Review: THE MYSTERY OF EDWIN DROOD at Center Stage Theatre

On Saturday, September 26th, I had the pleasure of seeing another first-rate musical phenomenally performed at Center Stage Theatre in Shelton, CT, THE MYSTERY OF EDWIN DROOD, which is based on an unfinished novel by Charles Dickens. This unfinished novel was made into a play in 1985 with book, music, and lyrics written by Rupert Holmes. Director Tom Simonetti combines his talents with music director Matt Mancuso and choreographer Chrissy Dominguez to help bring out the best in this first-rate cast that includes Tom Simonetti as Chairman William Cartwright, Dr. Shaun Rimkunas as John Jasper, Emma Kelly as Edwin Drood, Emily Pollack as Rosa Bud, Priscilla Squiers as Princess Puffer, JR Resto as Neville Landless, Liz Joblin as Helena Landless, Bob Hyland as Reverend Crisparkle, Katie Ciurleo as Bazzard, Michael Primorac as Durdles, Luca Moretti as Deputy, Melissa Blanco as Jemma Throttle, Jeanie D Tuzzio as Violet Balfour, Nicole Finlay as Miss Gwendolen Pynn, and Sydney Kishimoto as Isabelle and Wendy. This stellar cast has incredible stage chemistry with each other, each member individually having a strong stage presence and radiating positivity, truly enjoying the performance, as the audience does!

As master carpenter and scenic designer, Scott Sheldon created an amazing set that uses cleverly angled and proportioned projections on the back wall to convey realistic illusions of depth that greatly enhances the scenes. In addition to the main stage floor, characters also appear on balconies that are designed into the on-stage set.

The fourth wall is not merely broken, but does not exist. Before the show even starts, the cast members, in character, intermingle with the audience. Loud audience reactions are expected, since the audience becomes the audience in this play within the play. It is communicated to the audience that whenever the character John Jasper is announced, he is to be booed as the villain. Dr. Shaun Rimkunas is excellent at accepting negative audience reactions, as part of the show.

The Chairman serves as a narrator and introduces the various characters to the audience, while cracking jokes. While Tom Simonetti just stepped into this role on Monday, he does so well that it is difficult to picture anyone else performing this character with the same energy and comedic timing that he brings to the role.

Edwin Drood and Rosa Budd are both orphans who have reached marriageable age and had been arranged to marry each other, since they were babies. Rosa Budd takes singing lessons from John Jasper, who is Edwin Drood’s uncle, yet only Edwin Drood’s senior by about six years. Jasper has a major crush on Rosa Budd to the point of obsession. After Rosa sings “Moonfall,” a song that showcases the phenomenal vocals of Emily Pollack, Jasper asks Rosa to sing it again. At this point, the story feels somewhat familiar. The story of a suspicious, potentially diabolical male vocal instructor who becomes dangerously obsessed with a female student who he has power over, and asks to sing once again may seem like a story we have heard before, but THE MYSTERY OF EDWIN DROOD was written before The Phantom of the Opera.

Meanwhile, there is another woman in the area who has chosen the wages of sin, which is death. Her name is Princess Puffer, a Charles Dickens character somewhat reminiscent of Nancy from Oliver! She is the type of person who has made some self-destructive choices, yet who the audience wants to see overcome all her obstacles. Priscilla Squiers excels in generating empathy for this character, connecting with the audience who sings along with her, at her request.

Other characters are introduced such as Durdles a crypt keeper with comedic genius, and his supportive young sidekick. They have some comedic back and forth stand-up with the Chairman. Michael Primorac, Luca Moretti, and Tom Simonetti have the audience laughing out loud in what is easily the funniest scene in the show.

The funniest single moment, however, is totally sold by the reactions of Nicole Finlay, Katie Ciurleo, and Sydney Kishimoto when the stage curtain suddenly and swiftly closes on their characters, hitting them in the process, a brilliant moment of slapstick.

