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1[[quoteright:311:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/the_drowsy_chaperone_3381.jpg]]
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3''The Drowsy Chaperone'' is a musical which opened at the UsefulNotes/{{Toronto}} Fringe Festival in 1998 and then 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.]]
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5The 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. Then a plane flies in, and they all get married and go to Rio!
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7...ItMakesSenseInContext. [[RandomEventsPlot Sort of]].
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9As a result of its premise, ''The Drowsy Chaperone'' has more LampshadeHanging than a hardware store, usually (but not always) provided by the Man In Chair.
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11----
12!!Tropes:
13* AccidentalInnuendo: [[invoked]] The Man in Chair asks if anyone had noticed the sexual implications of the song "Love is Always Lovely ''in the End''."
14* AccidentalMisnaming: The Chaperone initially calls Aldolpho "Adollface".
15* AffectionateParody: The in-universe show is a parody of the cliches of the Jazz Age, and musicals in general.
16* AllMusicalsAreAdaptations: In-universe. [[AllThereInTheManual The booklet in the CD case for the recording]] mentions that the show is based off of a short story called ''Honeymoonin' To Do.''
17* 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, or as a [[GenderFlip woman]].
18* AnalogyBackfire: the song "Love Is Always Lovely in the End", in which the singer, Mrs. Tottendale, is blissfully oblivious to the fact that every couple she mentions in the song (Romeo and Juliet, Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn, Samson and Delilah) had an unhappy ending. Underling tries to point this out to her, to no avail.
19* ArentYouGoingToRavishMe: The Chaperone spends most of "I Am Aldolpho" waiting for Aldolpho to stop singing and just have sex with her.
20* ArtisticLicenseMusic: The album around which the entire show is based couldn't have actually existed, as in 1928 an entire recording of the score would have taken up at least six or seven 78RPM records--LP records wouldn't be invented for another two decades. Even assuming a cast recording of the show was eventually made 30 years later, there is no way it would include every single line of dialogue as depicted.
21* AsianSpeekeeEngrish: There's an entire joke about a [[JapaneseRanguage "rady"]] and a man in the second act opener.
22* AudienceParticipation: In-universe. During “Bride’s Lament,” Man In Chair has his own prompts for some of Janet’s lines.
23* BanteringBaddieBuddies: Gangsters 1 & 2 are a pair of mooks disguised as pastry chefs there to threaten Feldzeig into sabotaging Janet's wedding. As they are disguised as pastry chefs, the gangsters pepper their speech with [[{{Pun}} dessert puns]].
24-->'''Gangster #1''': Now we hope we have made ourselves perfectly ''Eclair.''\
25'''Gangster #2''': One ''cannoli'' hope.\
26'''Gangster #1''': You ''biscotti'' be kidding me.\
27'''Gangster #2''': A ''trifle'' much?\
28'''Gangster #1''': Don't ''tart'' with me.
29* BetterThanABareBulb: The musical is extremely cliche and dated. The humor comes from how the Man in Chair keeps pointing out how cliche and dated it is.
30* BigWhat: Aldolfo (and sometimes the whole cast) often responds to plot twists with '''WHAAAAAAAT?'''
31* BittersweetEnding: The power goes out right before the last note of the show. After the superintendent fixes the power and the last note plays, the Man in Chair ends the show alone again, sadly recounting how he's never gotten to see the show, but it still comforts him. He then has a fantasy of all the characters singing along with him.
32* BlatantLies: Janet gets a song's worth of them in "Show Off".
33* BrickJoke:
34** Man in Chair mentions that Tottendale's actress is named Ukelele Lil, "although she never plays the ukelele in this show". During the Finale, she accompanies him on ukelele.
35** The Man in Chair's phone rings several times throughout the show, with the Man ignoring it every time (and instructing the audience too, as well). When the superintendent enters at the end of the show, he remarks that he tried calling earlier, but there was no answer.
36* BSODSong: "Bride's Lament" is about Janet breaking down as she chooses between her romance and her career.
