THE DROWSY CHAPERONE

<!—

From winning “Pretty Funny Comedic Play” in the first annual Canadian Comedy Awards in 2000, to taking home five 2006 Tony Awards®, THE DROWSY CHAPERONE is a Canadian success story and Broadway sensation. Dancap Productions Inc., is pleased to launch its inaugural theatre season in Toronto with this blockbuster musical starring Tony Award®-winner and Torontonian, Bob Martin.

THE DROWSY CHAPERONE is on stage in New York and London. A new North American tour will launch in Toronto at The Elgin Theatre (189 Yonge Street) on September 19 and run through October 14, 2007. For a limited time, Dancap is offering special ticket prices for select performances to 50Plus.com members and visitors. For details, click here or call toll-free 1-866-950-7469, or locally in Toronto at (416) 644-3665, and ask for extension 722 or 728.

It all begins when a die-hard musical fan plays his favorite cast album, a 1928 smash hit called “The Drowsy Chaperone,” and the show magically bursts to life. We are instantly immersed in the glamorous, hilarious tale of a celebrity bride and her uproarious wedding day, complete with thrills and surprises that take both the cast (literally) and the audience (metaphorically) soaring into the rafters.

A success story like no other, composer Greg Morrison and lyricist Lisa Lambert presented a series of songs and scenes to Bob Martin and fiancé Janet Van de Graaff as a wedding gift at a party held at the Rivoli in Toronto in 1998. Martin and his friend (successful writer, actor and director) Don McKellar subsequently expanded the sketch and wrote the book for the musical, and together with Lambert and Morrison’s songs, created THE DROWSY CHAPERONE for the 1999 Toronto Fringe Festival. DROWSY opened at the Fringe to rave reviews and sold-out shows. Due to its immediate and significant success, the show moved to Toronto’s Theatre Passe Muraille in November of the same year and to the Winter Garden Theatre in 2001. In 2006, an expanded production opened at Broadway’s Marquis Theatre where it has been embraced and adored by thousands of people over hundreds of performances and won the most Tony Awards® of any musical in 2006.

Toronto will be the first stop for the North American tour of THE DROWSY CHAPERONE, an important achievement for Aubrey Dan, President of Dancap Productions Inc. “My goal is to bring more Tony Award®-winning musicals to this city,” says Dan. “I am very proud to bring THE DROWSY CHAPERONE back home to Toronto to launch Dancap Productions. It’s a funny, exhuberant Canadian creation and we’re thrilled that two of the original Broadway cast members will be reprising their roles for us: Bob Martin as the Man in Chair and Georgia Engel as Mrs. Tottendale.”

Dancap’s first season is jam-packed with more Broadway hits including THE 25TH ANNUAL PUTNAM COUNTY SPELLING BEE, 3 MO’ DIVAS, MY FAIR LADY, AVENUE Q, and the show everyone is talking about, JERSEY BOYS, the story of Frankie Valli and The Four Seasons. Theatre packages and groups for all Dancap shows are on sale now and offer special savings for select performances. Three-show package deals start from $170.00, and six-show package deals start from $310.00. In addition to savings on tickets and priority seating, purchasing a Dancap theatre package rewards you with Dancap Points™ that may be used towards FREE tickets to current or future Dancap shows. For details, call the CAP Centre Monday to Friday, 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. at (416) 644-3665 or toll-free 1-866-950-7469. You can also check out all the shows and schedules online at www.dancaptickets.com.

Photo credit: Joan Marcus, 2006 <!—