The Mystery of Edwin Drood (musical)
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The Mystery of Edwin Drood was a Broadway musical based on the Charles Dickens novel of the same name. The music, lyrics, and book were all composed by Rupert Holmes. It opened in 1985 and ran for 604 performances, closing in May 1987 [1]. The Broadway production won 5 Tony Awards for Musical, Book, Score, Director and Actor in the 1985/1986 season. It also won nine Drama Desk Awards and an Edgar Award for Best Play.
Since Dickens died before he was able to complete the book, and thus before the murderer of Edwin Drood was revealed, Holmes employed a novel method of determining the outcome of the story: the audience votes on it. Since every audience differs in temperament, the outcome is unpredictable even to the actors, who must quickly tally the votes and commence with the chosen ending. In addition, the audience votes on the identity of the mysterious detective Dick Datchery, and also on which two characters will become romantically involved in the end, thus creating a happy ending. Betty Buckley, Cleo Laine, George Rose, Donna Murphy, Judy Kuhn, and Howard McGillin were in the cast.
The recording of this show is somewhat different from the available libretto and score. Some musical numbers are altered or replaced by others.
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[edit] Correlation
As Drood is metatheatrical, the characters of the play "The Mystery of Edwin Drood" are played by actors of the Theatre Royale, within the production.
- Mayor Sapsea: Chairman William Cartwright
- Drood: Miss Alice Nutting
- Rosa: Miss Deirdre Peregrine
- Jasper: Mr. Clive Paget
- Puffer: Miss Angela Prysock
- Crisparkle: Mr. Cedric Moncrieffe
- Neville: Mr. Victor Grinstead
- Helena: Miss Janet Conover
- Bazzard: Mr. Philip Bax (who also plays the waiter in "No Good Can Come from Bad")
- Durdles: Mr. Nick Cricker
- Deputy: Master Nick Cricker
- Horace: Mr. Nicholas Michael
[edit] Musical Numbers
[edit] Act I
1. There You Are (Chairman, Angela, Deirdre, Clive, Company)
2. A Man Could Go Quite Mad (Jasper)
3. Two Kinsmen (Jasper and Drood)
4. Moonfall (Rosa)
5. Moonfall (Reprise) (Rosa and Helena or Rosa and Jasper)
6. The Wages of Sin (Puffer)
7. Jasper's Vision (dream ballet)
8. Ceylon or A British Subject (Drood, Rosa, Helena, Neville, Company)
9. Both Sides of the Coin (Chairman and Jasper)
10. Perfect Strangers (Rosa and Drood)
11. No Good Can Come From Bad (Jasper, Rosa, Drood, Neville, Helena, Crisparkle, waiter)
12. Never the Luck (Bazzard, Company)
13. Off to the Races (Chairman, Durdles, Deputy, Company)
[edit] Act II
14. Settling Up the Score or A Private Investigation (Puffer, Datchery, Company)
15. The Name of Love & Moonfall (Jasper, Rosa, Company)
16. Don't Quit While You're Ahead (Puffer, Datchery, Company)
17. The Garden Path to Hell (Puffer)
18. Puffer's Revelation (Puffer)
19. Out on a Limerick [2]
20. Jasper's Confession (Jasper)
21. Murderer's Confession [3]
22. Perfect Strangers (reprise) [4]
23. The Writing on the Wall (Drood, Company)
[edit] Notes and References
- ^ The Mystery of Edwin Drood at The Internet Broadway Database
- ^ This song is obviously performed by a variety of people, depending upon who the audience votes as Datchery. Previous songs sung by Datchery are performed by the actress playing Drood, since her character is dead by that point.
- ^ If Jasper has been voted the murderer, there is no song here. If, however, someone else has been chosen, Jasper still confesses, but is revealed to have only thought himself of committing the murder, since he is schizophrenic and is the prime suspect. The actual murderer then sings his/her own confession here.
- ^ Immediately before this song, the audience votes for the Lovers from among six males and three females (with the exception of the Murderer). They speak a few lines specific to the pairing and sing this duet.
