THE DROWSY CHAPERONE Brings Energy and Fun to BPA, Now thru 5/24

Bainbridge Performing Arts (BPA) presents THE DROWSY CHAPERONE, running tonight, May 8 - 24, playing Fridays & Saturdays at 7:30 p.m.; Sundays at 3:00 p.m. Industry Night: Monday, May 18 at 7:30 p.m. Pay-What-You-Can Preview: Thursday, May 7 at 7:30 p.m. Opening Night Reception: Friday, May 8 at 6:30 p.m.

Winner of five Tony Awards (including Best Book and Best Original Score), THE DROWSY CHAPERONE is a loving send-up of the Jazz-age musical featuring one show-stopping song and dance number after another.

With the houselights down, a man in a chair appears on stage and puts on his favorite record: the cast recording of a fictitious 1928 musical. The recording comes to life and the show begins as the man in the chair looks on. Mix in two lovers on the eve of their wedding, a bumbling best man, a desperate theatre producer, a not-so-bright hostess, two gangsters posing as pastry chefs, a misguided Don Juan, and an intoxicated chaperone, and you have the ingredients for an evening of madcap delight.

THE DROWSY CHAPERONE is a masterful meta-musical with a show-within-a-show plot that pokes fun at all the tropes that characterize the musical theatre genre. BPA Executive Director Dominique Cantwell says, "the show is pure energy and fun - those who haven't heard of it yet will leave never wanting to forget it!"

Director Joanna Hardie, Musical Director Josh Anderson, and Choreographer Debbie Pierce lead a bewitching cast of BPA veterans and newcomers, including Nelsen Spickard, Marybeth Redmond, Gary Fetterplace, Ryan Bohannon, Ryan O'Donnell, Jalyn Green, Zandi Carlson, Ben Cournoyer, Joey Chapman, Luke Walker, Colleen Gillon, Ellen Dessler, Michelle Abad, Heather Dawson, Emily Kight, Whitney Mayer, James Sgambati, and Cailin Mackenzie.

THE DROWSY CHAPERONE appears at BPA today, May 8 - 24, with shows Fridays and Saturdays at 7:30 p.m. plus Sundays at 3:00 p.m. and an Industry performance Monday, May 18. A special Pay-What-You-Can Preview will be held Thursday, May 7 at7:30 p.m., and the Opening Night Reception is Friday, May 8 at 6:30 p.m. Tickets, $27 for adults, $22 for seniors, and $19 for students, youth, military, and teachers, may be purchased online at www.bainbridgeperformingarts.org, by phone at 206.842.8569 or in person at BPA, 200 Madison Avenue North, Bainbridge Island. BPA Box Office hours are 1:00 to 4:00 p.m. Wednesday through Friday, and one hour prior to each performance. THE DROWSY CHAPERONE is produced by special arrangement with Music Theatre International.

BPA is supported, in part, by Bainbridge Community Foundation and One Call for All.

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