The Mystery of Edwin Drood - Excitement Level?- Page 5

[dave1606]

Posted: 10/21/12 at 9:58pm

This is a little show that snuck up and became one of my favorites of the season. It is hard to get the excitement level up for a roundabout revival of anything, but I really thought it was generally excellent.

Stephanie J. Block for me was a standout and Writing on the Wall was really thrilling. I also loved her exit earlier in act two.

Costumes were fantastic, and I loved the set design.

I thought Chita was so charismatic and that she looked and sounded fantastic. (My first time seeing her live). I was happy to see her ending today.

One of the biggest standouts though was Jim Norton. He is always excellent and proved to be no different here.


Looking back over the matinee today I keep thinking about how many standouts there were in the cast.(I would be remiss without mentioning will Chase too).

Overall I loved it. I want to keep going back to see different endings. Highly recommended.

[ChairinMain]

Posted: 10/22/12 at 12:47am

Maybe because my excitement level was EXTREMELY high, I enjoyed it immensely.Terrific Ensemble cast; I won't single out a highlight because I thought it was perfectly cast.

I disagree with the contention that Betsy Wolf needs to play up the melodrama in her performance; Rosa has the most serious music of the show to sing and it works getter if she's basically normal. Remember, The chairman describes the show as a Musicale Comedy with Dramatic interludes. Rosa's the "Dramatic Interludes" bit. I won't contest the idea that Jessie Mueller needs to go weirder with Helena, but I wouldn't call her miscast.

I'm on the fence about the swapped placement of "Off to the Races" and "The Name of Love." On one hand, I think the power of the later is a bit diminished by not closing the act, but I think the power of "Off to the races" is much closer to the mood of the show and a better act one closer thematically. I'd say the restoration of "An English Music Hall" to start the second act is more of an issue; it feels superfluous. Also, Durdles was chosen as the Murderer tonight; which is not a result I am particularly fond of; I feel like there's no reason for him to be among the suspects.

There were some issues tonight with the sound levels early on in both acts, and during "Don't quit while you're ahead" Rosa's parasol broke, which was pretty funny, and Chita's flask got stuck in her pocket and she had to vamp while she fished it out (But it's that kind of number.)

[somethingwicked]

Posted: 10/22/12 at 1:00am

Chairin, Rosa's parasol breaking during "Don't Quit While You're Ahead" is a planned bit. It happened when I saw the show last night too.

[RUkiddingme]

Posted: 10/22/12 at 1:50am

Amazing production design!

Otherwise, why bother? What a waste of time and space.
Half the second act is them talking about the audience picking the ending. They could have cut all that and it would have been a one act 90 minute waste of time with nice costumes instead.

[MissAnneThrop]

Posted: 10/22/12 at 7:59am

with all the talk of the changes to the songlist. what is the songlist according to the playbill?

[mamaleh]

Posted: 10/22/12 at 8:54am

I loved that they reinstated "An English Music Hall," one of my favorite cuts on the first "Lost in Boston" CD. As good as Jim Norton was, I did miss George Rose, though. Chita was a big improvement over Loretta Swit (I saw the original late in its run). Overall, a fine production, fast and funny.

[After Eight]

Posted: 10/22/12 at 8:58am

MissAnneThrop,

Here's the song list as presented in the playbill at the first preview.

Act 1

There You Are
A Man Could Go Quite Mad
Two Kinsmen
Moonfall
Moonfall Quartet
The Wages of Sin
Jasper's Vision/ Smoke Ballet
Ceylon/ A British Subject
Both Sides of the Coin
Perfect Strangers
No Good Can Come From Bad
Never the Luck
Off to the Races

Act 2

An English Music Hall
Settling Up the Score
The Name of Love/ Moonfall (Reprise)
Don't Quit While You're Ahead
The Solution

Updated On: 10/22/12 at 08:58 AM

[henrikegerman]

Posted: 10/22/12 at 9:20am

I'm having difficulty understanding all the comments disparaging Roundabout generally for its revivals, which have included major successes like ANYTHING GOES, TWELVE ANGRY MEN, CABARET, NINE, ASSASSINS, A VIEW FROM THE BRIDGE and SHE LOVES ME.

Sure there have been some bad, even awful revivals from Roundabout, but is there really any need to assume the worst given that the company has produced some outstanding revivals as well?

[ChairinMain]

Posted: 10/22/12 at 9:44am

If anyone cares, I don't think anyone's shared who the understudies are, according to the playbill:

For Chairman/Crisparkle: Jim Walton
For Deputy: Kyle Coffmann
For Bazzard/Durdles/Crisparkle: Nick Corley
for Drood/Rosa: Janine DiVita
For Jasper/Neville: Spencer Plachy, Eric Sciotto
For Helena/Puffer: Alison Cimmet
Swing: Jenifer Foote, Justin Greer.

[Kad]

Posted: 10/22/12 at 10:05am

Henrik- I think most will point out that the quality shows are typically in the minority (and Cabaret was a transfer).

[MissAnneThrop]

Posted: 10/22/12 at 10:22am

thanks!

[newintown]

Posted: 10/22/12 at 10:49am

I agree with Kad, and add that even their better revivals are inferior to the original productions, and are generally done on the cheap with smaller casts and heavily reduced orchestrations.

