The Center for Performing Arts buzzed with energy at a rehearsal for “The Mystery of Edwin Drood.” Elon University’s Senior Music Theater Class will perform the musical as a part of their senior capstone.
Co-director Hunter Brown explained that the show is a murder-mystery with twists and turns that allow the audience to decide the ending.
“The show is based off of a Charles Dickens novel, but Dickens died before he could write who the murderer was, so the audience votes who they think it is,” Brown said. “Dickens wrote the story in such a way that anyone could be a suspect.”
Zane Phillips portrays John Jasper, a choirmaster who falls in love with his voice student, Rosa Bud. Bud is engaged to Edwin Drood, Jasper’s nephew, proving him to be a strong potential suspect in the murder of Drood.
The show is a play within a play showcasing modern actors who portray Victorian thespians of the Hall Royale theater troupe, performing a colorful interpretation of Charles Dickens’ unfinished mystery novel.
“My character is played by Clive Paget, who is the theater’s matinee idol, has a winning smile and gets all the girls,” Phillips said.
Leah Greene’s character, Alice Nutting, plays Edwin Drood, the central character of the musical.
“Nutting’s big thing is that she is the best actress of all time. She’s so good which is why she is able to play a male character. She thinks very highly of herself and is a bit of a diva.”
Greene discussed the hardships of assuming the role of a male character, noting the physicality of it as the most difficult.
“I am a very petite girl, and I have to carry myself as if I tower over Zane, who is 6 feet 1 inch. I have to envision myself at his level, which is hilarious but also very tricky,” Greene said.
Casting the part of Drood was difficult for Brown and co-director, Joe Bach.
Bach explained it is an extremely vocally demanding role, among other things.
“Drood requires immense vocal talent, in addition to the necessity of assuming the posture and ideals of a man,” Bach said.
Casting a woman for a male role is called “pant-rolling” and is seen in other productions such as Peter Pan, where casting directors typically hire a woman to play a young male character.
The casting process was unique for this particular production, because students were auditioning for their classmates.
“Auditioning for my close friends and peers who I know really well and have been with for four years made the process much easier and fun,” Greene said.
Phillips added the pressure was not as high and that working with peers made the process much more comfortable. Throughout auditions and during rehearsals with the whole cast, Phillips felt like he was able to be free to “act like a complete fool.”
From a director’s perspective, Brown explained that in casting the show, it was important to “see how the cast gelled and who looked really good together.”
The show is heavily student-run, though the class was aided tremendously in technical aspects of the musical.
“Mike Smith, a professional sound designer and theatrical consultant, runs the design and tech program here at Elon,” Bach said. “He helped bring our set ideas to life, and without him, we really could not have created what we envisioned for the show.”
Phillips said many of his classmates held a leadership position in the production, such as the music director, production manager and choreographer.
It was important to have positions of power in the show because “Drood” is considered their senior thesis, and the class wanted to be as involved in production as possible.
“While most senior English majors, for example, may have to write a short story for their thesis, the cool part about being a senior music theater major is that our thesis is a musical,” Phillips said.
The class voted on what show would be performed last spring, and Brown suggested “Drood” because he thought it would showcase his class’s immense talent and uniqueness.
“We have a very intellectually driven class, so performing a piece with intellectual grounding, as it is based off of a Dickens novel, was something that I thought would be very interesting. You need to use your actor brain at all times for this show,” Brown said.
“It’s not just good theater, but smart theater. You have to be extremely talented, but also in an intellectual mindset to execute this type of a performance,” Bach said.