Last night, Indiana University's Department of Theatre, Drama, and Contemporary Dance began their 2014-2015 season with the opening night of their production of The Mystery of Edwin Drood, currently running at the Ruth N. Halls Theatre. Based on the unfinished novel by Charles Dickens, the Rupert Holmes-penned metatheatrical tuner tells the tale of a small English town shaken up when the eponymous young Drood goes missing and is presumed dead. It is up to the remaining characters to find out who the guilty party is.
However, they are not alone in their quest; given that Mr. Dickens died before he could finish the novel, the audience is asked to vote on who they think the murderer is, in addition to who is disguising themselves as Dick Datchery during the second act and which two suspects will be paired together romantically. This opportunity leads to some very confusing, hilarious, and occasionally disturbing endings.
Another important aspect of the show involves a long-standing theatre tradition; Edwin Drood, a man, is portrayed by a woman (in the guise of a popular male impersonator; the plot of Drood actually being that it is a show-within-a-show). In IU's production he is portrayed by senior musical theatre student Maddie Shea Baldwin, and it is easy to see why; her voice glides gracefully over the mezzo-soprano notes one must sing to play Drood, and she manages the belting portions of her role with admirable gumption, not to mention her brief stint as Datchery prior to the voting and when she is in the character of Alice Nutting (the actor in the company of the Music Hall Royale who plays Drood). Truly a role well cast.
Speaking of well-cast roles, one of my personal favorites was junior musical theatre student Nathan Robbins as the Chairman William Cartwright and Mayor Thomas Sapsea. I was delighted the entire time by his showmanship and comedic timing. Well done, sir.
Other performers of note are Berklea Going as Rosa Bud, Drood's intended (with a lovely soprano that could easily land her in the roles of Cosette in Les Misérables or Christine in Phantom if she so wished). In all honesty, I wished it had been Rosa who was voted as the killer; that would have been a lovely twist. Markus McClain as Durdles could have been a class in slapstick, and Scott Van Wye as John Jasper was wonderful as well; the same for everyone involved in the cast and crew (though I must admit some bias to Emily Schultheis as Princess Puffer due to the fact that we're both native to the southwestern Indiana area and I rather liked her performance when I saw her as the Narrator in Joseph).
Drood was a wonderful experience, and I wish them all the best on their run.
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