Lamplighters to Present Dickens Musical

Poster from the production discussed in this article (from the City Box Office Web page)

Having presented (as I put it at the end of last month) “Sullivan Before Gilbert” for this month’s performance, next month Lamplighters Music Theatre will depart from both W. S. Gilbert and Arthur Sullivan to present Rupert Holmes’ musical, The Mystery of Edwin Drood. Those that did not fall asleep in the classroom (either in high school or as undergraduates) probably know that this is the title of Charles Dickens’ final novel, which was left unfinished at the time of his death. Staging this narrative, with or without music, clearly poses some serious challenges.

Holmes rose to those challenges in a particularly innovative way. The narrative itself is basically a whodunit involving a murder, so the climax occurs when the murder is revealed. Holmes decided that, rather than trying to second-guess Dickens’ intentions, he would write multiple versions of the final scene, each revealing the murderer to be a different member of the cast. He then decided that the best way to engage the audience would be to invite them all, at the appropriate moment, to vote on who they think the murderer should be. As a result, Holmes created a “confession song” for each of the characters in the narrative. The Lamplighters production will be staged by M. Jane Erwin, and the Music Director will be Brett Strader. The show will also feature choreography by Vivian Sam.

This production will be given five performances. The venue will be the Presidio Theatre Performing Arts Center, which is located (as one might expect) in the Presidio at 99 Moraga Avenue. Ticket prices are $80, $70, and $65. The evening shows will begin at 7:30 p.m. on Saturday, May 11, Friday, May 17, and Saturday, May 18. The matinees will begin at 2 p.m. on Sundays, May 12 and May 19. The final production will be given a simulcast for a fee of $25. City Box Office has created a single Web page for all performances, including the simulcast option. For those that want to be thorough about the production, all eight of the confessions will be sung at the opening night performance!