Actors Enjoy ‘The Mystery Of Edwin Drood’
June 28, 2017 at 5:28 p.m.
Actors Enjoy ‘The Mystery Of Edwin Drood’
By David [email protected]
The cast of “The Mystery of Edwin Drood” has been preparing for eight possible endings as the audience each night of the show will pick who the detective is, who murdered Drood and which two characters become lovers.
“It makes rehearsals even really fun so I can’t imagine what the actual show is going to be with a different ending every night,” said actor Riley McFarland in an interview Monday afternoon. “It’s funny: Whoever is picked to be the murderer that night always runs off and rehearses their song real fast. It keeps us on our toes.”
“The Mystery of Edwin Drood” is at the Wagon Wheel through July 8. For ticket information, visit the Center’s website at wagonwheelcenter.org.
Since “The Mystery” features a show within a show, the Wagon Wheel actors get to play two roles.
Playing Alice Nutting and Drood is Indiana University graduate Elaine Cotter, a third-year Wagon Wheel alum who starred as Katherine Plumber in “Newsies” this summer and Belle in “Beauty & The Beast” in 2016.
In explaining why she is playing Drood, a man, Cotter said, “Back in this era, the English musicale is similar to what we might know as a Vaudeville but it was before that and in England. So every character, every actor, had their own specialty, so my actress in the show – her name is Alice Nutting – her specialty is male impersonators so I am a female playing a male in this show.”
She said Drood is the typical Romeo type who thinks he’s really cool. He’s very dapper and British. “He’s kind of the hero of the story a little bit. You kind of get to follow his journey, and obviously there’s a big mystery behind it.”
McFarland, a recent University of Michigan graduate originally from Eureka, Calif., plays Clive Paget who plays John Jasper. He said Paget is “kind of the leading man of the opera house. John Jasper is kind of based off Dr. Jekyll, so he has kind of a split personality almost, so he plays both the villain and the hero in the story.”
“And he’s my uncle. Edwin Drood’s uncle,” Cotter interjected.
McFarland said playing characters who are playing characters can be a little confusing. “But the way the show is written, it makes for some really fun moments where the actors step out of character and talk to the audience directly, so we have fun with it,” he said.
Cotter added, “It’s exciting. It’s challenging but it’s really fun. It makes the audience feel included.”
Another fun aspect of the show is the audience gets to decide how the musical wraps up.
In Act II, a detective named Dick Datchery shows up in disguise to investigate Drood’s murder.
“Throughout the show there is a moment when the person playing Datchery is revealed, but then the audience actually ends up voting on whoever they want to be Datchery, to be that detective, so that’s one vote,” Cotter explained.
“The second vote is who actually murdered Edwin Drood because Drood disappears after the first act, so they actually get to vote on the murderer and, then lastly, they get to vote on two lovers for the end of the show because they want the show to have a happy ending,” McFarland said.
Cotter said, “So it’s exciting. I don’t remember, but someone did the math and there’s something like hundreds of endings.”
“Since there’s three things you can vote on, there’s hundreds of different combinations,” McFarland added.
The musical is based on the final and unfinished Charles Dickens novel of the same name. Written in the early 1980s by Rupert Holmes – who recorded the No. 1 hit song “Escape (The Pina Colada Song)” – it was the first Broadway musical with multiple endings. The musical won five Tony Awards out of 11 nominations, including Best Musical, Best Leading Actor for George Rose and Holmes won the Best Book and Best Original Score honors.
Dickens, who lived from 1812 to 1870, wrote novels such as “David Copperfield,” “A Christmas Carol,” “Oliver Twist” and “Great Expectations.” His books are known for their observation of character and social criticism.
McFarland says “Edwin Drood” is dark but light-hearted as well since it’s a musical.
“And we like to have fun in musicals,” he said. “So there’s humor all throughout it. There’s definitely more serious moments, but there’s more of a smattering of comedy throughout the show.”
Cotter said it’s interesting that Dickens died halfway through writing the story. “There’s a moment in the show where that’s very clear and you clearly know this is where the novel ended and this is where the audience is going to take over,” she said.
Despite being written in the 1980s, McFarland said the show’s music harkens back to the time when it takes place in the late 19th century.
“It’s written in kind of an operatic style of the times, so ... it’s written more in the style of the time period,” he said.
“It’s so fun though. That’s not to say that the music isn’t fun,” Cotter said. If people hear it’s an older music style, she said they might be turned off, but the music in “Drood” is “upbeat and catchy and funny and super heightened and stylized. ... It keeps you on your toes, it’s very engaging.”
McFarland said the music of “Drood” is very different from “Newsies” and “Footloose,” but still just as fun.
Cotter added, “And every scene is kind of a different style almost, which is exciting. Like there are certain scenes that are very melodrama, supposed to be like overdramatic, and then you move on to this like hilarious, comedic relief moment, and then you go back to this like sincere lover moment. It’s all over the place, but it’s actually pretty seamless when it’s all together, which is really nice.”
Both actors agree though that the show is easy to follow.
“We were talking last night about making the plot pretty clear for the audience, so we’ll definitely lay it out for you guys,” McFarland said.
