Music and comedy come together in Southern Theatre’s upcoming production of The Drowsy Chaperone, a spoof of musical comedy in the 1920s.

Featuring music and lyrics by Lisa Lambert and Greg Morrison and book by Bob Martin and Don McKellar, the show will run March 5-8, with performances each night at 7:30 p.m. in the Taylor Performing Arts Center.

“It’s a collision of the world of the musical and the real world,” said director Ann Lile, assistant professor of theatre.

According to Lile, the show is multi-layered, taking place in “real time” as well as in the musical world. When the character Man in Chair begins to play his favorite cast album on his turntable, the show comes to life in his living room, with him providing a running commentary.

“It’s fun, it’s interesting. It’s a different way of telling the story,” said Lile, “because all of these characters show up in his living room.”

The “show-within-the show” is the fictitious 1928 musical The Drowsy Chaperone, which follows Broadway starlet Janet Van de Graaf on her wedding day. The undeniable parodies of musical comedy in that era are evident with comical gangsters, dream sequences and, most notably, a tipsy chaperone.

“The style of the show is different than anything I get to do very regularly,” said Devri Brock, senior theatre major, who will be playing the role of Janet. “That 1920s glamour and overacting – it’s very big and very dramatic.”

Admission is $2 for MSSU students, $3 for MSSU faculty and staff, $4 for non-MSSU students and senior citizens, and $5 for adults. For more information contact Southern’s Theatre Department at (417) 625-9393.