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ASHLAND -- The show with the most 2006 Tony Awards of any musical on Broadway is setting up shop at the Paramount Arts Center in a 7 p.m. show Saturday.

Tickets are $10-$60.

"The Drowsy Chaperone" is set in the apartment of the lonely, witty Man in Chair, who serves as narrator and commentator for the evening. He puts on a favorite cast album of an obscure 1920s musical (called "The Drowsy Chaperone"), and as he shares his enthusiasm and observations about the show with the audience, the musical springs to life in his apartment.

It all emerged from humble beginnings.

"It was a gift for my wedding in 1998 ... performed at a stag and doe party," said writer Bob Martin. "Lisa (Lambert, one of the writers) was my best man -- she's my oldest friend -- so it was her responsibility to arrange entertainment for the party. I had said 'no strippers.' She rallied together a lot of my friends who are writers, performers and comedians in Toronto. And they wrote this short, fictional, 1920s musical called 'The Drowsy Chaperone.'"

The show made its way to the Toronto Fringe Festival, endured a few changes, and the script got shopped around for a few years in New York. Garnering the last spot in the National Alliance for Musical Theatre's Festival of New Musicals, the team got the attention of Kevin McCollum, who got the production on Broadway in a year and a half.

The show has been described in a number of ways, including "a musical within a comedy" and a spoof of old musicals, but most notably as doing what a musical is supposed to do: "make you feel happy when you are blue."

For tickets or more information, call 606-324-3175 or go online at www. paramountartscenter.com.

Courtesy of Peter Coombs Photography

Elizabeth Pawlowski and the cast of the national tour of ÒThe Drowsy Chaperone.Ó The show will be performed Saturday, Feb. 28, at the Paramount Arts Center in Ashland.

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Courtesy of Peter Coombs Photography

Robert Micheli and Leigh Wakeford in the national tour of "The Drowsy Chaperone." The show will be performed Saturday, Feb. 28, at the Paramount Arts Center in Ashland.

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