The Mystery of Edwin Drood will make its first-ever return to Broadway since winning the Tony "Triple Crown" (Best Musical, Best Book, and Best Score). Who killed Edwin Drood? It's a question that has stumped audiences for years-now it's your turn to answer one of Broadway's most baffling mysteries. Take a trip back in time to a Victorian music hall where a rowdy ensemble of actors mounts a staging of Charles Dickens' unfinished novel. Everyone on stage is a suspect in the murder of young Edwin Drood-and it's up to you to choose the killer! Is it John Jasper, Edwin's protective but slightly maniacal uncle? Rosa Bud, his reluctant betrothed? The debauched Princess Puffer? Each performance ends differently, depending on what the audience decides!
Director Scott Ellis' lively, crowd-pleasing and — given the horrors of the East Coast storms and the abiding comedic quality of the material — very well-timed Broadway revival...all has the feeling of a live version of a star-laden holiday TV special, with many of the same pluses and minuses…As a solve-it-yourself, self-aware musical, 'Drood' presents some traps, not all of which are here fully avoided. At various points, one has to force oneself to re-engage with the grand questions of the plot, which are not always tracked as adroitly as would be ideal. The best productions of 'Drood' manage, at least in the final number, to exploit the way the lyrics allow the clutter of the show to fall away — and to help us ponder a few broader matters of life and death, at least in passing. That never happens here. But that was bothering almost no one inside Studio 54. Block, who seems relieved not to carry the entire enterprise, sounds particularly spectacular, as does Betsy Wolfe as the ripe ingenue Rosa Bud. Rivera, as one might imagine, could not be a more delightful presence in any romp in town.
Director Scott Ellis could easily have pushed the pace into a gallop rather than a trot, and cranked up the zany-meter a notch or two. Still, for a show doing triple duty as musical, choose-your-own-ending mystery and time-travel device, “Drood” is jolly good fun.
1985 | Off-Broadway |
Original Off-Broadway Production Off-Broadway |
1985 | Broadway |
Broadway Transfer Broadway |
1987 | West End |
London Production West End |
2012 | Broadway |
Roundabout Theatre Company Production Broadway |
Year | Ceremony | Category | Nominee |
---|---|---|---|
2013 | Drama Desk Awards | Outstanding Actor in a Musical | Jim Norton |
2013 | Drama Desk Awards | Outstanding Actress in a Musical | Stephanie J. Block |
2013 | Drama Desk Awards | Outstanding Featured Actress in a Musical | Andy Karl |
2013 | Drama Desk Awards | Outstanding Featured Actress in a Musical | Jessie Mueller |
2013 | Drama Desk Awards | Outstanding Revival of a Musical or Revue | 0 |
2013 | Drama Desk Awards | Outstanding Set Design | Anna Louizos |
2013 | Drama Desk Awards | Outstanding Sound Design in a Musical | Tony Meola |
2013 | Drama League Awards | Distinguished Performance Award | Jim Norton |
2013 | Drama League Awards | Distinguished Performance Award | Chita Rivera |
2013 | Drama League Awards | Distinguished Revival of a Broadway or Off-Broadway Musical | 0 |
2013 | Outer Critics Circle Awards | Outstanding Costume Design (Play or Musical) | William Ivey Long |
2013 | Outer Critics Circle Awards | Outstanding Featured Actor in a Musical | Will Chase |
2013 | Outer Critics Circle Awards | Outstanding Revival of a Musical (Broadway or Off-Broadway) | 0 |
2013 | Tony Awards | Best Direction of a Musical | Scott Ellis |
2013 | Tony Awards | Best Performance by an Actor in a Featured Role in a Musical | Will Chase |
2013 | Tony Awards | Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role in a Musical | Stephanie J. Block |
2013 | Tony Awards | Best Revival of a Musical | The Mystery of Edwin Drood |
2013 | Tony Awards | Best Revival of a Musical | Roundabout Theatre Company |
2013 | Tony Awards | Best Revival of a Musical | Todd Haimes |
2013 | Tony Awards | Best Revival of a Musical | Harold Wolpert |
2013 | Tony Awards | Best Revival of a Musical | Julia C. Levy |
2013 | Tony Awards | Best Scenic Design of a Musical | Anna Louizos |
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