[NEohioPAL] Review of Rabbit Run's "The Mystery of Edwin Drood"

[Bob Abelman]

Rabbit Run Theater's 'Drood' is no mystery

 

Bob Abelman

News-Herald, Chagrin Valley Times, Solon Times, Geauga Times Courier

Member, International Association of Theatre Critics 

 

This review will appear in the News-Herald on 8/24/12

 

The real mystery surrounding the current staging of "The Mystery of Edwin Drood" at Rabbit Run Theater has nothing to do with it being a "whodunit" drama.

 

Yes, Charles Dickens' final novel-on which this play is based-is a murder mystery, but the author died in 1870 before unveiling the murder or the murderer.  Each performance of "The Mystery of Edwin Drood" ends by consensus, with the killer chosen by the majority vote of that evening's audience.  This is more math than mystery.  

 

There is certainly no mystery associated with how playwright Rupert Holmes was able to turn Dickens' bleak, unfinished work into a critically acclaimed, Tony Award-winning production when it played on Broadway in 1985. 

 

For one thing, Holmes cleverly transformed the drab drama about young Edwin Drood's disappearance at the hands of someone associated with his fiancée, Rosa Bud, into a musical comedy.  The story is seasoned with witty songs that help move along the plot, flesh out each key character, and add much needed energy and effervescence to the proceedings.  Some songs, such as "Moonfall," are delightful while the Act One ending "Off to the Races" is a two-fisted romp. 

 

Another contributing factor is the play's pretense of a Victorian-era music hall troupe staging this Dickens drama.  This play-within-a play fabrication provides us with an array of delightfully over-the-top vaudevillian actors presenting a production filled with wonderful, overly-dramatic characters.  It also includes a significant amount of banter that did not originate with the novel, making much of this play rather un-Dickensian in tone and temperament.

 

Nor is it a mystery as to why this Rabbit Run production of "The Mystery of Edwin Drood" soars, which it does from beginning to end.  That can be largely attributed to actor George Roth.  

 

In "Drood," this professional performer has found the perfect vehicle to do what he does best, which is to charm an audience into submission.  As the music hall troupe's Chairman and its production's Master of Ceremonies, Roth interacts with the audience armed with veteran showmanship, a quick wit, and an arsenal of deliciously bad and bawdy one-liners specific to the period.  He is then given the opportunity to step into the role of the Mayor in the play and demonstrate his unrivaled ability to create an intriguing character out of relatively nothing.  

 

The unmitigated success of this production can also be attributed to the strength of its featured cast.  In particular, Rabbit Run regular Brian Altman is superb as the music hall's leading man who plays the bad guy, John Jasper, as a bi-polar Snidely Whiplash.  He deliriously lusts after his nephew Edwin Drood's betrothed under the guise of her music tutor.  

 

Kelly Smith as the actress playing Drood and Sandy Peck as the actress playing Cockney opium seller Princess Puffer are terrific as troupe players and their on-stage counterparts.  Although their off-stage personas are not given as much exposure, Heather Arata as the actress playing Rosa Budd, Carl Simoncic as the actor playing Rev. Chriparkle, and Kelsey Bowens and Kyle Lorek as the actors playing Helena and Neville Landless, two foreigners suspected of Drood's murder, are also terrific.

 

Stand-outs in supporting roles include David Malinowski and Tom Hill, who are hilarious.  

 

Malinowski plays the aspiring but ill-equipped actor Phillip Bax, who plays a minor character named Bazzard.  He does so with so much charm that he wins over the audience with each coy smile, owns them when he breaks character with an inappropriate wave during the performance, and nearly steals the show with his delivery of the self-deprecating song "Never The Luck."   This from the fellow who portrayed evil personified as Bill Sykes and Mr. Squeers in earlier Rabbit Run productions of "Oliver" and "Nicholas Nickleby," respectively.  

 

Hill, as alcoholic actor Nick Cricker playing the drunkard Durdles, manages to get a laugh on every line.  He does this with spot-on comic timing and the endearing physicality he gives his characters.

 

Brint Learned's direction captures the music hall sprit, which quickly becomes contagious as audience members encounter the play's vaudevillian actors milling about the stage and seating area upon their arrival.  He and choreographer Jennifer Leinweber Ritz gainfully and creatively employ the same set design-consisting only of stairs and scaffolding -that Ray Beach created for use in all of this summer's all-Dickens-all-the-time productions.  Their work is beautifully complemented by music director Roberta Whitely and her orchestra.  

 

No, the mystery of "The Mystery of Edwin Drood" is not the identity of the murderer, the secret behind this play's success, or the reasons why this Rabbit Run production is so delightful. 

 

The real mystery is why Rabbit Run saved this marvelous work for its final production of the season.

 

"The Mystery of Edwin Drood" continues through September 1 at Rabbit Run Theater, 5648 W. Chapel Rd., in Madison Township. For tickets, $17 to $19, call 440-428-7092 or visit www.rabbitrunonline.org.  
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