My goodness what a night!

I got home not long ago after attending the closing night for Drowsy Chaperone.  By this time next year Cry Baby will be playing at the Marquis Theatre and the Marriott Hotel.

The audience was really into the show tonight and most of them had probably see it many times over.  As soon as the lights went down the audience exploded into thunderous applause peppered with various hoots and hollers.  It was several minutes before this initial ovation subsided and the show finally began.

The cast was playing more to the audience tonight more than the last time I'd see the show.  They knew that the audience consisted of their fans.  People who loved the show and knew all the songs and jokes.

At the beginning of the show within the show each character introduces themselves through song.  Tonight each person got huge applause when they made their entrance.

At the end of the Cold Feet number the ovation was so long that the show was held up (again) for several moments. When they finally got moving again Troy Britton Johnson (Robert) leaned over and gave Patrick Wetzel (George) a kiss on the forehead in a sweet and unscripted moment.

As We Stumble Along, the show's rousing anthem, is sung by Beth Leavel (The Drowsy Chaperone) and when the song is over she takes several moments to bask in the applause because the character she plays is a diva who would do that.  But tonight there was a standing ovation after her number and her bows, comically, went on and on.

But the biggest surprise of the night was still to come.  For those of you who don't know the basic plot of The Drowsy Chaperone it's about a man who sits in his apartment listening to the record (yes, record) of his favorite Broadway musical - The Drowsy Chaperone.  As he listens to the music the show comes alive right in his apartment.  The Man in Chair talks you through the show; occasionally stopping the record to add bits of trivia about the scene or the actors in the show.

At the very end of the record with only a single note left in the show the electricty in the apartment building goes out and you're thrust into darkness.  Then the super knocks on the door because he needs to flip a switch inside the Man In Chair's apartment.  The super flips the switch and the record goes on playing and the Man in Chair runs over to turn off the record.  But the surprise tonight was, instead of being played by Joey Sorge, the super was played by Bob Martin!  Martin cowrote the Drowsy Chaperone book and orginated the role of the Man in Chair on Broadway.  The audience went bananas!

Normally, the super hears the end of the record and asks the Man in Chair questions about what type of music it was.  After some banter the super starts rattling off the names of various plays that he's taken his wife to...Les Miz, Miss Saigon, Phantom.  But tonight, along with the shows previously mentioned, he added "I heard about this show Cry-Baby that's still playing out of town.  It'll be a real hit if they can find a theatre."  Cry-Baby will be coming into the Marquis Theatre next year.  A good amount of the audience seemed to know this so that ad-libbed joke went over very well.

Once the super leaves the Man in Chair gripes about how the moment has been broken and he starts to, forlornly, sing As We Stumble Along.  At that point the cast notices him and they start to interact with him.  And everyone starts to sing.  At this point Beth Leavel couldn't even sing some parts because she was just so choked up and emotional.

After curtain calls Casey Nicholaw (director and choreograpgher) and Bob Martin gave great speeches.  They brought much of the creative team and even the stage crew onstage for their, well deserved applause.

I'd been tempted to head over to the stage door but I knew not only would probably be a mad house but most of the cast, most likely, wanted to hurry to the after party.  So I decided to not even bother.  I, instead, walked over to the Brooks-Atkinson Theatre to say hi to a certain singing duo.  Even with all the "delays" (extended ovations, speeches, etc) Drowsy got out before Grease so I was able to get a spot by the stage door before curtain calls even ended.

I didn't have to wait long either.  The cast started coming out rather quickly.  I saw Daniel right away and I was surprised to learn that he had gone on.  I'd heard he would not be returning to the show until after the new year because of a bronchial infection.  Too bad he didn't come back on Friday so that I could have seen him! lol

Max and Laura came out and Max spotted me right away and we exchanged pleasantries.  Then him and Laura went on with their signing while I made my way back to Penn Station.  I arrived at Penn at 9:58 and the train home was just boarding to leave at 10:03.  I JUST made it! Ha!

And yes, I did finally see Grease this past Friday.  I'd previously seen a production of Grease in, I believe, Winter 2000 in New Hope, PA.  It was horrible.  Boring.  Blah.  The cast had no energy and I had the distint impression that they had better places to be.

The current Broadway production has nothing in common with one I had seen before.  The energy was great and the cast is very talented.  Max and Laura are very good in their respective roles and I expect much from both of them.

Other people who had seen the show previously had commented on recognizing a lot of the choreography from the TV show.  And this is something that I picked on myself but it didn't detract from my enjoyment of the show.  In fact, I felt as if I were in on some joke.  Like this was something that I knew that not everyone else did.

Every show I go to I buy a souviner program for my younger sister and Grease was no exception.  After the show I went to the stage door and I had Robyn, Ryan, Max, and Laura sign the program.

When I got home I slipped into my sister's room and set the program on her desk while she was sleeping.  So she was quite surprised to see it when she woke up the next morning.  She'd been asking for Max and Laura's autographs and now she finally has them.