The Beacon Monday, April 4, 2011
By Kelsey Satalino
Staff Writer
T o provide a temporary
cure for his blues, a lonely
Broadway enthusiast with a
passion for 1920’s musicals
plays an old record of his fa-
vorite musical. Suddenly, the
musical comes to life on stage.
The Man guides the audience
through the story of the wed-
ding of successful show girl,
Janet Van De Graaff, and her
oil tycoon fiancé, Robert Mar-
tin. There is trouble, however.
Feldzieg, who Janet works for,
wants to keep her from giving
up her life on the stage and
tries to sabotage her upcom-
ing nuptials. What follows is a
hilarious musical comedy full
of mix-ups, mistaken identity,
and general fun.
This is the premise of Palm
Beach Atlantic University’s
theatre department’s adapta-
tion of the Tony-Award win-
ning musical, The Drowsy
Chaperone.
The show is directed by
associate professor of the-
atre Don Butler. Butler has
directed past PBA produc-
tions Nunsense, South Pa-
cific, and Damn Yankees.
For Butler, this musical will
feature a great number of
surprises. “Surprise is the
central strength of this play,”
said Butler. “Everything we
have done has been in service
of that word, every set detail,
piece of lighting, the actor’s
decisions.”
The cast and crew have had
their fair share of challenges in
bringing the musical to PBA.
“This has been a huge under-
taking for PBA,” said stage
manager Jen Manor. “We’re
attempting to do things we’ve
never done before.”
This is the first musical that
has ever been performed in
the new Fern Street theatre,
causing concern over the
acoustics of the venue. The
stage itself is a different de-
sign from the last two perfor-
mances held in that theatre.
The show will be performed
on a thrust stage, with the au-
dience surrounding the stage
on three sides.
In addition, this show will
feature more dancing than
any other show the theatre
department has ever done.
“We do have several really
good dancers,” said Butler,
but getting the dancing to
look flawless has been a huge
task.
However, the cast and crew
have been putting in a lot of
time and effort into the pro-
duction. Butler also praises
the work of the show’s chore-
ographer and PBA alum, Liz
DeMarco, adding that she is
“really good with non-danc-
ers.”
Despite the hurdles, the
cast and crew clearly love the
show. “This cast has so fallen
in love with this show; they’re
just having a ball,” said Butler.
“When you can tell the cast is
loving the show and loving
each other, it shows. It’s a very
close-knit group.”
Besides being a fun show
with elaborate dance num-
bers, the heart of the show
lies in the Man’s love for the
theatre. “Ultimately what it’s
about is a celebration of what
we do. It’s a lonely little guy
who sits in his living room
and takes out records and
plays them,” said Butler. “It’s
his favorite show because he
just loves the musical comedy
form. He says in the show, ‘It
does what a musical is sup-
posed to do; it takes you to
another world. And it gives
Charlotte Rakestraw / Graphics Editor
features 5
you a little tune to carry in
your head…A little something
for when you’re feeling blue.’
That’s why we all do it.”
This love of the stage is
something that the cast and
crew can relate to. “It’s able
to present the love and joy
someone can have for theatre,
just the passion it evokes in
a person,” said Manor. “The
whole show is truly about this
man’s love for theatre.”
“Theatre gives you the op-
portunity to understand an-
other person and portray
them on stage to share their
story,” said Daniel Schwab,
who plays Adolpho. “This
storytelling capability is also
something I love about the
theatre.  There is really noth-
ing like theatre to share a sto-
ry for whatever purpose one
might have.  There is a magic
within the theatre that cannot
be found anywhere else!”