Tony Winner The Drowsy Chaperone Recoups $8 Million Producer Investment

Following on the heels of The Color Purple, another 2006 Best Musical Tony Award nominee is announcing that the initial investment of its producers has been recouped: The Drowsy Chaperone. In just seven months since its May 1 opening night, producers report, the musical comedy has paid back its $8 million capitalization over Thanksgiving week.

In a statement, producer Kevin McCollum said: “I am delighted that we were able to recoup in a relatively short thirty week period of time. It is a tribute to the authors, creative team, our brilliant cast and my fellow producers who all believed in the show from the beginning.”

In The Drowsy Chaperone, a modern day musical theater addict known simply as Man in Chair drops the needle on his favorite LP: the 1928 musical comedy The Drowsy Chaperone. From the crackle of his hi-fi, the musical comes to life on stage, telling the tale of a pampered Broadway starlet who wants to give up show business to get married, her producer who sets out to sabotage the nuptials, her chaperone, the debonair groom, the dizzy chorine, the Latin lover and a pair of gangsters who double as pastry chefs.

With direction and choreography by Casey Nicholaw, The Drowsy Chaperone was the winner of five Tony Awards including Best Book of a Musical by leading man Bob Martin and Don McKellar and Best Score by Lisa Lambert and Greg Morrison. It is produced by McCollum, Roy Miller, Boyett Ostar, Stephanie McClelland, Barbara Freitag and Jill Furman.

In addition to Martin, the show stars Danny Burstein, Georgia Engel, Sutton Foster, Edward Hibbert, Troy Britton Johnson, Eddie Korbich, Garth Kravits, Jason Kravits, Beth Leavel, Kecia Lewis-Evans, Bob Martin, Jennifer Smith, Lenny Wolpe, Andrea Chamberlain, Jay Douglas, Stacia Fernandez, Linda Griffin, Angela Pupello, Kilty Reidy, Joey Sorge and Patrick Wetzel.