Uploaded August 2010 | Updated September 2026, 3 weeks ago
Drood (originally The Mystery of Edwin Drood) is a musical based on the unfinished Charles Dickens novel The Mystery of Edwin Drood. It is written by Rupert Holmes, and the first Broadway musical with multiple endings (determined by audience vote). Holmes received Tony Awards for Best Book and Best Original Score. The musical won five Tony Awards out of eleven nominations, including Best Musical.
The musical first debuted as part of the New York Shakespeare Festival in August 1985, and, following revision, transferred to Broadway, where it ran until May 1987. Two national tours and a production in London's West End followed. Though the show has yet to have a Broadway revival, it continues to be popular with regional, amateur, and student theater companies and has seen numerous foreign productions.
The opening night cast of the Broadway production starred George Rose, Cleo Laine, John Herrera, Howard McGillin, Patti Cohenour, and Jana Schneider, who were all nominated for 1986 Tony Awards for their performances, as well as Betty Buckley in the title role. Donna Murphy, Judy Kuhn, and Rob Marshall were also members of the ensemble. (Marshall, who would later become best known as a choreographer and theater/film director, also received an early choreography credit as assistant to Daniele.) Before the show ended its run, Murphy, who was understudy to Cleo Laine and Jana Schneider, took over the title role. Other notable replacements during the show's run included Alison Fraser (taking over for Jana Schneider), Paige O'Hara (taking over for Donna Murphy as Drood), as well as Loretta Swit and later Karen Morrow, who stepped into Laine's roles.
In 1988, several months after closing on Broadway, a slightly-revised version of Drood began its first North America tour at the Kennedy Center Opera House in Washington, DC, with Rose, Schneider and O'Hara reprising their leads, and Jean Stapleton playing Laine's role. During the tour, Rose was succeeded by Clive Revill. The show, now licensed by Tams-Witmark, has since has enjoyed a second U.S. national tour, a 1987 West End run at the Savoy Theatre in London, a production at the Shaw Festival in Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ontario, Canada; and numerous regional and professional and amateur theatrical productions worldwide. In 2007--08, a London revival, presented as a chamber piece and directed by Ted Craig, ran at the Warehouse Theatre.
Most recently, in the summer of 2009, the Idaho Shakespeare Festival put on a production of Drood, starring resident actors Aled Davies as The Chairman, Lynn Allison as Princess Puffer, and Sara M. Bruner in the title role.
Drood (originally The Mystery of Edwin Drood) is a musical based on the unfinished Charles Dickens novel The Mystery of Edwin Drood. It is written by Rupert Holmes, and the first Broadway musical with multiple endings (determined by audience vote). Holmes received Tony Awards for Best Book and Best Original Score. The musical won five Tony Awards out of eleven nominations, including Best Musical.
The musical first debuted as part of the New York Shakespeare Festival in August 1985, and, following revision, transferred to Broadway, where it ran until May 1987. Two national tours and a production in London's West End followed. Though the show has yet to have a Broadway revival, it continues to be popular with regional, amateur, and student theater companies and has seen numerous foreign productions.
The opening night cast of the Broadway production starred George Rose, Cleo Laine, John Herrera, Howard McGillin, Patti Cohenour, and Jana Schneider, who were all nominated for 1986 Tony Awards for their performances, as well as Betty Buckley in the title role. Donna Murphy, Judy Kuhn, and Rob Marshall were also members of the ensemble. (Marshall, who would later become best known as a choreographer and theater/film director, also received an early choreography credit as assistant to Daniele.) Before the show ended its run, Murphy, who was understudy to Cleo Laine and Jana Schneider, took over the title role. Other notable replacements during the show's run included Alison Fraser (taking over for Jana Schneider), Paige O'Hara (taking over for Donna Murphy as Drood), as well as Loretta Swit and later Karen Morrow, who stepped into Laine's roles.
In 1988, several months after closing on Broadway, a slightly-revised version of Drood began its first North America tour at the Kennedy Center Opera House in Washington, DC, with Rose, Schneider and O'Hara reprising their leads, and Jean Stapleton playing Laine's role. During the tour, Rose was succeeded by Clive Revill. The show, now licensed by Tams-Witmark, has since has enjoyed a second U.S. national tour, a 1987 West End run at the Savoy Theatre in London, a production at the Shaw Festival in Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ontario, Canada; and numerous regional and professional and amateur theatrical productions worldwide. In 2007--08, a London revival, presented as a chamber piece and directed by Ted Craig, ran at the Warehouse Theatre.
Most recently, in the summer of 2009, the Idaho Shakespeare Festival put on a production of Drood, starring resident actors Aled Davies as The Chairman, Lynn Allison as Princess Puffer, and Sara M. Bruner in the title role.
