The Mystery of Edwin Drood - Excitement Level? — Page 7

As I understand it, Stephanie is hitting a D at the end of 'Writing on the Wall', which means she is a step (I think? Its called a tone in England) down from Betty Buckley who was singing an E.

I was there last night as well. Had a BLAST! One of the best evenings I've spent in the theater EVER! Only one of my votes matched the outcome. Chita cracked the rest of the cast up towards the end of the show based on one of the vote outcomes.

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Caught the matinee today on the $20 offer (thanks BWW, I wouldn't know about it without you!). This is a solid enjoyable production. I especially liked Wolfe, Chase, Mueller (hilarious and miraculously competes with my cherished memories of Schneider, although I enjoyed her other recent NY appearances, this is the one that finally convinces me that she's the real deal), Karl, Edelman, Creighton and Peter Benson, who is a totally winning Bazzard. But the entire cast is great. Chita is not Cleo, but, hell, she's Chita, looks fantastic, and is giving an adorable performance and if her accent frequently fades it hardly matters. Norton does not have Rose's inimitable star quality, but is endearing, deftly funny and has a natural ease and command. The musical's charms come through and if memory servesl the pacing and staging are superior to the original production if the design elements (all solid here) do not quite equal the original's (but that's hardly an insult). Block sings gorgeously and is having a fine time; I find her slightly bland in this role but that's completely subjective and admittedly nitpicky. As has been said, her exit is extraordinary.

I'd be very surprised if the reviews are not very good.

My one big problem is that while the cast, all of whom sing very well, enunciate the dialogue faultlessly, the lyrics are often lost (perhaps they are being drowned out orchestrally). The lyrics of this show are quite good and tricky, in certain scenes are the only way to tell what a character is communicating (Jasper's state of mind in "A Man Could Go Quite Mad" is quite enigmatic if one can't sufficiently make out the words) and it is a shame they often get muddled. But the score itself is even better than I remember.

Updated On: 11/1/12 at 06:36 PM

Interesting, best12, and, indeed, I believe I did see the original late in the run.

Chita's Puffer is not at all frumpy, nor devious. She's more.. maternal, I suppose I'd say. A down-on-her-luck matron given a chance to make things right for herself.

I saw the matinee today and thought it was a lot of fun. The main issues I had were already addressed: the sound rendering a lot of the score unintelligible, and the design being too lavish for a supposedly small music hall troupe.

But the performances are down-the-line excellent, and the audience seemed to eat it up.

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I was at yesterday's matinee and only went because of the $20 Sandy tickets, received seat row C seat 110 which I was estatic about. The weird thing about it was the fact that when the women at the box office sold it to me, she seemed apologetic about that seat. Later I semi understood why, maybe 5 minutes before the curtain i was basically one of maybe 10 people in the first 5 rows center orchestra, the rest of the orchestra was pretty much filled and I had my row to my self with the exception of a few menmbers of the castof Scandelous, but then 2 minutes before the show began the entire rear mezzanine it seemed was moved into the front 5 rows, which was somewhat annoying.

On the actual show though, I loved it. I will agree did not follow the plot of the actual book very well since the lyrics of the book songs were muddled early on, but after maybe the third song those issues seemed to disappear. If the show is supposed to be about the plot of the Dickens' "The Mystery if Edwin Drood" it Is a mess, but as others who have seen the original and or are older and wiser than than I am, say that it is more about the presentation of the plot and it's English Musicale styling it more than succeeded. If the show is extended through June, I could see Will Chase being a front runner for the Tony.
The audience also seemed to love it to since as soon as the curtain rose nearly half the audience left to their feet, rather than the usual slow obligatory ovation usually given to the show's lead.


Gregg Edelman hinted at the stage door that their extension is dependent of the NYTimes review. Basically implying that if they get a good review from Brantly or Isherwood, Roundabout would announce an extension the November 14th regardless of their advance as of opening night and would just cut the extension short if the advance doesn't build up.


Finally during the show I wondered why Roundabout didn't put The Mystery of Edwin Drood in the Sondheim since they cleary are hoping to extend the show indefinaty and it seems the the perfect house for long runsl. During the show I realized that it's because Studio 54 is the perfect theater at least out of Roundabout's theaters for the show because it looks the part of an English musical or at least compared to its other theaters it does. The Sondhiem is too modern for the show, and would break the illusion of the "Royal Music Hall". I know several people don't like Studio 54 and find it very crampt, but I honestly feel that that is perfect for "The Mystery of Edwin Drood". Anyone else agree?

Bdn, we were right behind you yesterday in row D 110 and 112 And I agree the seats though up front and all the way right were just fine.

While we're on the subject of the different interpretations of Puffer...here's a couple of wonderful rare shots from the '88 national tour starring George Rose and Jean Stapleton as Puffer. Both in this shot and the one in the post below, you can see she's quite a bit different than Cleo (and apparently in performance as well...)

