City Circle Theatre Company's “The Mystery of Edwin Drood" at the Coralville Center for the Performing Arts -- May 2 through 11.
Friday, May 2, through Sunday, May 11
Coralville Center for the Performing Arts, 1301 Fifth Street, Coralville IA
Based on an unfinished Charles Dickens novel and the winner of five 1985 Tony Awards including Best Musical, The Mystery of Edwin Drood enjoys a City Circle Theatre Company presentation at the Coralville Center for the Performing Arts May 2 through 11, the critically lauded smash famed for being the first Broadway musical to be presented with multiple endings, the finales for each performance determined by audience vote.
A hilarious, interactive whodunit that allows the audience to enter the action and become the ultimate detectives, The Mystery of Edwin Drood is based on Dickens’ unfinished novel of the same name in which, in the small town of Chesterham, England, the young and charming Drood has been mysteriously murdered. But by whom? His leering romantic rival John Jasper? The infamous purveyor of opium and vice Princess Puffer? The mysterious Landless twins, newly arrived from Ceylon? Or someone else even more dastardly and villainous?
Dickens himself passed away before he was able to reveal the culprit. Yet Rupert Holmes’ award-winning musical solves this predicament by asking the audience to choose which character is the killer by putting it to a vote. Staged in meta-theatrical manner by the Music Hall Royale, a traveling Victorian theatre troupe full of just as many colorful characters as the roles they play, this charming and inventive musical is sure to intrigue and entertain any musical or mystery lover.
Directing The Mystery of Edwin Drood is Patrick Du Laney, who previously helmed such City Circle presentations as Peter & the Starcatcher and Around the World in 80 Days, with members of his creative team including: music director Jason Sifford; stage manager Ray Vanek; assistant stage manager J. Tucker; set designer Scott Olinger; lighting designer Jackson Kopesky; and sound designer Darin Ulmer.
In the role originated on Broadway by Cats Tony winner Betty Buckley, Lucy Polyak portrays the titular Edwin Drood, with the suspects John Jasper, Princess Puffer, and the twins Neville and Helena Landless respectively played by Rishi Wagle, Rebecca Fields-Moffitt, Nick Mendoza, and Molly Owen. Eighteen gifted area performers, meanwhile, complete the Mystery of Edwin Drood ensemble: Emmett Adamson; Andrew Bryant; Adam Burton; Tatum Calderwood; Sophie Good; Caleb Haselhuhn; Rich Keller; Eve Minkler; Ben Nelson; Nathan Sean Nelson; Sam Nester; Kaci O’Brien; Kara Ramirez; Cami Rezabek; Jacob Ruchotzke; Red Schneider; John Smick; and Emma Valcourt.
City Circle Theatre Company's The Mystery of Edwin Drood will be staged at the Coralville Center for the Performing Arts May 2 through 11, with performances Fridays and Saturdays at 7:30 p.m. and Sundays at 2 p.m. Admission is $21-35, and more information and tickets are available by calling (319)248-9370 and visiting CoralvilleArts.org.
