NYTimes.com: Set in the fictional cathedral town of Cloisterham, “Drood” is mainly the story of an opium-addicted choirmaster, John Jasper, secretly in love with Rosa Bud, the fiancée of his nephew, Edwin Drood, who disappears on Christmas Eve, under suspicious circumstances, shortly before the book breaks off. (Only 6 of a planned 12 serial installments were completed.) There is some dark, psychosexual atmosphere and a couple of nice comic moments, but by Dickens’s usual standards the book feels thin and underimagined.
4 comments:
The Mystery of Edwin Drood is one of my favorite musicals. I worked on it when I was younger, and the best part was finding out who the audience had voted for each night. I didn't know much about Dickens when I worked on the musical, but in college I took a class on Dickens. Learning these new things about him is very interesting. I hope to get a chance to see the show again. The author is right, the whole thing is something Dickens himself would have found entertaining.
I love this show. I find the audience interaction quite fascinating and I would love to see this show on Broadway. I love the ability of the audience to determine a new sequence of events everynight. It provides a new experience every night for the production cast and crew and leaves the stage manager on his or her toes. The thing that I think makes the show so tantalizing is the fact that it stems from the unfinished work of Charles Dickens. I have always loved his work and I find the idea of on unfinished novel fascinating and I think giving the power to the audience to change the story as they see fit is a great way to introduce audience into the story telling.
The Mystery of Edwin Drood is interesting to me because it has so many possible endings. It makes it almost impossible to go see the show and experience everything that the show has to offer. I also love this idea of taking a step outside the novel and have an acting troupe play the novel for the audience. I think this gives a large area of interpretation of what could have happened in the book. I saw this musical last year when I was applying for college and loved it. However the music did make the show more cheerful, but I did not walk away with the music stuck in my head or blown away by the music. It seems that the show although very great is not a musical because the music does not help convoy the story at all. Although music is apart of the novel and characters, I would not think of this as a musical.
I've heard of the Mystery of Edwin Drood before. Right before I left for CMU there was a production happening in Seattle. At the time I really wanted to see it, but that never happen. Until I read this article I didn't know very much about the play Novel other than that it was unfinished and that people liked to make up possible endings for it. I just now learn all about the novels history and Dickens's one man shows. I really love the Mystery behind the Novel. The idea that no one will ever know what was supposed to happen in the story and that everyone can make guesses about it is really fascinating to me. Perhaps one day I will have the chance to actually see a production of this play.
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