And yes, we all understand that the inferiority of a revival doesn't much matter to those who didn't see the original; however, that doesn't provide much comfort to those who did.

And there's really nothing wrong with comparing productions, is there? It's just strange that some people seem to resent the fact that other people have seen things they haven't (and don't want them to talk about it).

[bwayfan7000]

Posted: 10/22/12 at 11:16am

I'm not so sure that Rosa's parasol bit is planned. It happened Saturday night and apparently last night, but not yesterday afternoon. In any case, it's completely hilarious in the hands of Wolfe.

[Kad]

Posted: 10/22/12 at 11:21am

In Roundabout's favor, I will say that they enable transfers of some excellent productions that wouldn't get seen in this region otherwise. Their off-Broadway spaces have also typically had a good track record so far, presenting interesting new works.

But their in-house revivals are just so often... aiming for mediocrity. And somehow missing.

[WhizzerMarvin]

Posted: 10/22/12 at 12:37pm

Henrik- You list some good shows, but many of them are over a decade old. In the past five years Roundabout has offered up some of the most boring theater on Broadway.

Hedda Gabler (Mary Louise Parker revival)
The Philanthropist (Broderick sleep walking)
Man and Boy (Sleep inducing)
The Road to Mecca (Extra sleep inducing)
Mrs. Warren's Profession (Mediocrity Cherry Jones couldn't save)
After Miss Julie (alternated between sleep inducing and painful)
Bye Bye Birdie (Sloppy mess and poorly sung)
People In the Picture (Sleep inducing/can't wait till it's over)

Sure we had Anything Goes, and a trifle here and there like Wishing Drinking, but overall it's been a very rough go.

This is why Drood is an extra nice theater experience.

[After Eight]

Posted: 10/22/12 at 12:43pm

Wishful Drinking.

Don't Dress for Dinner was a lot of fun.

And don't forget The Pajama Game.

[newintown]

Posted: 10/22/12 at 12:47pm

The Pajama Game, although it received a good deal of vocal love, only ran four months. Granted, it was a nonprofit subscription production, so words like "hit" or "flop" are useless, but it would have run longer if there had been any demand. (I confess that I was only lukewarm about it, but I'm not really much of a Connick fan.)

[darquegk]

Posted: 10/22/12 at 1:48pm

Is "The Solution" the whole final sequence with confessions, reveals, reprises and then Writing On The Wall?

[bestfreakinshoes]

Posted: 10/22/12 at 2:38pm

Yes, and "The Garden Path to Hell"

[Broadway Bob*]

Posted: 10/24/12 at 3:42pm

So no one else has asked so I'll bite the bullet...

What merch is being sold at the theater? I'm going this Saturday and wanna know what I can buy (I'm a souvenir whore). I know Roundabout doesn't typically sell programs unless a show turns into a LONG run (like CABARET and ANYTHING GOES) and that makes me sad. Still... Posters? Magnets? Anything unusual? I think I've seen pics from pins sold at the original production thast said "I voted for..." Anything like that?

And it looks like those front row seats are selling fast so I probably won't get to exchange for them. Oh well, third row center is still pretty exciting!!! (Especially for my first time ever getting to see CHITA!!!!!)

(Can you tell that each passing day is making me more and more excited?!?!)

[SonofRobbieJ]

Posted: 10/24/12 at 3:59pm

Come now, newintown. Had Harry Connick, Jr. been able to commit for a year, there is no doubt it would have sold the entire time. Alas, he could only commit to the four month run.

[newintown]

Posted: 10/24/12 at 4:11pm

Probably. But he didn't, it didn't, and a good production can usually survive a cast change - even that of the leading man.

[Bialyhoos22]

Posted: 10/24/12 at 4:17pm

I think Roundabout would be very smart to capitalize on the advent of new media with this production -- I'm hoping they put up a standalone website for DROOD and keep an official tally on the audience votes from show to show. There are numerous other ways to make this an interactive pre and post show diversion, but I think it'd be fun to have a record that interested theatregoers could refer to prior to their seeing the show.

IMHO It'd be a real oversight not to take advantage!

[RippedMan]

Posted: 10/24/12 at 11:34pm

I just saw the Wednesday night performance (Roseabud was the culprit).

I can't say I loved it or hated it. I found my mind wandering quite a bit at times. I felt like a lot of it happened so quick and in various accents that I couldn't quite make out any of the information being thrown at me. Sure, they were all great in their bits, but overall the story wasn't being told, so there was no point.

Dalton is great, but he had this cadence to his lines where he'd drop off the ends, and I couldn't follow him and missed most of his jokes.

I rather enjoyed the music, and found most of it exciting to listen to.

However, the whole show just felt like a big "Who cares?" It's not really a murder mystery. The second act was kind of annoying with the constant audience voting. I don't know. I don't think it was for me. I'd rather get caught up in a show then constantly have to applaud for various entrances or audience polls. It was a great looking show, and everyone was great - I think the "Indian" couple were rather bland - but overall not a bad theater going experience.

[ClydeBarrow]

Posted: 10/25/12 at 10:02am

Broadway Bob, the only thing they were selling was a shirt with the Drood logo on it.