Friday 14 December 07 to Sunday 24 February 08

"accomplished, quirky entertainment, bursting with energy and panache" Times

Book, music & lyrics by Rupert Holmes Musical Director Stefan Bednarczyk Director Ted Craig Designer Cleo Pettitt  Lighting Peter Harrison Costumes Jessica Tiller Musical Staging Jamie Read with Kit Benjamin, Nicola Delaney, Susie Emmett, Kate Feldschreiber, Michael George Moore, Katherine O'Shea & Stefan Bednarczyk

"Ted Craig has resuscitated Rupert Holmes's bizarre, interactive musical that two decades ago won
every award going on Broadway and then died a death in London.
It works far better in a small space than it did in a large hall.
The presence of a gavel-wielding chairman induces a mood of raucous heartiness,
and at the point where the story stops, the audience is asked to vote on a series of questions,
including the identity of Drood's killer.
Holmes's musical acknowledges that John Jasper… (could be) the murderer by giving Jasper,
endowed with a saturnine strangeness by Kit Benjamin, a number about his split personality.
And there are other lively songs, including a cod-Victorian ballad about the wages of sin
bouncily delivered by Nicola Delaney as an opium-den queen. In fact, the whole cast,
doubling as performers and musicians and spearheaded by Kate Feldschreiber as a check-trousered Drood,
perform with zest. The suavely bearded Bednarczyk, who also plays the Reverend Crisparkle
(whom we oddly elected as the murderer),
is miles better than Ernie Wise was in the West End original".
Michael Billington The GUARDIAN 19.12.07
The Independent review (pdf)    British Theatre Guide review (pdf)    The Stage review (pdf)
What'sOnStage review (pdf)    TheTimes review (pdf)

Original Broadway production produced by the New York Shakespeare Festival; Joseph Papp, Producer
Winner of 5 Tony Awards Including Best Musical  Presented by arrangement with JOSEF WEINBERGER LIMITED
other notable productions
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