Go! review

The Man in Chair is feeling a little blue, so he drops the needle on his record player on “The Drowsy Chaperone,” one of his favorite Broadway musicals.

The play-within-a-play features some of the biggest stars from the 1920s in a romp that takes place in a swank hotel where a wedding is about to take place between a Broadway diva and a rich society boy, and the plot, more or less, revolves around the notion that it’s bad luck for the groom to see the bride on the wedding day. But there’s also a cigar-chomping producer who doesn’t want her to leave his show and has to deal with two mob bagmen disguised as pastry chefs who are there to make sure the wedding doesn’t go off.

But plot is secondary to the splash and glamour of the production and the Man in Chair’s sardonic commentary. He loves musical theater, but also recognizes how silly, trite and over-the-top Broadway can be, especially considering his apartment is taken over by the colorful cast.

The music is more or less true to the era, and there are all the required elements: A big chorus number, a saucy tap number and even a heart-wrenching lament from the bride, although the lyrics,  having to do with monkeys and organ grinders, doesn’t quite fit in with the musical style.

The cast has some star power in Georgia Engel as Mrs. Tottendale, the hostess for the wedding, a role she originated on Broadway. Engel is probably best known to television audiences as Georgette, Ted Baxter’s wife in “The Mary Tyler Moore Show,” a role that earned her two Emmy nominations. Here, her major contribution aside from her energy and distinctive voice, is her ability to do a spit take several times over.

Because it’s as much a parody of musical theater as it is a tribute, “The Drowsy Chaperone” gets away with using and over-using the all the cliches of the genre to great satirical effect, making it an enjoyable show for those who loathe musical theatre as well as those who love it as much as Man in Chair.

• WHAT: “The Drowsy Chaperone”
• WHERE: Aronoff Center for the Arts, 650 Walnut St., Cincinnati
• WHEN: Through Sunday
• COST: $22-$62
• MORE INFO: (513) 241-7469; www.drowsychaperone.com