Reviewed by Tony Annicone

 

The Players last show of their 109th season is “The Mystery of Edwin Drood”, the musical mystery by Rupert Holmes based on Charles Dickens unfinished novel. It gives the audience a chance to solve the mystery because author Charles Dickens passed away before he could finish the novel. He suffered a fatal stroke on June 8, 1870 and died the next day after finishing Chapter 22 of the novel. The show opened on Broadway on December 2, 1985 and ran for 603 performances, winning 3 Tony Awards for Rupert Holmes. This musical will remind you of “My Fair Lady”, “Sweeney Todd” and “Phantom of the Opera” with its score. In Holmes version the audience decides the ending to the show, who killed Drood or is Drood really dead? “Drood” is a play within a play about an acting troupe from the Music Hall Royale. The darker side of the plot involves the “disappearance” of a young architect, Edwin Drood after a Christmas Eve night of festivities. He has been promised to Rosa Bud, a voice student of his obsessed uncle, John Jasper. The audience meets several unsavory characters during the proceedings. The energetic and talented cast under the direction of Joan Dillenback and musical direction of Joe Carvalho as well as the incredible and dynamic choreography of Michael Maio win appreciative and thunderous applause at the close of the show. You must also try to solve the whodunnit aspect of this musical with a clever twist.

Read more “THE MYSTERY OF EDWIN DROOD (The Players, Barker Playhouse, Providence, RI)”