The Mystery of Edwin Drood

[ForTheLoveOfLea]

Posted: 5/27/05 at 3:59pm

Can anyone break this musical down for me? I know next to nothing of the plot and I saw a part of it on TV as done by a high school for a Tony-like award show for high schools. Any help I can get would be much appreciated. Thanks guys!

[South Fl Marc]

Posted: 5/27/05 at 4:07pm

This isn't my summary , just something I found - hope it helps.

Synopsis



At the beginning of the show, the actors of the Music Hall Royale. The actors led by the Chairman welcome the audience to the musical hall (“There You Are”)

Act 1



The story then begins in earnest with Edwin Drood preparing to leave for Egypt to build the Cairo Transverse. Drood arrives at his Uncle Jasper’s house where they affirm their friendship (“Two Kinsmen”). We then see the fair Miss Rosa Budd at her music lesson where she is forced to sing the music teacher’s (the very same Mr. John Japser) new composition (“Moonfall”). After meeting the landless twins, we travel to the London opium den of the mysterious Princess Puffer where she warns us of the “Wages of Sin”. We then discover that John Jasper is one of Puffer’s clients and after he drinks some laudanum we see “Japser’s Vision”.



We then return to lovely Cloisterham, where Drood, and Neville get into one of there many fights about Rosa, Neville is infatuated to say the least; Drood is not amused, and Drood, Rosa, and Rev. Crisparkle remind the Landless twins that as they are from Cylon they are only colonialists and not truly English (“A British Subject”). After Drood and Rosa run off with Neville and Helena following, John Jasper and Mayor Thomas Sapsea remind us all that there are two sides to every man (“Both Sides of the Coin”).



It is now Christmas Eve and we join Drood and Rosa taking a nice even stroll through the Cloisterham cemetery… after talking for a few moments they realize that they are both unhappy about their coming marriage. If they had only been “Perfect Strangers” then things might have been different, they are more like brother and sister than soon to be husband and wife.



A short time later, we find ourselves at John Jasper’s house. Drood, Rosa, Neville, Helena and Rev. Chrisparkle are all there for Christmas dinner. However, after Japser serves them some more potent wine (ok, it’s laudanum), and a fight ensues, but we are reminded that “No Good Can Come from Bad”. After dinner all part ways, and as Drood leave to take a walk down to the River, there is burst of lightening and an ominus crash of thunder, and as drood walkes into the night it is the last we will ever see of him…



The next morning, the storm has passed. There is no sign of Drood. A mob going and tracks down Neville as he was the last person seen with Drood, and their rivalry is well know, however they must release him for there is not body and without a body there can be no proof of murder.



The Music Hall Royale then takes a short break. First to give one of there own his 15 minutes of fame (“Never The Luck”), and then to to remind the audience to be led, “Off to the Races”.



Act 2



We begin at two at the Cloisterham train station were a train is just arriving… ‘Two enquiring sleuths are about to appear on the scene’ one is the Princess Puffer, the other is a mysterious man called Dick Datchery. They have arrived in Cloisterham to begin “A Private Investigation”.



The next night we find that John Jasper has tracked down Rosa Budd in the streets of Cloisterhan. He confesses his love for her but she rejects the wicked man (“The Name of Love” & “Moonfall (reprise)”). After the scene in the street clears, Puffer tells us ”Don’t Quit While Your Ahead.” This builds into a full-fledged production number, and then the show collapses. We have reached the end of Dickens’ unfinished novel. Therefore the Players of the Music Hall Royale to vote not only on who is the murder, but also on the real identity of the detective Dick Datchery as he must be one of the characters we have met previously… And finally on a pair of lovers for the evening.



The ended chosen by the audience is then preformed. Firth though we hear “Puffer’s Revolation” and how she was led down “The Garden Path to Hell”. Datchery then tell how Jasper is “Out on a Limerick”. Jasper is then dragged on stage where he confesses (“Japser’s Confession”) but Durdles, the drunken Cloisterham gravedigger says that Jasper is not the real killer and names the audiences choice. The Murderer then Confesses to his crime (“Murderer’s Confession”). The murderer is dragger off.

Then so that we have a happy ending at the Music Hall Royale, the chosen lovers sing a love song (“Perfect Stangers” [reprise]). And just when you thought the evening was over, young Edwin Drood returns from beyond the grave, to say that though he has seen “The Writing on the Wall”, that you would persevere though it all and you come out ok, ‘or something along those lines’.



FINE

[Act4ever]

Posted: 5/27/05 at 4:24pm

You must be talking about the Cappies!!!

[Katecab99]

Posted: 5/27/05 at 10:41pm

my university did it last year...i SO wish i had seen it!

