MKA Presents "The Drowsy Chaperone"

The Drowsy Chaperone, the Tony Award-winning musical that plays homage to the musicals of the American Jazz Age, will be coming to the MKA Upper School Weiss Auditorium on March 2-4.

This light-hearted production examines the effect that musicals have on the fans that adore them through the medium of “The Man in Chair”, an agoraphobic, Broadway fanatic seeking to cure his "non-specific sadness" by listening to an LP of a fictional 1928 musical comedy, The Drowsy Chaperone. As he listens, both he and the audience are transported as his dingy apartment transforms into an impressive Broadway set, complete with glittering characters, footlights and scenery.  The plot of the show-within-a-show centers on a showgirl planning to give up her career in order to marry an oil tycoon, while an ambitious producer, two pun-loving gangsters and a bumbling Lothario, together with a classic case of mistaken identity, all conspire to stop the wedding.
 
Directed and produced by MKA Upper School F&PA teacher Nicole Hoppe, this year's annual winter musical production features a student cast and crew, together with a professional music director, lighting designer and costumes.  Students with leading roles include senior Sylvie Konner, sophomores Kendal Barrett (the current Miss NJ Teen USA), John Higgins and Sam Zinn, junior Dana Placentra and senior Ed Rosini, the recipient of a Paper Mill Playhouse Rising Star Award last year.
 
Performance times are Friday, March 2nd, and Saturday, March 3rd at 8:00 p.m. and Sunday, March 4th at 2:00 p.m.  General admission seating is $15 and tickets may be reserved online at www.mka.org/musical. For more information, contact Nicole Hoppe at nhoppe@mka.org.