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

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.)

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.

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.

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?

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

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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).

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.

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Wishful Drinking.

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

And don't forget The Pajama Game.

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

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?!?!)

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

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.