Drowsy Chaperone Welcomes a New Underling for the Summer; It's Curtains for Hibbert

By Kenneth Jones
03 Jul 2006

Edward Hibbert
Edward Hibbert

Edward Hibbert, who created the role of butler Underling in Broadway's Tony Award-winning The Drowsy Chaperone, will step out of the show July 2-Sept. 10 to appear in the new musical, Curtains, in Los Angeles.

The world premiere Center Theatre Group production of Curtains, the musical by John Kander, Fred Ebb, Peter Stone and Rupert Holmes, plays at the 2005 American birthplace of The Drowsy Chaperone — the Ahmanson Theatre. (Drowsy was first developed in Canada and then further refined by an American creative team who worked with the Canadian writers to create the current Broadway show.)

Hibbert is a game character actor known for playing droll Jeevesian roles.

Stepping in as the British butler who is on the receiving end of Georgia Engel's spit takes in Drowsy will be Noble Shropshire. His first performance at the Marquis Theatre will be July 3. Edward Hibbert returns to the show Sept. 12.

Shropshire's Broadway credits include Royal National Theatre's premiere of Tennessee Williams' Not About Nightingales and Candida for Roundabout Theatre Company, as well as Off Broadway's Classic Stage Company productions of Hamlet, Peer Gynt, Tartuffe, Leonce & Lena and more.

For more information, visit www.drowsychaperone.com.