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One of these people has committed murder
Which one? That's up to you
BY SUZANNE BOYLE
News-Democrat
--
A lot happens on stage in "The Mystery of Edwin Drood," and almost as much happens backstage and in the audience.
Behind the curtains, the actors at the Looking Glass Playhouse gear up for lines they may or may not say and songs they may or may not sing in this musical murder-mystery comedy set in Victorian times and based loosely on Charles Dickens' last -- and unfinished -- novel of the same name.
In the audience, a handful of the cast prod ticketholders to hiss, boo and respond to the "Applause" sign held up by a compatriot.
What sets all this in motion, says director Gigi Dowling Urban, are these magic words: "The audience gets to decide. ..."
"The Mystery of Edwin Drood" opens tonight at the Lebanon theater with an eight-day run over two weeks.
Because Dickens left his readers hanging in 1871 with half a novel and an unsolved killing, playwright Rupert Holmes did the same with his 1986 Tony Award-winning play. The audience must decide how to end this tale of murder, unrequited lust on the part of a snarly choirmaster (Bryan Schlepper) for his nephew's innocent fiancee (Julia Daniels), bawdy ladies and gents of the chorus who enjoy teasing the audience, a brother and sister (Bruce Vick and Cassandra Zuger) with an exotic background, the proprietress of an opium den (Melanie Barringer), the unsuspecting nephew (Amanda Voegele as Drood, a role always played by a woman) and the guy who keeps track of all of this for us, the Chairman (Don Urban).
Setting the tone, Urban points to the audience shortly after the show begins and declares: "Let's all be as vulgar and uncivilized as is legally possible! Kick off those boots! Loosen those corsets! And have some fun!"
To make the situation a bit more complicated is the story within the story: The musical opens with a Victorian theater company trying to get through a production. A prima donna storms off stage. An actor never shows up. A befuddled stand-in has to be told what lines to say.
Explained Dowling Urban, "Everybody plays two parts: a Victorian actor in this Victorian company and a character in the melodrama."
On top of that, the show is stopped at various points and the audience votes on whether Drood is dead, who will be the detective to solve the murder, who did the dastardly deed, and which couple gets to sing a love song.
"There are 300 combinations of endings," Dowling Urban said. "You can come one night and see it one way, then see it completely different the next night."
It also means the actor who ends up as the detective will have extra lines and a song to sing that is unique to his role as the detective. If someone else is chosen as the detective, her song and lines would be different from his, and so forth.
Some voting takes place by applause. But things get less predictable when the chorus comes out into the audience to help with voting for the murderer. Small cheering sections may break out as actors rally their portion of the audience. Then these rabble-rousers take the audience's results backstage, where they are tallied. That's when the chosen actor secretly finds out he or she is now the murderer. Like the detective, he will have added lines and sing a unique "confession" song. The rest of the cast is in the dark, just like the audience.
"You will not know (the murderer) until they announce it ...," said Dowling Urban.
She added, "There's also a fake confession every night."
In a quirky attempt to inject some romance in the tale, playwright Holmes allows the audience to vote on any combination of man and woman to end the performance with a duet.
Good taste may exit the building. Dowling Urban laughs, "It can be the old despot and the young girl, or the brother and sister! Eww!"
Not enough to keep you occupied? Expect some vaudevillesque moments during intermission, including fortune telling, balloon animal-making and a small sing-along with the cast.
'The Mystery of Edwin Drood'
What: Musical murder-mystery by Rupert Holmes, based on the novel by Charles Dickens.
When: 7:30 p.m. today, Friday, Saturday and Feb. 9, 10 and 11; 2 p.m. Sunday and Feb. 12.
Where: The Looking Glass Playhouse, 301 W. St. Louis St., Lebanon.
Tickets: $9 reserved seating; $8, seniors (60 and older) and students. Group rates available.
Ticket reservations: Call 537-4962 (recorder).
Note: This show contains mature language and adult humor.