Also featured in this pic are Jana Schneider as Helena, Mark Jacoby as Jasper, John DeLuca as Neville, Ronn Carroll as Bazzard, Teresa De Zarn as Rosa and Tony Azito as Durdles (very different from the Jerome Dempsey mold, though I imagine quite wonderful in his own right!)

Also pictured on the lower left, right next to Jana is a young Kathleen Marshall (who choreographed the tour on behalf of Graciela Danielle)

Updated On: 11/1/12 at 04:20 PM

I'm on the bandwagon that this is one of the most fun shows we have had on the BWay in a while and deserves to be a Big Hit.
I thought the designs were very strong, Louizos' sets are remarkable in that smallish space. and Long (who I felt had gotten lazy lately) has proven me wrong with gorgeous frocks for everyone, The bustles are amazing and deserve their own TONY. Cast wise it's a dream, yes Chita is not very English sounding but who the Hell cares, her voice sounds strong and she holds an audience like no other. (Why not just make her a transported American Actress?). Chase is socko and so is my girl Block, that voice!! Norton acts the role deliciously but could use a little more musical verve, Wolfe is a terrific singer/actress, I would have liked a little more innocence and a lighter soprano but her take certainly works. The ensemble are also a big plus. I got the $20 Sandy Special and was moved to the second row center right near Maxie Van E. Thanks for the deal Roundabout and I will return and tell friends to see this.

P.S. Andy Karl is certainly turning out to be one of our more comical versitile Musical Actors, it would be fun to see him remembered at Award time. I know Mueller is very talented but she didn't win me over as Cinderella (miscast) and I didn't see OACDYCSF, Here she gets laughs and sings great, but I could use a little less mugging and more daffiness. I think a better role will come for her, but she surely holds her own with this stellar cast.
Benson is also damed cute and winning.

Updated On: 11/2/12 at 11:55 PM

Andy Karl's Eyebrow in this show deserves a tony category all on it's own. Best performance by a facial feature. It can compete with Jessica Chastain's cheekbones and The Stache in Peter and the Starcatcher. He is doing MASTERFUL work in a frankly underwritten role.

best12, I completely agree with your assessment. Perhaps that IS the key difference between this superb revival and the inimitable original - that the original did indeed place more emphasis on Dickens story than the music hall antics. To be sure, there were no shortage of brilliant antics in the original (some of which haven't even begun to be approached in this revival) but the position of Name of Love/Moonfall Reprise does definitely shift focus. Particularly when it comes in Act Two literally minutes before Don't Quit While Your Ahead (more music hall antics!) amps up and the story halts for 'The Solution' and the audience interaction.

Barring this, I do think many of Holmes libretto tweaks have been for the better. The Roundabout is clearly using a hybrid of the Broadway version and the London/88 Tour - though it seems to tip closer to the Broadway version. I actually love Act Two opening with An English Music Hall (far better than England Reigns). It was a weak opening number at the Delacorte for the top of the show, but here, seems really delightful as an Entr'acte of sorts.

Thank you too for offering your thoughts on Azito -- I loved his indelible contributions to Leach's Pirates...I figured he must have added his kinetic, rubbery-limbed shtick to the part...

As much as I love Louizos' set designs for Drood, there was something that felt a little more authentically 'English' about Bob Shaw's original...the whole thing felt like a Victorian picture book come to life (especially with Lindsay W Davis' costumes). Fun fact - the original Broadway scenery actually existed up until a few years ago over at the now-defunct Santa Barbara CLO (aka The Set Company). I heard most of it ended up in the trash, with the exception of a few soft goods (drops).

Updated On: 11/2/12 at 04:05 AM

I'm in favor of the change, but for a different reason. If you close the first act with a dramatic confrontation, you want to see it resolved in act two, and in the original version, Rosa pretty much disappears in the second act except for a short scene with Puffer or if she's selected the Murderer. The driving force of the Act One "plot" is who will win Rosa Budd, and unless she's a murderer or lover, that question is never answered. At least in the revival, she and Drood have a moment of reconciliation during "Writing on The Wall" (though I presume this is cut if she is the murderer/lover). So ending the first act with a focus on the entire cast except on two characters actually helps the show's focus.

A side issue, but I do think the Moonfall reprise is a little mis-staged; the chorus should be offstage voices rather than standing in the background.

Dickens left behind notes for the rest of the book, and they also suggest that Jasper would be the culprit. The book is not really a very well constructed mystery. To me, it's similar to a typical Dickens novel with a mystery as one of the plot elements. The musical, which I saw and loved four times, definitely does quite a lot to make it a true whodunit. I'm excited to be seeing the revival in a week.