The Mystery of Edwin Drood
Little Triangle
July 2022, Seymour Centre
BOOK. MUSIC AND LYRICS Rupert Holmes
DIRECTOR AND DESIGNER Alexander Andrews
MUSIC DIRECTOR Andy Freeborn
PRODUCER Rose McClelland
LIGHTING DESIGNER James Wallis
STAGE MANAGER Christopher Starnawski
POSTER AND PROMOTION Alexander Andrews
Who killed Edwin Drood?
A question that has stumped audiences for years. Now it's your turn to answer one of literature's most baffling mysteries. Based on the unfinished novel by Charles Dickens, The Mystery of Edwin Drood is a choose-your-own-adventure musical that tosses the crucial question — whodunit? — into the lap of the audience. With book, music and lyrics by Rupert Holmes, the musical follows a cast of shady characters, all with a motive of killing Edwin Drood. Who is the murderer, though? Well, that is up for you to decide!
CAST
Zachary Aleksander (Jasper), Ren McMeikenk (Drood / Datchery), Phoebe Clark (Rosa), Kimmie Jonceski (Helena), Denzel Bruhn (Neville), Simon Ward (Crisparkle), Tisha Kelemen (Puffer), Jordon Mahar (Sapsea), Madeleine Wighton (Bazzard), Addy Robertson (Durdles), Brodie Masini (Boy), Victoria Luxton (Ensemble), Sophie Perkins (Ensemble), Lucy Ross (Ensemble)
Director’s Note
Welcome to what should have been Anyone Can Whistle. Way back in 2020 we were two weeks out from our first performance of Stephen Sondheim and Arthur Laurents’ absurdist musical about a corrupt government lying to its people and the idealists who are courageous enough to sing out the truth. Back then these ideas felt painfully pertinent. Two years on and everything is different and nothing is certain—Sondheim said it best, we have “so little to be sure of, if there’s anything at all.” How hard those words hit now. For two long years, countless theatres around the globe were dark and our industry waited patiently in the wings. Now we’re back in the theatre and back doing what we love. Still, it’s difficult to be sure about anything, post-COVID, post-Sondheim.
The world has changed and I did lose Whistle, but perhaps it was a blessing in disguise. The Mystery of Edwin Drood may be just what we all need right now—silly, unadulterated fun. On the surface, Drood is just that, but underneath the jokes, the gags, the campiness, this is simply a show about theatremakers making theatre. Drood is my love letter to all the people who pour their hearts into the theatre that they create—from the big production companies to the little indie collectives to the local community groups (especially the community groups!). It is a celebration of their passion.
The Drood rehearsal room had to be one of the happiest places on earth—I’ve never laughed so much in my life. Every time I stepped into that room, libretto in my hand and fire in my belly, I was reminded of the great joy of building a show with a great bunch of people. And that is the feeling I want to share with audiences, the happiness we felt while putting it all together and the excitement of doing it again after so long. So, dear audience, welcome to our rehearsal room and the madness, ridiculousness, silliness and happiness of making theatre. Have fun (and choose your murderer wisely)!
