Wendi Peters-Led THE MYSTERY OF EDWIN DROOD Opens at The Arts Theatre Tonight, May 22

Following its run at the Landor Theatre, The Mystery of Edwin Drood, based on Dickens' final unfinished novel, with book, music and lyrics by Rupert Holmes, directed by Matthew Gould, will get a 4-week season at the Arts Theatre, opening tonight, May 22 at 7:30 p.m. and running through Sunday 17 June.

The Mystery of Edwin Drood won five Tony Awards, including Best Musical, Best Book and Best Original Score, as well as 9 Drama Desk Awards, on its Broadway premiere in 1986.

A thrilling and comical play within a play set in the world of music hall and pantomime, it follows the exploits of characters from the Theatre Royale Music Hall Company as they set about completing the unfinished story of Edwin Drood – with a little singalong help from the audience along the way.

Who is the killer? The audience decides each night - and there are 525 possible endings!

Wendi Peters, best known for playing Cilla Battersby-Brown in Coronation Street, heads the cast.

It also includes Natalie Day (Les Miserables, Queens), Victoria Farley (Les Miserables, Barbican), Daniel Robinson (Jekyll & Hyde, UK Tour), Loula Geater, David Francis, Denis Delahunt, Richard Stirling, Chris Coleman, Oliver Mawdsley, Paul Hutton, Tom Pepper, and Ben Goffe.

Rupert Holmes spent his early childhood in England. At the age of three, his first experience of theatre was a pantomime, complete with cross-dressing lead boy and audience sing-alongs. Then, as an 11-year-old boy fascinated by mystery books, he discovered the unfinished Dickens novel. Both of those seminal experiences would go on to have a major impact on him when he was first approached to write a new musical by New York impresario Joseph Papp. The result was The Mystery of Edwin Drood, starring Cleo Laine and Betty Buckley, which opened at Papp's legendary New York Shakespeare Festival in August 1985, and then transferred to Broadway, where it ran more than 600 performances. Holmes is also a well-known popular songwriter whose songs had been performed by the likes of Barbra Streisand, and who had himself recorded the No1 hit Escape (The Piña Colada Song) in 1979.

The Mystery of Edwin Drood is produced by Katy Lipson for Aria Entertainment.

Performances are Tuesday - Saturday at 7.30pm, Thursday & Saturday at 3.00pm and Sunday at 4.00pm. Tickets are £10.00 - £40.00 and preview tickets Friday 18 - Sunday 20 May are £20.00 from www.artstheatre.com or 020 7836 8463.

www.droodwestend.com