OCEAN CITY — Travel back to the Roaring ’20s as the Ocean City High School Drama Guild presents “The Drowsy Chaperone,” a five-time Tony Award-winning musical set in 1928 amid the Jazz Age.
Director Rob LeMaire called the production a comedic look at the musicals of the early 1920s “done through the imagination of a person in his apartment.”
“He puts on an album and the musical comes alive,” LeMaire said.
The production stars Taylor Stauffer as the narrator (known as the Man in the Chair), Natalie Argento and Estelle Gimbel as Janet Van de Graaff, Charlie Costal as Robert and a cast of more than 40 students on stage with another 30+ behind the scenes in the stage crew, tech crew and pit.
LeMaire said the students are excited to get back to a normal production after the COVID-19 pandemic disrupted those over the past two years in a variety of ways.
“Last year we were able to get only 150 people in the audience; this year we will be able to pack the house,” he said.
LeMaire said the entire process has been much easier with all of the pandemic restrictions lifted.
“It will be a lot less stress for everybody. The restrictions — masks, distancing — was the right thing to do but caused a lot of stress,” he said. “With most of the cast inoculated or wearing masks when more comfortable we’ve really been able to grow the show and it’s come together remarkably well.”
The disruptions of the past two years factored into the production he chose, LeMaire said.
“For this show we wanted a big musical with a full pit and a lot of dance numbers, big sound,” he said. “The students are really excited.”
LeMaire noted it is not a well-known title and that the performers even poo-pooed it until they got into the piece.
“It’s comedic gold,” he said. “You can’t stop laughing. The dance numbers are fantastic and the music gets in your head.”
As the Man in the Chair, Stauffer is like the ring master of the “show within the show” that unfolds inside the apartment. It’s the tale of two lovers on the eve of their wedding and the lengths the bride’s employer will go to in his attempt to stop the ceremony for his own selfish purposes.
Other characters are the bumbling best man, not-so-bright hostess, gangsters posing as pastry chefs and a misguided Latin lover.
“The narrator pauses during the show, stops the record, explains about this actor or that actor — little fourth-wall breaks that are happening — as she narrates about the fictitious stars in the show,” LeMaire said.
Telephone calls continually interrupt the Man in the Chair’s enjoyment, giving Stauffer a chance to address the audience.
“He pauses to tell you about the show, tell you about all sorts of nonsense — random fun facts, his life, his ex-wife, his mother — whatever nonsense he wants to talk about,” said Stauffer, who was Penny in “You Can’t Take it with You” and Jordan Baker in “The Great Gatsby” during last summer’s Broadway on the Beach production but had never before been one of the leads.
“This is a dream role for me. A role that I love, love, love and I’m so honored to be playing,” Stauffer said.
The role is traditionally played by a man “but they cast me,” she said, noting she would stay true to the script.
Stauffer said the role provides her an opportunity to move all over the stage while interacting with the audience.
“I kind of run the show. They all gotta kinda stop when I stop it,” she said. “I get to talk with the audience, which is very fun, but I don’t interact with the other characters, which is interesting. It’s a very different role but a very fun role. I get to scream, I get to be sad. I get to feel a lot of things. I get to dance in my chair. A lot of freedom comes with this part.”
The eponymous Drowsy Chaperone (Michaela Belskis/Taylor Pontari) is just one of a cast of comical characters who conspire to thwart the wedding of the year, one that would result in starlet Van de Graaff leaving Feldzeig’s Follies.
Ocean City residents Natalie Argento and Estelle Gimbel swap shows as Janet.
Argento said she usually plays one of the love interests “so it’s really fun to do that as my last role.”
“Being the bride, she’s constantly confused on whether she wants to get married or not, so that’s fun to portray on stage,” the senior added.
Gimbel said it’s a new experience for her because she usually plays a more peripheral role.
“This is the first time I get to play a main part,” she said. “It’s a really fun experience to have.”
Charlie Costal, a junior from Upper Township, plays the tuxedoed groom-to-be.
“We’re definitely dominant in the relationship,” Argento said. “He falls in line really easily. We use the word ‘monkey’ a lot and he basically just clings to us.”
Costal said he was unfamiliar with the show, noting he has been participating in theater for about eight years.
“I had never heard of it when I started but I love it. It’s phenomenal,” Costal said. “It really goes to show how many shows nobody knows about because they weren’t on Broadway long. It’s amazing.”
He said it’s awkward telling people about it.
“‘You’re not going to know it, you just have to trust me that it’s good,’” he said he tells his friends.
Costal thinks it’s a good thing that the show is not well-known.
“It allows me to go in whatever direction I want with the character,” he said. “Because nobody knows it, I can make it my own.”
He said he enjoys singing and dancing but “this is the first show that I’ve had to tap dance. I had to pretty much completely learn how to tap dance, which was a great experience for me.”
Senior Marley Lind, who is double-cast with Gianna Molinari as Mrs. Tottendale, agreed with Costal.
“Not a lot of people know what it is so I hope we do a good job of getting the name out when we do it,” she said. “It is a lot of fun to be in. The dances are all fun, I love the cast and the guild. So, I’m happy to have this as my last show.”
Assistant Director Ellen Byrne, who is in charge of costuming among other things, said the show provides an opportunity for a history lesson on that time in America.
“Since it’s set in the ’20s, it allows me to teach them a little about what life was like in the era that they are playing because they are having to get into costume and see what it was like for people to get dressed. It’s such a part of our commonality,” she said. “They really experience what it was like to be a person of that era.”
Byrne said she works with a crew of four students, who learn to choose costumes that fit the role and the actor, how to measure, do fittings and alter clothing for the best fit.
“It’s an opportunity for me to work with them and educate them,” she said.
Other cast members are Vincent Piraino and James Craver as George; Elijah Watson and Ryan Mulraney as Underling; Christopher Katity and Robert Neville as Feldzeig; Callie Bellwoar and Vivian Maucher as Kitty; Olivia Schmidt, Lauren Knopp, Kristiana Bauer and Joey Mangam as gangsters; Nathanial Ginet as Aldolpho; Makenna Flemming and Siena Eden as Trix; Sophia Cione, Cadence Casas, Keira Reilly and Isabella Pero as reporters; and Jakob Pender and Madison Ferretti as Superintendent.
Jax Allison, Malia Belles, Erin Cantwell, Hailey Cavileer, Ava Dibabbo, Anthony Ginzberg, Lyla Ginzberg, Amanda Goudie, Ferguson Kurilko, Kariana Mora-Lloyd, Vanessa Newman, Olivia Roach, Noley Schenck and Avery Silva make up the ensemble.
Performances are scheduled for 7 p.m. Thursday, March 31, and Friday, April 1, and 2 and 7 p.m. Saturday, April 2, at the Bill and Nancy Hughes Performing Art Center at Ocean City High School.
Tickets are available at ocschools.booktix.com.
By CRAIG D. SCHENCK/Sentinel staff
