A Musical by Rupert Holmes
Original Broadway production produced by
The New York Shakespeare Festival, Joseph Papp, Producer
QUICK REVIEW:
This wildly warm-hearted theatrical experience kicks off when the Music Hall Royale (a hilariously loony Victorian musical troupe) "puts on" its flamboyant rendition of an unfinished Dickens mystery. The story itself deals with John Jasper, a Jekyll-and-Hyde choirmaster who is quite madly in love with his music student, the fair Miss Rosa Bud. Now, Miss Bud is, in turn, engaged to Jasper's nephew, young Edwin Drood. Our title character disappears mysteriously one stormy Christmas Eve-but has Edwin Drood been murdered? And if so, then whodunnit? Musical numbers include The Wage of Sin, Perfect Strangers, Both Sides of the Coin, Don't Quit While You're Ahead and Moonfall. The giddy playfullness of this play-within-a-play draws the audience toward one of DROOD'S most talked-about features, which allows the audience to vote on the solution as prelude to the most unusual and hilarious finale!
AWARDS (1985-86):
5 Tony Awards for Musical, Book, Score, Director and Actor
8 Drama Desk Awards for Musical, Music, Book,
Orchestration, Director, Costume Design, Actor and
Featured Actress
5 Outer Critics Circle Awards for Broadway Musical,
Choreography, Costume Design, Set Design and
Lighting Design
BRIEF HISTORY:
This wildly warm-hearted free-for-all originated in the round, then transferred to Broadway's Imperial Theatre for 608 performances. It also played on London's West End.
SYNOPSIS:
Act One opens as the members of
the Music Hall Royale circulate among the audience, introducing themselves
to the patrons, the Chairman of the proceedings bursts forth with the
show's opening number There You Are. They then introduce John
Jasper, the "Jekyll and Hyde" choirmaster who greets his young
nephew Edwin Drood. Drood is engaged to the fair Miss Rosa Bud, who is
Jasper's music pupil and the object of his mad obsession-Moonfall.
The kindly Reverend Crisparkle and two exotic emigrants from Ceylon,
Helena and Neville Landless, arrive. Neville is immediately attracted to
Rosa, which makes him a rival to both Edwin and the secretive Jasper.
Next we travel to London and the sinister
opium den of the Princess Puffer who clowns with the audience, and
explains her life in the hilarious and entertaining Wages of Sin. A
sinewy ballet dance follows. We discover that one of Puffer's regular
clients is none other than Jasper himself, who cries out the name
"Rosa Bud" during a hallucination. Puffer shows great interest
in this fact, and stores it away in her memory.
Back in Cloisterham, Neville and Drood meet
and come to odds with each other almost immediately. Mayor Sapsea sings of
this in the patter song Both Sides of the Coin. We are then
introduced to the drunken stone mason Durdles, and his assistant Deputy.
In the graveyard, they tell us that Edwin and Rosa have called off their
engagement-Perfect Strangers.
It is Christmas Eve and Jasper has arranged
a 'reconciliating' dinner for the Landless twins, Crisparkle, Rosa and
Drood-No Good Can Come from Bad. Jasper serves a particularly
potent wine to his guests. Soon, the party disbands and the guests depart
into a violent storm.
The next day Drood has vanished.
Crisparkle's assistant discovers Edwin's torn coat by the river. Drood was
last seen walking there with Neville the night before. The cast summarizes
the situation and launches into the rousing Off to the Races.
Act Two begins six months later, and
still there is no sign of Drood. There is much speculation as to his fate.
Two sleuths arrive from out of town. One is Princess Puffer, and the other
is a detective-in-disguise named Dick Datchery-A Private Investigation.
One by one the characters reenter and build to the rousing kick-line
number Don't Quit While You're Ahead. The company seems about to
reveal the solution to the mystery when...the number and the play stop
abruptly. The Chairman reveals that here is where Charles Dickens laid
down his pen forever!
The play is now thrown open to the audience
while the Chairman and Company review the various suspects' motives and
plot possibilities. In a series of unique voting events, amid much
cheering (and booing and hissing of the villains), the audience determines
the conclusion of the show.