Evan Doornberg has been in acting classes at Coquitlam's Dr. Charles Best secondary since Grade 9.
And, like last year when he played John Hale in The Crucible, the Grade 12 student will be taking on the lead role in the spring production.
The thing is, his character doesn't do much but sit around and daydream.
But that's okay with Doornberg. "I actually wanted the part because I didn't have to sing or dance much," Doornberg said with a laugh.
He portrays The Man in Chair in The Drowsy Chaperone, a musical that was recently done by students at Capilano University and Trinity Western University.
Best is debuting it in School District 43, said drama teacher Brad Case.
Still, while Doornberg is the passive narrator in the dingy apartment, his 26 other cast mates set the stage alight two hours a night for 10 shows this and next month in the musical that includes gangsters and a whole lot of glamour.
Based on the book by Bob Martin and Don McKellar, with music and lyrics by Lisa Lambert and Greg Morrison, The Drowsy Chaperone is a parody of American musical comedy of the 1920s.
It zeros in on the middle-aged man who tries to escape his blues by listening to his deceased mother's record of her favourite musical, the fictional 1928 hit called The Drowsy Chaperone. "He finds a lot of happiness in another world, which he's not supposed to do," Doornberg, 18, said.
It starts with the wedding day of oil tycoon Robert Martin and Broadway star Janet Van De Graaff of the Follies. Plenty of well-heeled flapper guests are in attendance but there are also two gangsters disguised as pastry chefs, a Latin lover, an aviatrix and Van De Graaff's alcoholic chaperone.
Case said the musical includes many talented students including Kelsie James (who is due to study acting at Sheridan College this fall) and Connor Briggs, a Grade 11 student who already has television and commercial credits.
Also, the dozen or so students in the orchestra pit are being directed by music teacher Brent Hughes of Align Entertainment, which this year won an Ovation Award for its inaugural production, Shrek The Musical, and in February produced The Addams Family at the Michael J. Fox Theatre.
"We are one of the few schools to have a live orchestra for our show and it makes it makes all the difference," Doornberg said.
Tickets for The Drowsy Chaperone are $15/$12 at Dr. Charles Best secondary (2525 Como Lake Ave., Coquitlam). The show runs April 29 to May 2 and May 6 to 9 at 7:30 p.m.