“You’re going to have a blast. It’s so much fun,” Cotter promised. “The audience is super-involved, and that’s not a scary thing.”
The cast of “The Mystery of Edwin Drood” has been preparing for eight possible endings as the audience each night of the show will pick who the detective is, who murdered Drood and which two characters become lovers.
“It makes rehearsals even really fun so I can’t imagine what the actual show is going to be with a different ending every night,” said actor Riley McFarland in an interview Monday afternoon. “It’s funny: Whoever is picked to be the murderer that night always runs off and rehearses their song real fast. It keeps us on our toes.”
“The Mystery of Edwin Drood” is at the Wagon Wheel through July 8. For ticket information, visit the Center’s website at wagonwheelcenter.org.
Since “The Mystery” features a show within a show, the Wagon Wheel actors get to play two roles.
Playing Alice Nutting and Drood is Indiana University graduate Elaine Cotter, a third-year Wagon Wheel alum who starred as Katherine Plumber in “Newsies” this summer and Belle in “Beauty & The Beast” in 2016.
In explaining why she is playing Drood, a man, Cotter said, “Back in this era, the English musicale is similar to what we might know as a Vaudeville but it was before that and in England. So every character, every actor, had their own specialty, so my actress in the show – her name is Alice Nutting – her specialty is male impersonators so I am a female playing a male in this show.”
She said Drood is the typical Romeo type who thinks he’s really cool. He’s very dapper and British. “He’s kind of the hero of the story a little bit. You kind of get to follow his journey, and obviously there’s a big mystery behind it.”
McFarland, a recent University of Michigan graduate originally from Eureka, Calif., plays Clive Paget who plays John Jasper. He said Paget is “kind of the leading man of the opera house. John Jasper is kind of based off Dr. Jekyll, so he has kind of a split personality almost, so he plays both the villain and the hero in the story.”
“And he’s my uncle. Edwin Drood’s uncle,” Cotter interjected.
McFarland said playing characters who are playing characters can be a little confusing. “But the way the show is written, it makes for some really fun moments where the actors step out of character and talk to the audience directly, so we have fun with it,” he said.
Cotter added, “It’s exciting. It’s challenging but it’s really fun. It makes the audience feel included.”
Another fun aspect of the show is the audience gets to decide how the musical wraps up.
In Act II, a detective named Dick Datchery shows up in disguise to investigate Drood’s murder.
“Throughout the show there is a moment when the person playing Datchery is revealed, but then the audience actually ends up voting on whoever they want to be Datchery, to be that detective, so that’s one vote,” Cotter explained.
“The second vote is who actually murdered Edwin Drood because Drood disappears after the first act, so they actually get to vote on the murderer and, then lastly, they get to vote on two lovers for the end of the show because they want the show to have a happy ending,” McFarland said.
Cotter said, “So it’s exciting. I don’t remember, but someone did the math and there’s something like hundreds of endings.”
“Since there’s three things you can vote on, there’s hundreds of different combinations,” McFarland added.
The musical is based on the final and unfinished Charles Dickens novel of the same name. Written in the early 1980s by Rupert Holmes – who recorded the No. 1 hit song “Escape (The Pina Colada Song)” – it was the first Broadway musical with multiple endings. The musical won five Tony Awards out of 11 nominations, including Best Musical, Best Leading Actor for George Rose and Holmes won the Best Book and Best Original Score honors.
Dickens, who lived from 1812 to 1870, wrote novels such as “David Copperfield,” “A Christmas Carol,” “Oliver Twist” and “Great Expectations.” His books are known for their observation of character and social criticism.
McFarland says “Edwin Drood” is dark but light-hearted as well since it’s a musical.
“And we like to have fun in musicals,” he said. “So there’s humor all throughout it. There’s definitely more serious moments, but there’s more of a smattering of comedy throughout the show.”
Cotter said it’s interesting that Dickens died halfway through writing the story. “There’s a moment in the show where that’s very clear and you clearly know this is where the novel ended and this is where the audience is going to take over,” she said.
Despite being written in the 1980s, McFarland said the show’s music harkens back to the time when it takes place in the late 19th century.
“It’s written in kind of an operatic style of the times, so ... it’s written more in the style of the time period,” he said.
“It’s so fun though. That’s not to say that the music isn’t fun,” Cotter said. If people hear it’s an older music style, she said they might be turned off, but the music in “Drood” is “upbeat and catchy and funny and super heightened and stylized. ... It keeps you on your toes, it’s very engaging.”
McFarland said the music of “Drood” is very different from “Newsies” and “Footloose,” but still just as fun.
Cotter added, “And every scene is kind of a different style almost, which is exciting. Like there are certain scenes that are very melodrama, supposed to be like overdramatic, and then you move on to this like hilarious, comedic relief moment, and then you go back to this like sincere lover moment. It’s all over the place, but it’s actually pretty seamless when it’s all together, which is really nice.”
Both actors agree though that the show is easy to follow.
“We were talking last night about making the plot pretty clear for the audience, so we’ll definitely lay it out for you guys,” McFarland said.
“You’re going to have a blast. It’s so much fun,” Cotter promised. “The audience is super-involved, and that’s not a scary thing.”
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