Broadway's Mystery of Edwin Drood Will Deepen, Now to March 2013

By Kenneth Jones
05 Dec 2012

Betsy Wolfe and Will Chase in The Mystery of Edwin Drood.
Betsy Wolfe and Will Chase in The Mystery of Edwin Drood.
Photo by Joan Marcus

The critically acclaimed new production of The Mystery of Edwin Drood will get an extra four weeks on Broadway, Roundabout Theatre Company announced on Dec. 5.

Rupert Holmes' Tony Award-winning, English music hall-style musical comedy plays a limited engagement at Studio 54 (254 West 54th Street), now through March 10, 2013. The show famously invites the audience to choose the killer, prompting many potential endings and sung confessions.

Directed by Scott Ellis (Harvey, Twelve Angry Men), The Mystery of Edwin Drood, inspired by Charles Dickens' final, unfinished novel, features choreography by Warren Carlyle and music direction by Paul Gemignani. Holmes won Tonys for the show's book and score in the 1980s.

The Mystery of Edwin Drood stars Stephanie J. Block (Edwin Drood), Will Chase (John Jasper), Gregg Edelman (Reverend Mr. Crisparkle), Jim Norton (Chairman) and Chita Rivera (Princess Puffer) with Andy Karl (Neville Landless), Jessie Mueller (Helena Landless), Betsy Wolfe (Rosa Bud), Nicholas Barasch (Deputy), Peter Benson (Bazzard), Robert Creighton (Durdles), Alison Cimmet, Nick Corley, Janine DiVita, Jenifer Foote, Justin Greer, Shannon Lewis, Spencer Plachy, Kiira Schmidt, Eric Sciotto and Jim Walton.

"Take a trip back in time to a Victorian music hall where a rowdy ensemble of actors mounts a staging of Charles Dickens' unfinished novel," Roundabout invites. "Everyone on stage is a suspect in the murder of young Edwin Drood, and it’s up to you to choose the killer! Is it John Jasper, Edwin's protective but slightly maniacal uncle? Rosa Bud, his reluctant betrothed? The debauched Princess Puffer? Each performance ends differently, depending on what the audience decides!"

Beginning Jan. 29, 2013, the new cast recording will be available for purchase digitally, online at drgrecords.com or at Studio 54.

For tickets and information, visit roundabouttheatre.org.