37* BusbyBerkeleyNumber: "Bride's Lament", according to the Man in Chair, is "a little Busby Berkeley, a little Jane Goodall."
38* ButHeSoundsHandsome: Janet kisses a blindfolded Robert in disguise as a French girl to see if he would cheat on her. She later cries, "Robert kissed a French girl. Her name is Mimi. She's very beautiful."
39* ButchLesbian: Discussed. Man in Chair thinks the masculine pilot Trix is a lesbian, as he says that "aviatrix" is code one.
40* CapeSwish: Aldolpho wears a long flowing cape and brushes it behind him [[CharacterTic a lot.]]
41* CastingGag: The original Broadway program featured snippets about the in-universe cast. In the section about Janet's actress, Jane Roberts, there's pictures of her with her husband Dylan Horne. Horne is played by Creator/ChristianBorle, Sutton Foster's then husband.
42* CharacterBlog: During the Broadway run, the Man in Chair posted a series of videos wandering around Times Square, commenting about theatre.
43* ChekhovsGunman: Trix, who sings in the opening "I'll see you when they tie the knot!" She then reappears at the end of the play right when the cast realizes they need a minister, and marries all four couples.
44* DarkReprise: Act I ends with a depressing rendition of the "Wedding Bells" motif. The second act's [[IrrelevantActOpener actual]] opening number "[[BSODSong The Bride's Lament]]" incorporates fragments of "Show Off" with all of the tongue-in-cheek humor removed.
45* DeadpanSnarker: The Chaperone, Underling, Feldzeig, and Man in Chair all fit this trope at one time or another.
46* DeliberateValuesDissonance:
47** ''Message From A Nightingale'' consists of actors in yellowface speaking [[AsianSpeakeeEngrish broken English]] to a stereotypical East Asian tune.
48** Robert Martin says that "Cold Feets" is a number "an old negro taught me." The lyrics are full of ebonics ("You make de cold feets hot!") sung by two characters usually played by white actors.
49** One of the performers is referred to as "A man of a thousand accents. All of them offensive."
50* DevouredByTheHorde: Aldolpho's actor's body is stated to have been found partially digested by his poodles. Later, the Man in the Chair tells the audience to try to not think about the poodles before one of Aldolpho's musical performances.
51* DistractedByTheSexy: As the Man in Chair tells us, the actress in the 1920s musical ''The Drowsy Chaperone'' was famous for playing "The Oops Girl", who had this as her entire shtick.
52%% * TheDitz: Aldolpho, Kitty, and Miss Tottendale.
53* DumbMuscle: Aldolpho is a brute, but also very foolish, such as mistaking the chaperone for the bride.
54* TheFamilyForTheWholeFamily: It's hard to take the gangsters seriously when their "weapons" are cooking utensils and everything they say is a {{pun}}.
55* FinalLoveDuet: Played with in that it doesn't actually end the musical at all, but instead creates the central conflict, but other than that, "Accident Waiting to Happen" fits this trope to a T.
56* FourthDateMarriage: Janet and Robert, to the point where "fourth date" might be an overstatement...
57** Not to mention Aldolpho and the Chaperone, Feldzieg and Kitty, and Mrs. Tottendale and Underling, all of whom got married immediately without dating at all.
58*** Though Mrs. Tottendale and Underling have at least known each other for some time before Mrs. Tottendale was widowed, as during I Remember Love he's shocked when she sings about how kind love has been to her, pointing out that her late husband "was a brute" before realizing she means him.
59* FunnyForeigner: Aldolpho is a LatinLover comic relief character.
60* GallowsHumor: “Toledo Surprise” is a punny, jaunty number about beating someone to death.
61* GenreSavvy: Man In Chair spends most of the show commenting about how predictable the in-universe musical is.
62* GuiltyPleasure: The Man in Chair considers "The Drowsy Chaperone" a somewhat silly musical, but it brings him comfort in an otherwise lonely life.