[B-WayHereEyeCome]

Posted: 5/28/05 at 12:13am

It's an AWESOME musical. It's so interactive with the audience, the fourth wall pretty much disappears. I was just in a college production of it and it was loads of fun. Thirty minutes before show time the whole cast is in the audience mingling with various British, cockney, Irish, etc. accents chatting it up with the audience.

Throughout the play there is constant communication with the audience, via the Chairman, and other characters, and the audience gets to choose a Detective searching for the murderer, the Murderer, and the two lovers for each show, each decision coming with a song of course.

The cast of our show actually got to meet Rupert Holmes, the man who composed the music and wrote the lyrics. He's a great guy, so gracious, and really helped us a lot with our interpretation of the show. Talked to us about trying to make it on Broadway, the Tony experience, working with actors such as Betty Buckley, Donna Murphy, Cleo Laine, Barbra Streisand, etc., and told us hilarious stories about all of them. Really an awesome guy.

[jam_man]

Posted: 5/28/05 at 12:38am

It's an extremely fun musical which won 5 Tonys in 1986, including best musical. It stared (originally) Howard McGillin, Cleo Laine, Betty Buckley (as a woman playing a man), Donna Murphy and Rob Marshal both in the ensemble, and Tony winner George Rose.

Anyway, it's based on Charles Dickens' uncompleted murder mystery novel, The Mystery of Ediwn Drood. It is set up in an old 1890's music hall in a form Rupert Holmes (and myself) describes as "British vaudeville." And because Dickens never finished it in life (he died about two/thirds through it), the audience is allowed to vote on the ending. Our HS did it my freshman year, and it was a BLAST!!!!! I also got to see it at the St. Louis Rep. this past December, and it was very, very well done. If you ever get a chance to see it, especially at a place that you know does high quality productions, you should definetly see it.

BTW, speaking of Drood, does anyone know where I can find a recording of the OBC for a reasonable price? At least according to Amazon.com, it's so rare that the only new/used copies they have are $82.99!

[buffyactsing]

Posted: 5/28/05 at 1:32am

Try going to your local library and see if they have it. Then burn it. I know it's not the same, but it's better than nothing if you haven't the money.

[~FloweryFriend~]

Posted: 5/28/05 at 1:53am

Thanks for posting the summary!

Posted: 5/28/05 at 8:26am

I have to admit, the score has some stunners: The magnificent Ms. Patti Cohenour along with none other than the amazing Ms. Judy Kuhn singing a female quartet of a song titled "Moonlight" (a haunting melody!); Betty Buckley and Howard McGillin singing one of Broadway's best duets in "Perfect Strangers"; Betty busting out an amazing finale in "Writing on the Wall"...Ahhh, find this cd and enjoy! This is a ton of fun....Now for the bad news...The show itself was too long, a bit boring in places and I can't say actually watching the show was particularly exciting...Sure, there were gimmicks like audience participation, but...

[FranklinShepard-Inc.]

Posted: 5/28/05 at 8:34am

Fantastic show, unusual score. More info on the Betty Buckly hp, including a broad synopsis and even all of the lyrics as far as I know.

[babygiraffeboots]

Posted: 5/28/05 at 9:33am

I really need to familiarize myself with the show considering the fact the I semi-know him. Rupert Holmes is incredibly nice and supportive. I also encourage people to read his books. I'm currently reading Swing! which I really like (it also has CD that comes along with it with clues in the songs and things). Where the Truth Lies was recently filmed with Kevin Bacon, Allison Loheman(sp?), and Colin Firth.

Updated On: 5/28/05 at 09:33 AM

[elphieisperky]

Posted: 5/28/05 at 10:36am

I was in this show at my theater place in January. It was amazing learning experience for me and my fellow actors. I know it sounds cheesy, but we really bonded. We're doing Seussical now, and it's not as much fun because there's more people in the cast, the new people are bothering me (they went shopping in the middle of rehearsal), and since we all know Seussical, it's a different experience. But Drood is a great play. Continue research on it!
Updated On: 5/28/05 at 10:36 AM

[DANDINI]

Posted: 8/6/05 at 5:45pm

I agree with you about the stunning score, but not the boring moments! I saw it several times, and never once felt bored or noticed the audience being bored. Perhaps you were having a sleepy night when you saw it, because, to set the record straight, "Perfect Strangers" is a duet sung by Drood and Rosa Bud (i.e. Buckley and Cohenour) and could never have been sung by Howard McGillin. At the end, when the audience picks the evening's pair of lovers, McGillin was sometimes chosen to sing the duet, but could not possibly have sung it with his nephew, Edwin Drood! Drood is, at any rate, supposedly dead at that moment, until he/she re-appears to stun the audience with "Writing on the Wall."

Posted: 8/6/05 at 6:05pm

I've bid on three seperate cds of this show on ebay and lost all three times. The lowest price it's gone for is 65.00
Jam PM me.