A Man Could Go Quite Mad

The book, which had been written and published in episodic installments as had most of Dickens' other novels was left unfinished upon Dickens' sudden death from a stroke that year. The lack of resolution to the mystery and the absence of notes that would indicate Dickens' intentions have made The Mystery of Edwin Drood a literary curiosity.

A Man Could Go Quite Mad lyrics

Almost immediately after the publication of Dickens' last episode, various authors and playwrights including Dickens' own son attempted to resolve the story with their own endings: Contemporaneous with Dickens' writing, British pantomime styles — distinguished by the importance of audience participation and conventions like the principal boy — reached their height of popularity, just as music hall performance with its attributes of raucous, risque comedy and a distinctive style of music began to achieve prominence.

Rupert Holmes , who would go on to be the major creative contributor to the musical Drood , spent his early childhood in England. At age three, he would experience theater for the first time when he was taken to a modern "panto", complete with cross-dressing lead boy and audience sing-alongs. Some years later, as an year-old boy fascinated by mystery books, Holmes first discovered the unfinished Dickens novel.

Both of those seminal experiences would go on to have a major impact on Holmes when he was first approached to write a new musical by impresario Joseph Papp. Following a nightclub appearance during which Holmes performed some of his "story-songs" while sharing humorous anecdotes, Holmes received a note from Gail Merrifield, director of play development at the New York Shakespeare Festival and wife of Joseph Papp , the creator and head of the Festival , who had seen Holmes' performance and suggested that he write a full-length musical.

Drawing on his recollections of pantomime and Dickens' novel, as well as later experiences with Victorian-style music hall performance, Holmes conceived the central premises of the show. From the Dickens work, Holmes took the central plot and most of the featured characters.

From music hall traditions, he created the lead character of "The Chairman", a sort of Master of Ceremonies and instigator of the action on stage. And from pantomime he retained the concept of the "Lead Boy" always portrayed by a young female in male drag and the most ground-breaking aspect of Drood , audience participation. Drood is unusual in part because of Holmes' feat of writing the book, music, lyrics, and full orchestrations for the show.

Though Holmes believed no Broadway creator had done this before, [6] and despite frequent mentions of this feat in articles and reviews of the show, the practice was not entirely uncommon in the early days of musical theater. Songwriters, including Adolf Philipp , were previously credited with the books to their musicals. In writing the book, Holmes did not let Dickens overshadow his own intentions. Rather than imitate Dickens' writing style, which he felt would be too bleak for the kind of show he wished to write, Holmes employed the device of a "show-within-a-show.

This device allowed for a great deal of light comedy that was not originally found in Dickens' novel to be incorporated into the show, as well as several musical numbers that were unrelated to the original story. In explaining this decision, Holmes was quoted as saying, "This is not Nicholas Nickleby set to music--it's not a Dickensian work. It's light and fun and entertaining. But I hope--I think--that Dickens would have enjoyed it.

Most inventively, Holmes employed a novel method of determining the outcome of the play: At a break in the show, the audience votes on who killed Drood if, indeed, he was killed at all , the identity of the mysterious Dick Datchery, and on which two characters will become romantically involved in the end, creating a happy ending. Since every audience differs in temperament, the outcome is theoretically unpredictable even to the actors, who must quickly tally the votes and commence with the chosen ending although some smaller companies will "fix" the results to limit the number of possible endings.

This device required extra work from Holmes, who had to write numerous short endings which covered every possible voting outcome. There are several differences between the musical and the novel. The tone of Dickens' original book was somewhat bleak as was Dickens' style , whereas the show is considerably more lighthearted and played for comedy. The most notable difference in characterization involves Jasper: Several minor characters are omitted, and the roles of others are expanded. In the musical, Bazzard is Crisparkle's assistant, whereas in the novel he is employed by Rosa's guardian, Mr.

Meanwhile, in order to increase the interactivity of the play and introduce doubt as to who the murderer is, the musical omits several of the novel's clues that Jasper is the killer and introduces clues which do not appear in the novel pointing at other suspects. Act One opens as the members of the Music Hall Royale circulate among the audience, introducing themselves to the patrons.

They then introduce John Jasper, the 'Jekyll and Hyde' choirmaster who greets his young nephew Edwin Drood in the song "Two Kinsmen", where they express their strong friendship. Rosa's suspicion of his obsession is confirmed when at her next lesson, he asks her to sing a song he has written- "Moonfall"- an innuendo-heavy love song from Jasper to her. Neville is immediately attracted to Rosa, which makes him a rival to both Edwin and the secretive Jasper. Next the chairman brings the audience to London and the sinister opium den of the Princess Puffer who talks with the audience, and explains her life in "Wages of Sin".

A sinewy ballet dance follows. Puffer shows great interest in this fact, and stores it away in her memory. Back in Cloisterham, Neville and Drood meet and come to odds with each other almost immediately. Next, The Chairman is called in to play another character as that actor is unable to come, but it turned out that the scenes of his character and the scenes of Mayor Sapsea coincide- and the characters have to disagree with each other.

We are then introduced to the drunken stonemason Durdles, and his assistant Deputy.

In the graveyard, they tell us that Edwin and Rosa, who have been promised to each other since they were children and so cannot tell if they truly love each other, have called off their engagement "Perfect Strangers". As a parting gift, Rosa gives Drood her hair clasp, which once belonged to her mother. In the resulting song "No Good Can Come from Bad", Neville and Drood's antagonism is reinstated, Helena's and Crisparkle's worry for Neville's reputation is shown, and it is revealed that Crisparkle used to be in love with Rosa's mother, who died after Rosa's birth.

Soon the party disbands and the guests depart into a violent storm. There is a short halt here, where the actor playing Bazzard soliloquizes about how he never seems to be able to get a major part in a show in the song "Never The Luck". The next day Drood has vanished.

Drood was last seen walking there with Neville the night before. Nevile is almost lynched by the townsfolk before being rescued by Crisparkle. Jasper publicly swears to track down his nephew's killer; later he visits Rosa and confesses his love for her. Act Two begins six months later, and still there is no sign of Drood. There is much speculation as to his fate.

Meanwhile, it is revealed that Puffer has been investigating Drood's disappearance, but has also noticed a rather seedy looking figure who seems to be doing the same. We'll instantly send an email containing product info and a link to it. You may also enter a personal message. We do not use or store email addresses from this form for any other purpose than sending your share email. Sorry but your review could not be submitted, please verify the form and try again.

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