Theater Review—

‘Edwin Drood’ Is A Rollicking Good, Talented Time

By Julie Stern

DANBURY — The operative word here is rollicking.

The many talented kids involved in the Western CT State University theater program that is presenting The Mystery of Edwin Drood as their fall musical spectacular are having a rollicking good time doing it, and if you get over there to see it in the next two weeks, you will have one too.

Based on Charles Dickens’ last (and unfinished) novel, which depicted a love triangle between choir master John Jasper, his young nephew Edwin Drood, and a beautiful young orphan, Rosa Bud, introduced  a variety of raffish and colorful characters, and made Edwin disappear on Christmas Eve (but was interrupted by the author’s death before he could resolve all the plot complications), this Tony Award-winning show comes in the form of a series of short tableaux, acted out on the stage of “The Music Hall Royale,” under the guidance of the “Chairman,”  Mr William Cartright.

Such a format allows for a jolly collection of ladies of questionable virtue to mingle in the aisles and flirt with the gentlemen in the audience, while their male counterparts lounge in the boxes and enjoy the show. It also gives Cartright, played perfectly by Tom Farrell, the opportunity to intersperse his running narrative of the story with a patter of corny, bawdy and very funny jokes – exactly what you would hear in a Victorian music hall.

Each tableau has its own lavishly detailed set – a conservatory, a high street, an opium den, a crypt, a railroad station, etc. – and serves as a frame for one or two musical numbers, showcasing the voices of principals, particularly Patrick Laffin as Jasper, Colleen Ditarando as Rosa, and Cheryl Haller as Princess Puffer, the proprietress of a London opium den.

All the voices are, in fact, wonderful, and are backed up by a full and well-drilled pit orchestra. Edwin is played by a “male impersonator” (a common musical hall device) – the actress Alice Nutting – played to comically exaggerated effect by Jennifer Van Buskirk.

The story grows luridly complicated with the appearance of Kayla Kuzbel and Ryan Bair as an exotic pair of orphans newly arrived from Ceylon, a mayor whose recently deceased wife is to be interred in the crypt, and a comic pair of deputies assigned to guard it, lest something untoward happen.

The mixture of melodramatic spoof with rich music is further enhanced by the rowdy antics of the chorus, which reappears between each scene with more comic, acrobatic and raucous dancing by the ladies of the evening and their “citizen” escorts.

And finally, six months after young Edwin’s disappearance, a pair of sleuths arrive, determined to solve the mystery. Since Dickens never revealed his plan for the conclusion, Chairman Cartright invites the audience to vote on a number of questions, including the identity of the murderer and the resolution of the love story. Once the winning candidates are chosen, the performers act out the conclusion.

The whole thing is silly, funny, beautifully staged and exquisitely costumed, brimming with talent.

(WCSU’s Berkshire Theatre is on Osborne Street on Seventh Avenue, on the university’s midtown campus in Danbury. Call 837-8732.

Performances continue Thursday through Saturday evenings at 8 until November 20. Tickets are $18 for adults and $15 for seniors, children and students with ID.)