SAXTONS RIVER — The ghost of Charles Dickens travels to Saxtons River when a musical take on his unfinished novel opens at Main Street Arts on Friday, March 2 for a two-week run.
“The Mystery of Edwin Drood” is a Tony-winning play with music and lyrics by Rupert Holmes that is loosely based on the book of the same name that Dickens was working on when he died in 1870.
The play involves a cast of characters from the London music halls, an opium den and exotic Ceylon, with the disappearance and supposed murder of the young Edwin Drood, followed by the arrival of out-of-town sleuths to help solve the case. However, the solution is left to the audience, who are asked to decide by vote which of the characters is the murderer. Holmes has written different endings for every possible voting outcome, even the most unlikely.
Performances at MSA will be at 7:30 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays, March 2, 3, 9 and 10 and Thursday, March 8, with matinees Sundays, March 4 and 11 at 3 p.m.
Tickets in advance are $15 for adults and $10 for students, and $17 and $12 at the door. No reservations are taken to avoid unclaimed tickets and disappointed theatergoers. Tickets are on sale at Village Square Booksellers in Bellows Falls, Misty Valley Books in Chester or at MSA.
Because of its content, the play is not suitable for young children.
Directing the play is Julie Olsson, whose husband Ken is the musical director. Mary Hepburn is the producer and costumer, and Annesa Hartman is choreographer.
Members of the cast include Jennifer Moyse as Drood, Amy Green as his love, Rosa Bud, and Marilyn Tullgren as the opiate purveyor Princess Puffer. Others familiar to the MSA stage are Dan Bennett, Lesley Cotter, Veda Crewe, Michael Duffin, Tom Griffith, Libby McCawley, Barrett Salzmann, Frank Sibley, Mark Tullgren, Robert Wellington, and Ira Wilner.
“Drood,” as it came to be known during its 608 performances on Broadway, was first produced in 1985 by the New York Shakespeare Festival. It won five Tonys in 1986, including Best Musical.
Further information is available on the MSA web site or by calling 802-869-2960 or e-mailing info@mainstreetarts.org.