Curtain Call’s 31st annual Summer Youth Theatre production – The Drowsy Chaperone – is the winner of five Tony Awards, including Best Book and Best Original Score. Playing in the Kweskin Theatre, Stamford, August 5 through 14, this show is a loving send-up of the Jazz Age musical, featuring one show-stopping song and dance number after another.
With the houselights down, a man in a chair appears on stage and puts on his favorite record: the cast recording of a fictitious 1928 musical. The recording comes to life and The Drowsy Chaperone begins as the man in the chair looks on. Mix in two lovers on the eve of their wedding, a bumbling best man, a desperate theatre producer, a not-so-bright hostess, two gangsters posing as pastry chefs, a misguided Don Juan and an intoxicated chaperone, and you have the ingredients for an evening of madcap delight. The Drowsy Chaperone is a masterful meta-musical, poking fun at all the tropes that characterize the musical theatre genre.
This production marks the first time it has played in The Kweskin Theatre and the entire team is very excited to be working on it. Director Brian Bianco (who is also Curtain Call’s education director) previously directed the show and is joined by Greg Chrzczon as music director and Jennifer Silverman as choreographer. Set design is by Alex Jourdan and lighting design by Even Brenner and Adam Lobelson. Costumes are provided by Beyond Costumes, Yonkers, NY.
The cast of 33 young performers age 10 through 21 hail from throughout Fairfield County as well as towns in New York State. They have been rehearsing since early June to master the stylized music, specialty choreography and yes, even roller skating, for this show that was hailed by New York Magazine as “The Perfect Broadway Musical,”
“Having grown up in summer theatre programs like our Summer Youth Theatre (SYT), I feel very strongly about providing opportunities like this for the young artists in our community,” said Lou Ursone, Curtain Call’s executive director. Ursone said that it is especially gratifying to see these performers getting to do a show after more than a year of having their stages darkened by the Covid Pandemic.
“Speaking of Covid, due to the recent spike in cases in our area, for the run of this show, we are requiring all patrons, ushers and staff (vaccinated or not) to be masked at all times when in the theatre,” Ursone said.
Bianco is extremely proud of all the performers and crew members who have worked so hard at putting this show together, many of whom he has known for 10 years of more! One of the leading ladies in the show, Katie Morris, was an orphan in Annie, directed by Bianco in 2010!)
The cast includes, (in addition to Morris) May Simone Avidan, Marley Bramble, Elena Cappella, Sofia Caurant, Kaylee Deenihan, Grace Eagleton, Jonah Farber, Elsa Franks, Caty Galgano, Maddy Galgano, Liam Gelling, Maggie Haber, Nicole Henkel, Grace Huber, Lucas Jones, Abigail Kesmodel, Ava Spinelli Mastrone, Franki Spinelli Mastrone, Michael McArthur, Chloe Naudet, Matthew O’Callaghan, Katie Priscott, Victoria Razhanskiy, Niko Rinaldi, Elder Rivera, Emma Sawch, Hannah Schager, Katherine Scully, Olivia Simner, Jake Sperling, Justin Villard and Zara Williamson.
The Drowsy Chaperone has songs by Lisa Lambert and Greg Morrison and a book by Mr. Martin and Don McKellar. It is presented by special arrangement with Music Theatre International, NY, NY. The production is sponsored in part by the CT Office of the Arts and in cooperation with the City of Stamford.
Performances will be held Thursday, Friday and Saturday evenings at 7:30PM and Sunday afternoons at 2:00PM, beginning August 5. There is also a 2:00PM Saturday show on August 14. The Kweskin Theatre is located at The Sterling Farms Theatre Complex, 1349 Newfield Avenue, Stamford, CT. Doors open one half hour before show time. Tickets are $35 for adults, $25 for senior citizens and $20 for children under 21. Box Office: 203-461-6358 x 13 or on the web at www.curtaincallinc.com.
Curtain Call’s 31st season will begin September 17 with 1776, followed by Crossing Delancey, Rodgers and Hammerstein’s Cinderella, and many others including the Fairfield County premieres of Kinky Boots, The Lobby and The Viewing Room. Comedy nights, concerts and interactive murder mystery events are also on the schedule. Discounted Flex Pass subscriptions offer savings of 25% and more. Additional information is available at www.curtaincallinc.com or by calling 203-461-6358
Curtain Call is the non-profit community-based theatre company in residence at The Sterling Farms Theatre Complex, 1349 Newfield Avenue in Stamford. Year-round productions and educational workshops for all ages are presented by and for area residents in The Kweskin Theatre and The Dressing Room Theatre.
Curtain Call was voted Fairfield County’s BEST LOCAL THEATRE GROUP ten years running in the Annual Readers’ Poll of the Fairfield County Weekly and has received similar BEST OF awards from Stamford Magazine and StamfordPlus magazine for 2008 through 2018. Curtain Call received The Governor’s Award for Excellence in the Arts in 2011 and the ACE Award for Excellence in Arts & Culture from the Cultural Alliance of Fairfield County in 2016.
