Paul Melendy on 'The Drowsy Chaperone' – 'It Just Kind Of All Clicked'

Paul Melendy Source: EDGE composite image

The story has it that the fizzy comedy "The Drowsy Chaperone" was created as an entertainment for Canadian actor Bob Martin's stag party. Martin joined songwriters Lisa Lambert and Greg Morrison and writer Don McKellar to co-write the book for what would eventually become the stage musical we know today.

Unusual in structure and electrically kinetic in style, "The Drowsy Chaperone" takes place in two parallel realities: In one, Man in Chair, the otherwise-unnamed narrator and guide to what we're told is an old musical, plays the cast recording for the audience and imparts commentary and background for the fictitious play and actors. The play within this context is a product of the 1920s – a screwball confection in which a wedding goes utterly off the rails. The bride is a famed Broadway actress who is perfectly willing to leave showbiz behind for the quieter joys of married life, but the producer of the smash-hit show she's been starring in, pressed by his underworld financial backers to keep her in the role and keep the show going, is looking to sabotage the nuptials and break up the bride and groom.

The show's title supposedly refers to a well-lubricated character whose job it is to keep watch over the bride, but it applies equally well to Man in Chair, whose misanthropic attitude is assuaged only by the soothing magic of musical theater, and this old musical in particular. Man in Chair is our chaperone, enlightening and amusing us with his running commentary even though he's basically a voluntary shut-in who has withdrawn from the world. He also seems to be coded gay; despite chiding the audience at one point for making "assumptions" about him, the way Man in Chair talks about his marriage (which ended to the tune of the original cast recording of "Gypsy" whizzing through the air, evidently flung by his enraged ex-wife) – and, more to the point, the way he talks about certain male actors from among the fictitious cast of the imaginary 1920s musical stage show – cements the idea that Man in Chair is closeted, perhaps even from himself. That's only one of a few more serious strands that wend their way through the show.

Elliot Norton Award-winning actor Paul Melendy plays Man in Chair in the Lyric Stage Company's new production of "The Drowsy Chaperone." Melendy is a veteran of film, TV, and theatrical productions, many of them at the Greater Boston Stage Company, where he recently starred in the comedy "Clue: On Stage" and the solo show "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow," as well as the musical parody of "Titanic" he's just completed, a show called "Titanish."

EDGE caught up with Paul Melendy to hear his thoughts on starring as Man in Chair, the benefits and drawbacks of playing a character who doesn't interact with the rest of the cast, and the surprising connection Melendy has to 2011's SpeakEasy Stage Company production of "The Drowsy Chaperone."

EDGE: You just finished with "Titanish" with the Greater Boston Stage Company, and now you're doing "The Drowsy Chaperone" at the Lyric – it must be a pleasure to jump from one fun-filled show to the next, like you're doing here.

Paul Melendy: Yeah, there's no greater joy than jumping from one silly, fun show to another.

EDGE: I loved the show when the SpeakEasy Stage Company did it in 2011 with Will McGarrahan as Man in Chair, the role you're doing now.

Paul Melendy: I actually talked with Will [about it]. He came to see "Clue" last year. Auditions were happening for "Drowsy," and [he said], "Oh my god, you'd be perfect for this role!" I had no idea that he'd played it, actually.

EDGE: It's almost like you were named as a successor.

Paul Melendy: I know! He's like, "You should go up for it." Sometimes you just have a feeling about who should be in certain roles. It just kind of all clicked. It made sense. It was in the cards, in the stars.

EDGE: As I understand it, "The Drowsy Chaperone" began life as a short little skit and then took off. Does it feel like there's that same manic energy in this production of someone almost improvising something fun just for the sake of it?

Paul Melendy: Yeah. And actually, for me, it kind of feels like jumping on a speeding train. They really didn't need me for the first week and a half because they were focusing on dance numbers and music. So, everything was already in place, and then they installed me.

But there is a sense that there is a freedom to improvise. Because it was written – what, 25 years ago, I think? – there are some pop cultural references that don't quite work today, so I'm looking at installing some new jokes and quips, but I'm also looking forward to maybe improvising with the audience a little bit, too, which I like to do as much as I can. And I think that Man in Chair has that freedom to connect with the audience.

EDGE: It must be a lonely process for you in the rehearsal room, since your character doesn't interact with the rest of the cast.

Paul Melendy: Yeah, I am sort of segregated from the rest of the cast. They're not allowed to look at me or acknowledge me. It is kind of lonely, but I'm hoping once we have audiences that I will find moments to check in with them, and play with them a little.

At the Lyric, the audience is very close to the stage, and where I'm situated, I'm sort of up against that house left section, and there's a couple chairs right there. I'm hoping to make the chair that's closest to me a friend throughout that show, and keep coming back to them and checking in with them – which is hard to do [in rehearsal] because we don't have them there yet. In that sense, it'll be a whole other thing once we open.

EDGE: I wonder if the experience will be like your solo show, "Legend of Sleepy Hollow" – for which you won the Elliot Norton Award last year. Congratulations on that!

Paul Melendy: Thank you. I think you're right, and in that show I didn't really know if Paul Melendy, the person, would show up until we had an audience. In that same way, I won't know what this show will be until I have people out there who will give back to me, and I can respond and play with them.

EDGE: The show's got a fantastic cast – Maureen Keiller, Mark Linehan, Ilyse Robbins, Damon Singletary, Kathy St. George, and so many others. It must be a pleasure, even if you're relegated off to the side, to be watching them.

Paul Melendy: Oh, my god. Yeah, I am just in awe watching them, and I get to watch the show every night, which is really great. Just to see these people work is so fun, and I find myself grinning at rehearsal – which is great for the character, because that's exactly the sentiment he's supposed to have. I feel giddy watching these people work at their craft in this way.

EDGE: My favorite line in the show is when Man in Chair says at the end of Act One something like, "You're surprised that I was married? Don't make assumptions about people." In the play as I've seen it, and even when you hear the Broadway cast recording, it seems the actor playing Man in Chair has been directed to play gay a little bit so that the audience will make an assumption: "Obviously, he's gay! He's listening to a musical." Is that how you're playing the role?

Paul Melendy: I think that's correct. A lot of the text lends itself to that idea that he's a gay man, and he talks endlessly about this [fictitious] actor, Percy Hyman – he loves Percy Hyman, and he likes to envision him sweating after a long dance number. I mean, they're not mincing words here. He peppers in a lot of not-so-subtle gay nods throughout, and I'm playing up the gayness of it all. I don't know what word to say here. I don't want to offend anybody.

EDGE: I don't know that it's offensive, although I do think that the flipside here is how the show is making fun of heterosexual high jinks.

Paul Melendy: Yeah, exactly. It definitely plays with that a lot, and pokes fun at the absurdity of it.

EDGE: You need a narrator who's gay, I think, if you're gonna pull that off.

Paul Melendy: I think so. I think he has that flavor, and helps to connect those larger ideas of the play to the audience.

EDGE: A little more serious, though, is how Man in Chair seems to talk about theater in the same way people nostalgic for some golden past era will talk about the way things used to be – an imaginary world where we can feel safe and enjoy ourselves.

Paul Melendy: Yeah. We look at life through rose-tinted glasses, of course, but I think in a broader sense what's great about theater is that no matter where you come from, how you grew up, or what you believe, once we're all in this room we are experiencing the same show together.

"The Drowsy Chaperone" plays at the Lyric Stage Company of Boston from April 5 – May 12. For tickets and more information, follow this link.