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The Mystery of Edwin Drood (musical)

The Mystery of Edwin Drood is a musical written by Rupert Holmes based on the unfinished Charles Dickens novel of the same name. The show was the first Broadway musical with multiple endings (determined by audience vote). The musical won five Tony Awards, including Best Musical; from among eleven nominations. Holmes received Tony awards for Best Book of a Musical and Best Original Score.

For the Dan Simmons novel, see Drood (novel). For a German succubus, see Drude.

The musical debuted at the New York Shakespeare Festival in August 1985. After being revised, it transferred to Broadway and ran until May 1987, sometimes billed simply as Drood, followed by two national tours and a London West End production. The Roundabout Theatre Company revived the musical in 2012.[1]

History[edit]

Sources[edit]

The musical stages of Charles Dickens' final and unfinished novel The Mystery of Edwin Drood in a style hearkening to British pantomime and music hall genres that had reached a height of popularity around the time of Dickens' death.


As with most of his other novels, Dickens wrote The Mystery of Edwin Drood in episodic installments. It began publication in 1870, but Dickens died suddenly that year from a stroke. He left no notes about how he intended to finish the story. Almost immediately, various authors and playwrights, including Dickens's own son, wrote their own endings.[2] A century later, there were several "collaborations" between the late Dickens and other novelists, numerous theatrical extrapolations, and three film adaptations of the story.[3]


At the time Dickens died, British pantomime styles, distinguished by the importance of audience participation and conventions like the principal boy, reached their height of popularity, and music hall performances with raucous, risqué comedy and a distinct musical style rose to prominence.


Rupert Holmes, the major creative contributor to the musical Drood, spent his early childhood in England. At age three, he was taken to the theater for the first time: a modern "panto" with a cross-dressing lead boy and audience sing-alongs. By age eleven, he was fascinated by mystery books and first discovered the unfinished Dickens novel. Holmes drew on these experiences when impresario Joseph Papp, the creator and head of the New York Shakespeare Festival, approached him to write a new musical.[4]

Concept[edit]

Holmes, a singer-songwriter who recorded the Billboard No. 1 Hit, "Escape (The Piña Colada Song)" and wrote songs for the Platters, the Drifters, Wayne Newton, Dolly Parton, Barry Manilow, and Barbra Streisand, first became interested in writing a musical in 1983. After a nightclub appearance where he performed "story-songs" and shared humorous anecdotes, Holmes received a note from Gail Merrifield, director of play development at the New York Shakespeare Festival and Joseph Papp's wife. She had seen Holmes' performance and wrote suggesting he write a full-length musical.[5]


Holmes conceived the show’s central premises by drawing on his recollections of Dickens' novel and pantomime as a youth, and his later experiences with Victorian-style music hall performances. From the Dickens work, Holmes took the central plot and most of the featured characters. From pantomime, he retained the concept of the "Lead Boy,” always portrayed by a young female in male drag, which permitted him to write a love song sung by two sopranos. Pantomime also inspired the most ground-breaking aspect of Drood: audience participation. From music hall traditions, he created the lead character of "The Chairman,” a sort of Master of Ceremonies instigating stage action.


Holmes wrote the book, the music, the lyrics, and the full orchestrations for Drood, an unusual accomplishment. While Holmes believed no Broadway creator had done this before,[6] and the feat was frequently mentioned in reviews and press about the show, it was more common in the early days of musical theatre. Although songwriters, including Adolf Philipp, had been credited for the books to their musicals,[7] none had also written their own orchestrations.


In writing the book, Holmes deliberately chose not to imitate Dickens's writing style, as he felt it would be too bleak for the show he envisioned. Instead, he employed the device of a "show-within-a-show." The cast members of Drood do not specifically play Dickens's characters; rather, they are music hall players performing as Dickens's characters. This device allowed for the incorporation of light comedy, which was not present in the original novel, and several musical numbers unrelated to the original story. Holmes explained his decision, stating, "This is not Nicholas Nickleby set to music – it's not a Dickensian work. It's light and fun and entertaining. But I hope – I think – that Dickens would have enjoyed it."[8] Holmes also noted that the show “has the same relationship to Dickens that Kiss Me Kate does to The Taming of the Shrew."[9]


Most inventively, Holmes used a novel method to determine the play’s outcome: audience voting. At a break in the show, the audience votes on: who killed Drood, if he was killed; the identity of the mysterious Dick Datchery; and which two characters will become romantically involved, creating a happy ending. Since every audience differs in temperament, the outcome is theoretically unpredictable, even to the actors, who must quickly tally the votes and perform the chosen ending (although some smaller companies will "fix" the results to limit the number of possible endings). This device required Holmes to write numerous short endings to cover every possible voting outcome.

Deviations from the novel[edit]

There are several differences between the musical and the Dickens novel. The most obvious is tone. The original episodes, consistent with Dickens’s style, was bleak. Holmes made the show more lighthearted and comedic. There are also differences in characters. The most notable is Jasper, who Dickens made undoubtedly repressed and troubled. Holmes made him a full-fledged split personality, omitting several of the novel's clues that Jasper is the killer, fabricating new clues implicating other suspects, and explaining that there would be no mystery if Jasper were the obvious killer. Holmes also omitted several minor characters and expanded the roles of others. For example, Bazzard was employed by Rosa's guardian, Mr. Grewgious, in the novel, but he is Crisparkle's assistant in the musical.

The role of Crisparkle was originally portrayed both in the readings and Delacorte production by the actor/playwright, . When Shue died in a plane crash between the show's run at the Delacorte and its opening on Broadway, Rupert Holmes renamed the Music Hall Royale performer who portrayed Crisparkle from Wilfred Barking-Smythe to Cedric Moncrieffe, out of respect for Shue.

