There are a few sentences that characters in Broadway plays just don’t say. Chief among those is, “I hate theater. Well, it’s so disappointing, isn’t it?” They certainly don’t profess a devotion to short shows featuring actors who remain on stage, rather than running wildly through the audience, and a stinging hatred for Elton John’s Broadway contributions.
Characters don’t normally do that, and yet Mesa State’s main stage is about to host a show that does.
The character is known only as Man in Chair, and he’s the leading man of “The Drowsy Chaperone”—that is, until the real leading man comes along. Man in Chair is a timid, depressed man who indulges in a little escapism in his apartment by playing his favorite record, which happens to be a vinyl cast recording of a 1928 musical called “The Drowsy Chaperone”.
The Mesa State performance is directed by  assistant professor Peter Ivanov with choreography by assistant professor of dance Melonie Murray. It stars Joe Côté, who plays Man in Chair, Alena Ruiz, as Janet, Analisa Watkins, as the Chaperone.
As soon as the record begins to play, the musical begins to come to life, and soon his boring apartment is transformed into a dazzling set, with actors popping out of nowhere — often entering the set through his refrigerator. Imagination is key in any theater production but it is especially true for this show. “Imagination is what this play i sbased off of,” Watkins said “Because his [the-man-in-cahir] imagination is so big that is why ny character and all the others exist.”
This is almost too much for the snarky Man in Chair, who doesn’t disappear like his surroundings. He sticks around throughout the whole musical like a manic-depressive master of ceremonies, fighting and succumbing to the urge to insert his own commentary into the events. Like the Criminologist in last year’s “Rocky Horror Show”, Man in Chair pulls the audience in and out of the story, revealing a few things about himself along the way.
“He uses the musical as a scapegote so these characters are is coping mechanisms,” Watkins said.
The show-within-a-show focuses on starlet Janet Van de Graaff, who’s leaving the lights of Broadway to marry an oil tycoon. But Janet is a bankable star, and some Broadway heavyweights want to ensure her participation in their next production. Janet herself doesn’t seem to be whole-heartedly embracing her early retirement from show business: in the song “Show Off”, she sings about wanting to escape the spotlight while simultaneously running around the stage doing everything she can to keep the spotlight on her. Ruiz stepped into the role as naturally as the leaves change for fall.
“…Sutton Foster was the original Janet,” Ruiz said “And she is one of my my absolute favorite broadway stars. I watch everything she does on YouTube.”
At the same time, Janet is having some doubts about her fiancé and hatches a half-baked plan that results in massive misunderstandings and hilarity. The songs are all stylized on music from the jazz age, and the costumes reflect the style of the Roaring 20s as well.
“The Drowsy Chaperone” started as a 30-minute sketch at writer and comedian Bob Martin’s bachelor party. Martin and co-writer Don McKellar took the idea and ran with it, adding the character of Man in Chair and his narrative. The Broadway production opened in 2006 and gave 674 performances, winning five Tony Awards. It’s unusual for college theater departments to perform such relatively new plays, and “The Drowsy Chaperone” subverts the Theater Department’s “Season of Memories” theme by being a thoroughly modern musical with nostalgic tunes.
Man in Chair may strike a chord with some audience members when he offers up his pre-show prayer: “You know what I do when I’m sitting in a darkened theater waiting for the show to begin? I pray. ‘Oh, dear God. Please let it be a good show…  I just want a story and a few good songs that will take me away. I just want to be entertained. I mean, isn’t that the point? Amen.’”
As the record plays the show goes on but this adds a unqie twist to this already unique show.
“I love how all the people on stage are just a record, so when the record skips all the people on stage skip,” Ruiz said.
“The Drowsy Chaperone” opens with the Student/Faculty Rush on Sept. 30. Student tickets that night are $2.  Show times are 7:30 p.m. from Thursday, Sept. 30 through Saturday, Oct. 2. There will be a matinee showing at 2 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 3. Performances resume at 7:30 p.m. Oct. 6 through Oct. 9. The box office is open 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesday through Friday.