63* HaveAGayOldTime: The blurb for the musical describes a "gay wedding." Lampshaded by the Man In Chair who says the word "has a different meaning now, but back then it just meant fun."
64* HeadTurningBeauty: Jane Roberts has a character called The Oops Girl whose gorgeousness would distract all sorts of men, resulting in accidents prompting her to say "Oops!"
65* HighHopesZeroTalent: Kitty desperately wants to replace Janet, despite her complete lack of talent and [[TheDitz very low intelligence]].
66* HypocriticalHumor:
67** In the opening monologue, Man In Chair mentions that he hates when musicals break the fourth wall. Guess what the ''entire point of the show'' is.
68** Man In Chair keeps telling the audience to "keep the magic alive" when something interrupts the play. Even if he's the one interrupting.
69** 'Show Off': Janet spends the entire song showing off to her fans and the audience, complete with an encore, while singing about how she's leaving show business.
70** In the intermission monologue the Man In Chair delivers, he complains about people opening crinkly candy wrappers. He then proceeds to open and eat a protein bar.
71* HypocriticalSinging: "Show Off" is a boisterous song about how Janet doesn't want to perform anymore, complete with encore.
72* IAmGreatSong: "Aldolpho", about [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin guess who]]. He sings about how great he is and how much the ladies love him.
73* IAmSong: The literally-titled "Aldolpho" is about (who else?) Adolpho singing about his womanizing reputation and huge ego.
74* IrrelevantActOpener: [[JustifiedTrope Justified]] in the case of "Message From A Nightingale", as Man In Chair [[SorryILeftTheBGMOn accidentally put the wrong record on.]]
75* TheJeeves: Underling.
76* LadyDrunk: The titular Chaperone.
77* LargeHam: Aldolpho, and by extension, his actor.
78** Quoth the Man In Chair: "He was the [[FakeNationality man of a thousand accents]]... all of them insulting."
79* LastMinuteHookup: All of the characters, including PairTheSpares.
80* LatinLover: Aldolpho thinks he's this, but in reality he's more of a CasanovaWannabe.
81* LemonyNarrator: The Man in Chair, in spades.
82* LetsDuet: "Cold Feet" between the groom and George, containing some [[CallAndResponseSong call and response]] to introduce George; and "Accident Waiting to Happen" between the bride and groom, using many elements of the FinalLoveDuet.
83* LettingTheAirOutOfTheBand: A blackout happens right before the last note of "I Do, I Do, In the Sky."
84* LovingAShadow: Downplayed with the Man in Chair's love for ''The Drowsy Chaperone.'' He's fully aware of the musical's many, many flaws, but it's still the one he turns to when he's blue, even though he's never even seen it performed.
85* MarriedAtSea: Parodied. In the finale, the cast decides that the captain of an airship can marry people, as they forgot a minister.
86* TheMelBrooksNumber: "Bride's Lament". [[LampshadeHanging Lampshaded]] by Man in Chair, who is acutely aware that the song wasn't ''intended'' to be funny, and tells the audience to "just ignore the lyrics."
87* MoodWhiplash: There are a number of funny or touching scenes interrupted by the Man in Chair giving a glimpse into his (rather sad) backstory. The biggest by far is the rather funny scene where Drowsy is telling Janet to "L-ve while you can." While Man In Chair's accompanying monologue has some funny lines, it is on the whole rather sad.
88* MostDefinitelyNotAVillain: The gangsters, who are introduced with the lines, [[BlatantLies "We're pastry chefs! / We're pastry chefs! / We cross our hearts we're pastry chefs!"]]
89* MusicalisInterruptus: The Man in Chair's phone rings, interrupting George's tap dance going into the next scene.
90* 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 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.
91* {{MST}}: A completely fictionalized variant. The Man in Chair listens to the records of "The Drowsy Chaperone" while snarking about the cliché nature of the show.
92* NoFourthWall: The Man in Chair directly speaks to the audience throughout the whole show.
93* NoNameGiven: The Man in Chair, the Drowsy Chaperone, [[EveryoneCallsHimBarkeep Underling]], the Superintendent, and the Gangsters.
