The Drowsy Chaperone

Today I did my first run-through for packing... let me tell you, it was an experience. When I finally combined all of my clothes and necessities from home, Utah, and summer shopping, it was quite apparent that I have too much. Way way way too much. My mom and I did pretty well on paring down my clothes, although I'm still sure that I'm taking more clothes than anyone else (but I'm ok with that). However, four months worth of shampoo, contact solution, lotion, etc. is very heavy. Yes, I realize I'll probably be able to buy stuff there, but isn't almost just easier to take it? Well, obviously not because it weighs way too much. I packed my suitcase with all my books, toiletries, pants, skirts, and electronics, and it weighed over 70 pounds. The weight limit is 50 pounds. I think there is a slight problem. Not to mention that I was still left with my shoes and all my shirts and jackets to fit in a carry-on duffel. That's a whole nother story. Needless to say, I got a little stressed out about this. Where is the Pelton Packing Magic???? My mom ended up banishing me from anymore packing for the day since I was freaking out so much.

After the packing disaster, I wanted to be cheered up. And what better way is there than to see one of your favorite musical at the Hale Center Theater in Orem?! Answer: there is no better way. My mom and I went to see "The Drowsy Chaperone" and it was fantastic! I had first seen the show in Dallas when the Broadway National Tour came through, and I fell in love with the show. It is absolutely ridiculous and just a whole lotta fun. It's basically a show within a show: You're first introduced to a narrator who lives by himself in an apartment and is obsessed with musical theater. He "feels a little blue," so he puts on a record of his favorite musical, "The Drowsy Chaperone."The plot of the show is of a famous 1920s showgirl Janet Vandergraaff who is leaving the show business to marry Robert Martin. However, they see each other on the wedding day, which is, as we all know, very bad luck. Enter an angry show producer, two gangsters posing as pastry chefs, an eccentric European man who puts "the romantics" on every girl alive, a sarcastic butler and his forgetful mistress, a nervous wreck of a Best Man, and a chronically drunk chaperone, and you've got a show!! What is so great is that throughout the show, the narrator comments on scenes and characters like you're watching it together. This may sound kind of annoying, but it's absolutely hilarious. I actually liked this production better than the one in Dallas because of the intimate atmosphere. Of course the Broadway group was incredible, but you lose the "small apartment"- feel on a big stage. At the Hale, it's theater in the round, so you have a small stage in the middle and seats on three sides. This lent really well to the feeling that you were in the narrator's apartment, listening to the record with him. It also provides for some really creative staging and blocking. I loved it. And, as the narrator says, it is better to have loved than left.