The Drowsy Chaperone: Two Thumbs Up

I am not the theater nerd in my family. That wonderful title goes to my middle sister, Lydia, who is in high school and is part of the International Thespian Society. (When she first told my dad this he thought she said something else entirely). So by not being the theater nerd I for one have never been to a showing of any kind at the Donald D. Shook Fine Arts Building on campus. I only venture into that building to see the latest art show or when I wanted to cut through to warm up during the bitter cold winter months.

This all changed on Tuesday when my sister said to me that The Drowsy Chaperone was playing at my school and she heard it was good. Now I trust my sister with her opinion. If she says a movie or book sucks I will not read it. If she gives it a positive review, 95% of the time I will listen to her. After all, she is my younger sister and I have to be stubborn sometimes. So on a whim we went to the theater. I was able to get my free ticket, yes I said free, ladies and gentlemen if you are a student at SCC you get a free ticket to showings. You can't beat that if you are ever at school one evening and your car happens to break down and someone won't be able to pick you up for about two hours.

We sat down in the freezing cold theater, the one absolute downside of the entire experience. Some of those classrooms get cold that I have been wise enough to bring a jacket on occasion. I was not prepared for that theater, take one of the coldest classrooms and turn it down about another 20 degrees and you are now in a meat locker otherwise know as the Center Stage Theater!

I won't ruin the premise of the play for you because it was so funny. I watch a lot of "comedy" in movies and television and this didn't even come close to it. Above and beyond my expectations. I was laughing and then I was crying because I was laughing so hard. The tag line is, "a musical within a comedy," but you sort of peer into this guy's life who is a very pronounced musical theater nerd and he comments on the musical that plays out before your eyes. The musical sort of pokes fun at the generic musical, which if you go to the theater or have ever been a part of it, you would definitely appreciate. There is a lot of humor that isn't tailored to just musical fanatics as well. I have seen a few plays here and there so I got some of the jokes, but the overall premise was hilarious. I was laughing so hard in some parts I can't even remember what was so funny about it now!

Image of curtain from LunaNYXstock.

There have been very few times where I have wanted to go see a play twice, in fact it has only happened once before in which my sister Lydia was assistant stage manager in her high school play, Is He Dead?, but I feel that on Sunday I might just go see it one more time for kicks. It might take some more convincing to go see the dramas but I am hooked for SCC's musicals and comedies. I will definitely be visiting again in the future.