Larry Shue

As Drood is metatheatrical, the characters of the play The Mystery of Edwin Drood are played by actors of the "Music Hall Royale", within the production. The following are the dual roles each cast member plays. The actress portraying Miss Alice Nutting/Edwin Drood also performs the role of Dick Datchery up until the Voting portion of the evening. However, this is merely a "bit" within the context of The Music Hall Royale – that Miss Nutting only portrays Datchery due to a contractual obligation for her to appear in both acts of the play. Ultimately, the audience decides who Dick Datchery is within the confines of Dickens' story.

A new song, "A Private Investigation", is offered to replace "Settling Up the Score".

"Off to the Races" swaps places with "The Name of Love/Moonfall (Reprise)" and becomes the Act One finale.

"Ceylon" is replaced by "A British Subject", while "England Reigns" became the new Act Two opening (both numbers had been in the show during the first staged reading in 1985).

Durdles is added as a possible murderer, and a "Murderer's confession" was composed for him, to the tune of "Off to the Races". The confessions of Neville, Helena and Crisparkle were rewritten to be reprises of "A British Subject."

[10]

* Not included on the original cast recording


Reinstated for the 2012 Broadway revival


§ Moved at the end of Act I for the Tams-Witmark licensed version and the 2012 Broadway revival


†† Moved after "Settling Up the Score" for the Tams-Witmark licensed version and the 2012 Broadway revival


For the version of Drood that Tams-Witmark licenses to theater companies, Holmes made a variety of changes to the score and libretto, many of which reflect the versions seen in the 1987 London production and the 1988 North American touring production. The numbers "A Man Could Go Quite Mad," "Ceylon," "Settling Up the Score," and the quartet reprise of "Moonfall" are not standard but are provided as "additional material" that theaters can choose to perform at their options.

Productions[edit]

After Rupert Holmes wrote an initial draft that lasted three-and-a-half hours, and performed it, solo, for Joseph Papp, Gail Merrifield, and Wilford Leach, (the New York Shakespeare Festival's artistic director), Papp offered to produce the show as part of the Festival (also known as "Shakespeare in the Park"), and told Holmes that it would be immediately transferred to Broadway if it was deemed a success.[4] The original production of The Mystery of Edwin Drood premiered in New York City's Central Park at the Delacorte Theatre on August 21, 1985 after only three weeks of rehearsals. Notably, Holmes conceived most of the orchestrations himself, a rarity for a Broadway composer.


After the final Festival performance on September 1, preparations for the Broadway transfer (retaining the original cast) immediately got underway. Following a great deal of editing (the Delacorte version contained 32 original songs and was nearly three hours long)[18] The Mystery of Edwin Drood opened on Broadway at the Imperial Theatre on December 2, 1985. The show ran for 608 performances (not including 24 previews), and closed on May 16, 1987. The Broadway production was produced by Papp and directed by Leach, with choreography by Graciela Daniele.


The opening night cast of the Broadway production starred George Rose, Cleo Laine, John Herrera, Howard McGillin, Patti Cohenour, and Jana Schneider, who were all nominated for 1986 Tony Awards for their performances, as well as Betty Buckley in the title role. Donna Murphy, Judy Kuhn, and Rob Marshall were members of the ensemble. Marshall, who would later become best known as a theater/film director-choreographer, was the Dance Captain and Graciela Daniele's assistant choreographer. Kuhn (in her Broadway debut) served as the understudy to both Buckley and Cohenour, and then left in 1986 for her featured roles in Rags and, later, Les Mis. Before the show ended its run, Murphy, who was understudy to Cleo Laine and Jana Schneider, took over the title role. Other notable replacements during the show's run included Alison Fraser (taking over for Jana Schneider), Paige O'Hara (taking over for Donna Murphy as Drood after being her understudy), as well as Loretta Swit and later Karen Morrow, who stepped into Laine's roles.[19]


In 1988, several months after closing on Broadway, a slightly-revised version of Drood, directed by Rob Marshall (with his sister Kathleen as his assistant), began its first North America tour at the Kennedy Center Opera House in Washington, DC, with Rose, Schneider and O'Hara reprising their leads, and Jean Stapleton playing Laine's role.[20] During a break in the tour George Rose returned to his home in the Dominican Republic, and was murdered during his stay. Rose was succeeded by Clive Revill.


The show, also enjoyed a 1987 West End run at the Savoy Theatre in London, a second U.S. national tour,[4] a production at the Shaw Festival in Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ontario, Canada, and numerous regional and professional and amateur theatrical productions worldwide.[21] In 2007–08, a London revival, presented as a chamber piece and directed by Ted Craig, ran at the Warehouse Theatre.[22]


In 2012, a London West End revival of the musical played at the Arts Theatre for a limited season from 18 May. The cast was headed by Wendi Peters as Princess Puffer, with Natalie Day as Edwin Drood, Daniel Robinson as John Jasper and Victoria Farley as Rosa Budd. The production was directed by Matthew Gould.[23]


The Roundabout Theatre Company presented a Broadway revival at Studio 54, which opened in November 2012 and ran for 136 performances through March 10, 2013. The production was directed by Scott Ellis, and starred Chita Rivera as Puffer, Stephanie J. Block as Drood, Will Chase as Jasper, Jim Norton as the Chairman and Gregg Edelmann as Crisparkle.[24]

Bawer, Carol. . Betty Buckley the Official Website. Retrieved 2007-09-02.

"The Mystery of Edwin Drood"

at the Internet Broadway Database

​The Mystery of Edwin Drood​

Licensing agency Concord/Tams-Witmark

on YouTube

1986 Tony Awards broadcast performance

on YouTube

2013 Tony Awards compilation

Archived 2011-01-19 at the Wayback Machine

Tribute page for the original Broadway production