On Christmas Eve, Edwin and Rosa respectfully acknowledge to each other that they are not in love, do not want to marry each other, yet still deeply respect and care for each other, but in more of a sibling kind of way. Rosa, aware of Jasper’s crush on her, advises Edwin not to share their decision not to marry with him. While Edwin is naïve to Jasper’s crush on Rosa, Edwin agrees on the grounds that he did not want to give Jasper any bad news on Christmas Eve.

Christmas Eve dinner is at Jasper’s house. Edwin and Rosa are both there, as well as the other three characters who are also most significant to the central plotline, at least in terms of what Charles Dickins left behind of this story.  Those other three characters include Reverend Crisparkle, who Bob Hyland brings to life, and fraternal twin siblings Neville and Helena, both of whom had a rough childhood. Reverend Crisparkle have been looking out for those twins as they battle emotional scars from their past. JR Resto and Liz Joblin totally sell their characters and the twin dynamics between them. Neville, upon seeing Rosa in an earlier scene, develops a crush on her, beginning his conflict with Edwin. On Christmas Eve, the friction between Edwin and Neville is obvious, making for an uncomfortable situation that Helena tries to help resolve. While Edwin and Neville leave together, it is clear that their animosity towards each other still remains. It had been revealed that Reverend Crisparkle had a crush on Rosa’s now deceased mother. One can infer that Reverend Crisparkle, as a result of this, may also join Jasper and Neville on the list of people with a potential crush on Rosa, despite the age difference.

Incidentally, Edwin goes missing that Christmas Eve night, although no corpse is found, and Neville is hazy about the events of the night.

Six months later, there is still no clear indication as to what happened to Edwin. While Neville was the initial suspect, since there was motive and opportunity, the fact that there was no evidence, not even a corpse, prevented the attempted arrest of Neville from sticking.

A detective named Dick Datchery (not to be confused with legendary cartoon villain Dick Dastardly) arrives on the scene to try to solve the case as to what happened to Edwin Drood and who else, if anyone, is responsible.

Some loose ends include why some of these other characters are even in the story, Princess Puffer being the most prominent suspect who was not present at the Christmas Eve dinner. It is my own conjecture that Charles Dickens planned for Princess Puffer to have played a major role in the disappearance of Edwin Drood, as she seems to be too significant a character to be of no consequence in the central plot.

As for the ultimate significance of other characters like Jemma, Bazzard, Gwendolyn, Wendy, Violet, or even the Deputy, one can only guess at the intent of Charles Dickens in creating them. It is certainly possible that Edwin may have run off with one of the other young ladies and stayed away out of fear that his Uncle Jasper would not have approved of his breaking things off with Rosa, in the ending intended by Charles Dickens. Regardless, all the members of this ensemble cast contribute to the excellence of this show, including Jeanie D Tuzzio and Melissa Blanco who also make their characters count.

As a writer, I know that rewriting is also a major part of the story creation process. I have often added and removed characters from my drafts of screenplays. Furthermore, I have begun stories without initially deciding how they were going to end. Not all writers strictly adhere to an outline that can often be constrictive and may deny the natural flow of the story.

It is the natural desire of consumers of fiction, whether on television, movies, books, or live stage shows, to want to see a satisfying resolution to the central plot of the stories we have invested our time and imagination into. This show, despite Charles Dickens dying before he finished the novel, is granted that ending, yet not by Rupert Holmes. Rather, this method is even more personal to the audience. How does the play end, then? That depends on how the audience votes. First, the audience needs to vote as to whether Edwin Drood is dead or alive. My favorite moment in Emma Kelly’s performance was her authenticity when she stormed off the stage with indignation after the audience voted her character dead. Next, the audience votes on who they believe Dick Datchery, who was in disguise, actually was, with the suspicion that Dick Datchery may have been one of the characters from the first act. Next, the audience votes as to who murdered Edwin Drood. Finally, the audience gets to choose one male character and one female character to become a couple, to make it a happy love story ending. One major pitfall I could potentially see happening, though, is if Neville and Helena both win that together on the same night. With all the potential alternate endings, I hope a plan is in place to mitigate that situation, should it occur. Otherwise, there are numerous potential pairings.

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