The Drowsy Chaperone

I think another musical that uses a similar technique, which might be easier to understand and help with understanding The Drowsy Chaperone, is Into the Woods.  When we see the Narrator in Into the Woods we can easily compare him to the Man in The Drowsy Chaperone.  Both characters offer what appears to be commentary on a show they are not a part of.  In reality they are both characters of these musicals and not outsiders. 
The Man’s first lines are “I hate theatre.”  He goes on to explain what about modern theatre he despises in comparison to those composed in the 1920s.  The Man thoroughly primes us to appreciate whatever follows, which turns out to be one of those intricately and improbably plotted tales of love in crisis involving a wide range of characters including gangsters, show people, millionaires and servants. The cast members are bright and eager and energetic, but with a couple of exceptions they don't quite grasp what it is they're sending up.  Appropriately for an age in which self-consciousness has become as essential and expected as the element of human communication these notions are seemingly questioned in this musical.  They seem to be challenging the notion of ‘fluff’ versus strong dramatic themes. 

Show and Tell #3 - The Roaring Girl

The Roaring Girl is another example of collaborative drama from the English Renaissance era.  Here Thomas Middleton and Thomas Decker base their title character on a living person.  This is one of the first accounts extant of a theatrical depiction of a living person.  The character Moll Cutpurse is based off Mary Frith a woman notorious for dressing like a man, brawling, and theft.  There is also documented evidence that Mary Frith attended a performance of The Roaring Girl, sat on the edge of the stage, and interacted with the actors and audience.  This play was written in 1611 and first performed at the Fortune Theatre.
            In The Roaring Girl a nobleman, Sebastian, wishes to marry a woman Mary Fitzallard.  His father disapproves of the marriage due to Mary’s dowry.  Sebastian attempts to place Mary in a better view with his father by pretending to be infatuated with Moll.  His father however hires Trapdoor to pin Moll in the act of a capitol crime and thus ruin Moll.  Moll of course is not corrupted by these actions and helps the lovers unite by the end of the play.
            One of the biggest notions of this play is gender and identity.  Moll is a woman who takes up the clothing and actions of a man.  She adopts male attire deliberately and publicly.  There is an androgyny in her apparel where masculine and feminine attributes signify her nature.  The play itself devotes a considerable attention to the clothes she wears.  When she first enters the text notes that Moll wears a frieze jacket, a man’s coat, and a black safeguard, a woman’s outer shirt.  Later a tailor approaches her to discuss the clothes that she has ordered, specifically a new pair of breeches.  When Sir Alexander fears that his son wishes to marry Moll he states “I have brought up my son to marry a Dutch slop and a French doublet: a codpiece daughter.”  The visual semiotics that worked as stable codes delineating masculinity from femininity in other plays are purposefully crossed here. 
            Moll does not merely bend the rules governing apparel on the early modern stage; but she breaks them entirely.  She breaks them so thoroughly that she is defined by her deviancy.  Before she appears on the stage Moll is described as the exception to the rules governing the visual presentation of masculinity and femininity.  However all of the other characters in the play cling firmly to the visual codes governing gender that maintained in early modern drama.  Only Moll presents an exception and in doing so she fails to change the rules.  Moll is an exception to the society’s rules governing women’s behavior and dress but not a fundamental threat too the sex-gender system or the visual codes of the stage.  Although she is desired by men Moll has no sexual interest in them and refuses to ever marry.  Moll’s character strengthens the rules of the English Renaissance Era while being a deviant for the ways herself.

On the Verge

I think images that are more personal for each character instead of the obvious umbrellas and eggbeaters would make for a fun design.  For example letters and a tiara could symbolize Fanny, while Chick-lits and a camera could symbolize Alex.  Mary’s images could possibly be a honeycomb and her essays.  In addition typical hiking gear may also be incorporated since these three women are on a journey.  Objects such as rope, a compass, and a map could be intermingled with the personal items.  The central focus images should be the three journals with the ladies names on each.  The journal moments reveal private information of the characters and end each scene.  Since their position in the play is so essential it seems appropriate that they should be central to the poster. 

Personally I believe that Mr. Coffee is the spirit of Grover.  He tells Fanny that he had only met Grover once on the day he committed suicide.  He knows a great deal of personal information about Grover, which logically would not have been gleaned in one day.  It appears that Mr. Coffee knew Grover on a more personal level yet he relates that he only met Grover once on the day he died.  So it seems reasonable to assume that he is Grover’s spirit to have met him once on the day he died and to also know the abundance of personal information about Grover that he reveals.