History Theatre / TheDrowsyChaperone

* JustForPun: Pretty much the existence of [[ThoseTwoGuys the two Gangsters.]]

* PornWithoutPlot: Invoked by Man In Chair, who notes that in both musicals and pornography, the plot is often secondary to the..."[[IsThatWhatTheyreCallingItNow production numbers]]."

** Quoth the Man In Chair: "He was the [[FakeNationality man of a thousand accents]]...[[UnfortunateImplications all of them insulting.]]"

* ArtisticLicenseMusic: The album the Man In Chair listens to purports to be a recording of “the complete show” as it was produced in 1928. However, cast recordings of Broadway shows didn’t really exist as a concept until Decca released one for ''Oklahoma!'' in 1944; prior to that—and the subsequent invention of {{LPs}}—only small snippets of musicals were recorded, since an entire score required six or seven 78 records and was somewhat impractical. Even assuming an album of the show was eventually made (e.g. a re-recording by a studio cast 30 years later), there is no way it would include every single line of dialogue as depicted.

* PungeonMaster: When it comes to this trope, the gangsters really ''take the cake!'' [[spoiler:...I'm so sorry.]]

* NarmCharm: Played with in-universe in "Bride's Lament". Janet's metaphor for her relationship with Robert, for some reason, refers to him as a [[EverythingsBetterWithMonkeys monkey on a pedestal]]. The Man in Chair doesn't mind it too much because he loves the score, but does say, "Try to ignore the lyrics." Yet he can't help but sing along to some of the song.

* BusbyBerkeleyNumber: "Bride's Lament", according to the Man in Chair, is "a little Busby Berkeley, a little [[EverythingsBetterWithMonkeys Jane Goodall]]."

For a more detailed plot, see Theatre/TheDrowsyChaperone's page on [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Drowsy_Chaperone The Other Wiki]].

''The Drowsy Chaperone'' is a musical which opened on Broadway in 2006, described by the TagLine as "[[ShowWithinAShow a musical within a comedy]]". The frame story is about a lonely man named..."[[NoNameGiven Man In Chair]]", who lives alone with his record collection. One day he feels blue, and so puts on a record from the 1920s - ''The Drowsy Chaperone''. The majority of the musical is the record itself, with comments interjected now and then from the Man to...[[AudienceMonologue somebody.]]

* AmbiguouslyGay: The Man in Chair. He [[LampshadeHanging lampshades]] it a few times, such as discussing his ex-wife and remarking on how it must surprise the audience that he has a wife. Some productions play him as merely metrosexual.

* AsianSpeekeeEngrish: There's an entire joke about a [[JapaneseRanguage "rady"]] and a man.

* BlatantLies: Janet gets a song's worth of them in "Show Off," most of which

* BSODSong: 'Bride's Lament' is about Janet breaking down as she chooses between her romance and her career.
* BusbyBerkeleyNumber: 'The Bride's Lament', according to the Man in Chair, is "a little Busby Berkeley, a little [[EverythingsBetterWithMonkeys Jane Goodall]]."

* IAmSong: The literally-titled 'I Am Aldolpho' is about (who else?) Adolpho singing about his womanizing reputation and huge ego.
* IrrelevantActOpener: [[JustifiedTrope Justified]] in the case of 'Message From A Nightingale', as Man In Chair [[SorryILeftTheBGMOn accidentally put the wrong record on.]]

%% * SillyLoveSongs: 'Love is Always Lovely in the End'.

* TemptingFate: After 'Show Off' "ends".

--> '''Janet''': I don't want to encore no more!

The story of ''The Drowsy Chaperone'' is about the wedding of Janet van der Graaff and Robert Martin. Janet has doubts about her feelings towards her fiancee, and when she comes across Robert conveniently blindfolded, she pretends to be a [[EveryoneLooksSexierIfFrench French woman]] and seduces him into kissing her. Of course, HilarityEnsues as she confronts him about this kissing. Along the way, various other characters end up with marriages that they [[AccidentalMarriage may or may not want]], forcing best man George to arrange four marriages when he had originally only planned on one. [[BigLippedAlligatorMoment Then a plane flies in, and they all get married and go to Rio!]]

* AffectionateParody: Of the Jazz Age, and musicals in general.

* AmbiguouslyGay: The Man in Chair. He [[LampshadeHanging lampshades]] it [[HaveIMentionedIAmHeterosexualToday several times]].
** Though some productions play him as merely metrosexual.

* ArentYouGoingToRavishMe: The Chaperone during "I Am Aldolpho."

* BetterThanABareBulb: TheMusical!
* BigWhat: Aldolfo. '''WHAAAAAAAT?'''

* BlatantLies: Janet gets a song's worth of them in "Show Off."
* BrickJoke: Man in Chair mentions that Tottendale's actress is named Ukelele Lil, "although she never plays the ukelele in this show". Of course, during the Finale, she accompanies him on ukelele.

* BSODSong: 'Bride's Lament'.

* ButHeSoundsHandsome: "Robert kissed a French girl. Her name is Mimi. She's very beautiful."
* ButchLesbian: Trix, according to Man in Chair.
* CampStraight: [[spoiler: Man in Chair.]]
* CapeSwish: Aldolpho does this. [[CharacterTic A lot.]]

* DeliberateValuesDissonance: Hoo boy, ''Message From A Nightingale.''

* TheDitz: Aldolpho, Kitty, and Miss Tottendale.
* DumbMuscle: Aldolpho.

* FunnyForeigner: Aldolpho.
** Twice.

* GenreSavvy: Man In Chair.
* HaveAGayOldTime: Used a lot, intentionally. Lampshaded by the Man In Chair who says the word "has a different meaning now, but back then it just meant fun."
* HeadTurningBeauty: Jane Roberts when in character as The Oops Girl.

* HypocriticalSinging: "Show Off", complete with encore.
* IAmGreatSong: "Aldolpho", about [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin guess who]].
* IAmSong: 'I Am Aldolpho' - hard to get clearer than that.

* LettingTheAirOutOfTheBand: A blackout happens right before the last note of 'I Do, I Do, In the Sky'.

* {{Narm}}: Played with in-universe in "Bride's Lament". As The Man in the Chair says, "Try to ignore the lyrics." [[spoiler:They're about...[[EverythingsBetterWithMonkeys monkeys]]. Yeah.]]
** Considering the way he sings along to this song, though, he may have come to see them as NarmCharm, [[spoiler:especially considering his backstory.]]
* NoFourthWall

* ShowWithinAShow
* SillyLoveSongs: 'Love is Always Lovely in the End'.

* TooDumbToLive: George stops Robert from tap dancing because he could sprain his ankle. Instead he tells him to go rollerblading. ''Blindfolded''.
** Naturally he then sings [[ItMakesSenseInContext "I'm an Accident Waiting to Happen."]]

* WeddingsForEveryone: How the ShowWithinAShow ends.

* HelloNurse: Jane Roberts when in character as The Oops Girl.