertaining way. It is natural, therefore, that he wants to share its joys and so as its first record crackles into an overture we find ourselves watching the show within a show unfold in the living room of the man’s dreary, accompanied by his animated commentary about its actors and characters, plot credibility and musical numbers.
This is especially the case when it comes to the decadent fictitious 1928 show “The Drowsy Chaperone” even though he’s never seen it on stage, its rare two record cast recording is one of his favourites. Our earnest narrator of sorts, however, loves musicals, considering it a treat to disappear into them when feeling blue. We know this from the very first tongue-in-cheek words that come out of his mouth. The lonely Man in Chair (Brad Ashwood) who addresses the awaiting audience from the downed houselights start of “The Drowsy Chaperone” hates the theatre, especially long shows whose momentum is disrupted by pesky intervals and fourth wall breaks.
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