The Drowsy Chaperone

Well, Caprian you have done it again in presenting a show I haven’t seen before that was great fun, very entertaining, and a Northern Premier. The fixed set was good, simple yet elegant, and the other scenes took place within this set, with effective lighting isolating them.

The casting was excellent. There were fourteen principal parts, some large, others small, and everyone gave a heart and soul performance. Stalwarts Carol Bannerman, as Mrs Tottendale, and Ernie Wilson, as Underling, gave us mature, humorous characters, while Russel Rafferty and David Charlton were a pair of funny “Runyonese” style gangsters. Helen McKenry was well cast as Kitty, the star to be, as was Simon Webb as the agitated and frustrated show director Feldzieg. Further humour came from Simon Devlin as an excellent Rodolpho, I just loved his accent.

Andrew Howe looked good and sang well as Robert Martin, while Lyndsay Kellegher looked amazing and gave a faultless performance as Janet Van De Graff. Steve Nichols, as George, the funny and flustered best man, was great and always looks so natural on the stage. The star for me, however, was Kevin Riley as Man in a Chair. He was awesome, giving an outstanding performance and engaging the audience throughout with a skill not a lot of actors possess. His wit and facial expressions had the audience in stitches.

The music in the show was catchy and well executed by both the singers and musicians, and the costumes were fabulous. Undoubtedly, a first rate evening’s entertainment.

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