Chicago Sun Times
- Recommended
"...“The Drowsy Chaperone” is a musical of preposterous delights. The five-time Tony-winning show’s entire raison d’etre? Providing an escape from — per the script — the endless “dreary horrors” of reality. That escape is a rollicking good time at Theo Ubique’s raucous, intimate staging of a musical that’s both a spoof of the genre and a love letter to it."
Chicago Reader
- Highly Recommended
"...The Drowsy Chaperone, like Slings & Arrows, knows how to balance the ridiculous with the sublime. I’m sure it works just fine in larger productions, but I’m sure glad that Theo’s in-your-lap staging was my first time out with this show."
Stage and Cinema
- Highly Recommended
"...In a cozy, well-used apartment, a small man sits in a comfortable armchair. With his brow furrowed and his voice riddled with anxiety, he talks to us about music. Not just music, but musicals. And not just musicals, but old-fashioned musicals from the 1920s. With silly plots and complicated love triangles. Where the moon is always full and the birds are always singing. Where gangsters can moonlight as pastry chefs. And prohibition is just something to be ignored."
Around The Town Chicago
- Highly Recommended
"...Under the direction of L. Walter Stearns, with musical direction by Eugene Dizon, this musical farce written by Bob Martin & Dan McKellar ( book) and Lisa Lambert & Greg Morrison ( lyrics and music) is one that is seldom seen. In fact, it has been about 20 years or so since I was able to see a production on a full stage with an orchestra."
Chicago Theatre Review
- Highly Recommended
"...I think we can all agree with the Man in the Chair that “the dreary horrors of the real world” seem to continually intrude into our lives. It’s really becoming increasingly difficult to chase away the blues, what with the frightening news that bombards us every day. But THE DROWSY CHAPERONE is an instant cure, a tonic that promises to send our troubles away… at least for a couple of hours. As a love letter to the genre of musical theatre, this production provides its joy and pleasure through a clever, fictional, show-within-a-show. Thanks to director Walter Stearns and his magnificent cast and crew, Theo Ubique can promise audiences an enjoyable and refreshing respite from the blues."
Buzz Center Stage
- Highly Recommended
"...This fun production follows a neurotic musical theatre fan (played by Steve McDonagh) who puts on his favorite record and talks about its fictional history. Thanks to Theo’s inventive seating – a front row made of sofas – the audience feels as if they’re actually in his living too, getting an intimate evening full of laughs as he and the rest of the cast break the fourth wall – even entering and exiting through closet."
Third Coast Review
- Recommended
"...Theo’s cozy, 80-seat, deep-thrust space is encircled by various doors, perfect for slamming when the 13 characters careen in and out of the hijinks, narrated on stage by Man in Chair (a kind Steve McDonagh). He’s an average man in a modest apartment with a refrigerator door full of magnets near a bank of windows (behind which the band plays). To perpetuate the play’s self-awareness, some of the audience actually sit near him onstage at the kitchen table and on some flanking couches (designed by Bob Knuth), where he listens to the record album and explains his love for the fictitious 1928 musical. He needle-drops throughout the cast recording as his favorite musical comes to life, the scratchy recording sounding like the ignition on a time machine."
Chicago On Stage
- Highly Recommended
"...This play is simply a joy and Theo is always an unforgettable experience. No one who love musicals should miss it."
PicksInSix
- Highly Recommended
"...So, it's like this... “The Drowsy Chaperone,” which runs through April 19 at Theo Ubique Cabaret Theatre on the Evanston/Chicago border, is fluff. There's no getting around it, it makes no serious statement about life and its endless issues. It's an absolute distraction from the reality of our world at present. This is all good. The production elements are startlingly immersive and constant in breaking the fourth wall with and for the audience. And one doesn't mind that one bit; this is how energetic and entertaining it is, with its tight, purposeful direction by L. Walter Stearns. It's a piece that plays directly into Mr. Stearns' historical milieu of tried-and-true musicals. You see why as the show unfolds. And it's a joy to watch."
Curtain Call Chicago
- Highly Recommended
"...The Drowsy Chaperone (2006 Tony Award winner for Best Original Score and Best Book of a Musical) at Theo is a witty, heartwarming love letter to and celebration of musical theatre! This show is the fantasy every devotee of musical theater gets and appreciates. It’s a standing ovation inducing evening of laughs and fun! You can feel the energy fill the room in this intimate, classic theater space that was meant to present productions exactly like this one. It’s Theo’s way of reminding us why we all fell in love with musical theater comedy in the first place!"
Allie and the After Party
- Highly Recommended
"...Full of non-stop jokes that have the audience laughing the entire show, The Drowsy Chaperone is a good fit for all theatre lovers and non-theatre lovers alike. Led by the affable Steve McDonagh as the main narrator, the cast delivers a joyful and fun night out at the theatre."
NewCity Chicago
- Highly Recommended
"...Among an exceedingly strong musical cast in this fun, exuberant production of “The Drowsy Chaperone,” the most poignant, disarming performance is delivered by the show’s character who barely sings at all. It’s the character known only as Man in Chair, played with subtlety and humanity by Steve McDonagh, a Chicago actor who, over the years, as it happens, has played in a slew of frothy vintage musicals which “The Drowsy Chaperone” sends up."
