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News Release

Last modified: Wednesday, February 25, 2009

Five-time Tony Award-winning musical 'The Drowsy Chaperone' comes to IU Auditorium

WHAT: Broadway musical The Drowsy Chaperone
WHERE: IU Auditorium, 1211 E. Seventh St.
WHEN: Tuesday, March 31, and Wednesday, April 1, 8 p.m.
TICKETS: $37-$59 for the general public and $19-$40 for IU Bloomington students

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Feb. 25, 2009

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. -- The celebrated, multiple Tony Award-winning musical The Drowsy Chaperone -- a musical comedy that spoofs musical comedies -- is coming to IU Auditorium for a limited spring engagement (Tuesday, March 31, and Wednesday, April 1, at 8 p.m.).

This witty homage to the glittery stage shows of the 1920s is narrated by a beaten-down Broadway aficionado called simply "Man in Chair," who remains on stage throughout the production. The narrator escapes his dreary days by playing -- and replaying -- a recording of a 1928 stage musical titled The Drowsy Chaperone. As he listens to the scratchy sounds of his hi-fi, the musical magically bursts to life on stage, telling the tale of a pampered Broadway starlet who wants to give up show business to get married, her producer who sets out to sabotage the nuptials, her chaperone, the debonair groom, the dizzy chorine, the Latin lover and a pair of gangsters who double as pastry chefs.

"The Drowsy Chaperone is a fun night of theater -- and a very clever homage to the great early days of musical theater," said IU Auditorium Director Doug Booher.

The show-within-a-show is a pastiche of every clichéd plot thread ever written, including mistaken identity and gangsters on the lam. Watching from his armchair, Man in Chair is torn between his desire to absorb every moment of the play as it unfolds and to insert his own personal footnotes as he continuously brings the audience in and out of the fantasy.

George Pinney, head of musical theatre for the Department of Theatre and Drama, called his experience with this show "one of the funniest and joyous times" he has had in the theater. Man in Chair's love of The Drowsy Chaperone speaks to anyone who has ever been transported by the theater.

This inventive spoof debuted at the 1999 Toronto Fringe Festival. It made its way to Broadway in 2006, winning five Tony Awards, including Best Original Score, Best Book, Costume Design, and Scenic Design.

For more information, including audio and video clips visit, IUauditorium.com.

IU Auditorium

Since opening its doors in 1941, IU Auditorium has served as a university and community gathering place, hosting a diverse array of world-class artists, entertainers, musicians and lecturers in an opulent 3,200-seat theatre. The IU Auditorium Box Office is open Monday through Friday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tickets for all Auditorium events are also available by phone at 812-855-1103 and online.

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