94** It's entirely possible that [[HisNameReallyIsBarkeep his name really is Underling.]]
95* NostalgiaFilter: The way the Man In Chair views the 1920s, though he admits that the idea that "the world was one big party" applied only to the wealthy.
96* ObfuscatingStupidity: Discussed by the Man In Chair with regards to the character of Kitty. Despite seeming like a total bimbo, she nevertheless pulls off something very clever at the end, which leads the Man in Chair to wonder if she's playing dumb.
97* OnlySaneMan: Underling.
98* OutOfGenreExperience: The beginning of the second act.
99* PungeonMaster: When it comes to this trope, the gangsters really ''take the cake!'' Much of their dialogue consists of bakery puns as part of their shtick.
100* PornWithoutPlot: Invoked by Man In Chair, who notes that in both musicals and pornography, the plot is often secondary to the..."[[SexualEuphemism production numbers]]."
101* RiddleForTheAges: At the very end, does the Drowsy Chaperone say "[[spoiler:Live while you can]]" or "[[spoiler:Leave while you can]]"? The Man in Chair is obsessed with the question.
102* RollingPinOfDoom: To go along with their "pastry chef" facade, the gangsters are sometimes shown wielding rolling pins.
103* ShoutOut: Janet van de Graaf and Robert Martin are named after a real-life Canadian acting couple; the show in its original form (pre-Broadway) was written for their stag party. The real Robert Martin co-wrote the book for the Broadway version and was that version's original Man in Chair.
104* ShowWithinAShow: The actual show is the Man in Chair listening to and commenting on the in-universe musical, "The Drowsy Chaperone."
105* SillyLoveSongs: "Love is Always Lovely in the End".
106* SpitTake: One scene consists of [[OverlyLongGag nothing]] ''[[OverlyLongGag but]]'' spit takes. [[ButtMonkey Poor Underling!]]
107* StockingFiller: The Chaperone, usually.
108* SuperfluousSolo: Parodied with "As We Stumble Along", which the Man in Chair claims was only included to appease the actress playing the Chaperone. [[invoked]]
109* TakeThat: Near the end, when the Superintendent calls himself a fan of musicals but is only familiar with contemporary big-budget titles.
110--> '''Superintendent''': Yeah, I've seen 'em all. I've seen Cats, Les Miz, Saturday Night Fever--I liked the movie better--
111--> '''Man in Chair''': Really. Well, goodbye. ''(He shuts the door in his face.)''
112* TemptingFate: After "Show Off" "ends".
113--> '''Kitty''': I'm surprised she didn't do an encore.
114--> '''Janet''': ''(sings)'' ''I don't want to encore no more!''
115* ThirdPersonPerson: Aldolpho often talks about himself in the third person, such as "Aldolpho has made love to the bride."
116* TooDumbToLive: George stops Robert from tap dancing because he could sprain his ankle. Instead he tells him to go rollerblading. ''Blindfolded''. Naturally Robert then sings "I'm an Accident Waiting to Happen."
117* TwoPersonLoveTriangle: Janet is getting cold feet about her wedding, so she decides to go see whether or not Robert really loves her. He's conveniently blindfolded, so she pretends to be a random French woman named Mimi and asks about how they first met. They both get caught up in reliving the moment and kiss, only for Janet to remember what she's doing and call off the wedding.
118* UnusualEuphemism: in "Toledo Surprise", the Gangsters threaten Feldzieg with baking metaphors, like "chop the nuts", "beat the dough", "peel the skin [of a peach]", and so on. Later, Kitty takes up the melody and begins making thinly veiled sex references ("Squeeze the cream, grease the pan, lick the spoon", etc etc).
119* WeddingsForEveryone: The ShowWithinAShow ends with ''three'' additional weddings on top of Janet and Robert's, many of which come out of nowhere.
120* WhatAreRecords: Man in Chair seems to be anticipating this reaction from his audience when he explains he was listening to his records--yes, '''records.'''

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