"The Mystery of Edwin Drood" at The Sacred Fools Theatre Company

After years of watching the development of the Sacred Fools Theatre in LA, I have come to a conclusion. They're the LA Theatre scene's equivalent of Madonna. They aren't brilliant (but certainly not without merit), they are very, VERY ambitious, they don't do heavy stuff, they think very highly of themselves, and they are ingenious at self-promotion. I have gone back to see show after show there--largely due to friends in their productions--and the experience is almost always the same: the place is packed (although usually about half the audience seem to be company members; possible due to the fact that they NEVER cast their shows with a majority of company members,, interestingly); the lobby is nicely set up in a theme to reflect the mainstage show, the show itself (inevitably a critic's pick) can usually be described thus: "bing-bang, flash-smile, wacky-wacky, nudge-nudge, wink-wink, ta-da!", and I walk out entertained...but forgetting what I had done that night the next morning.

Now don't get me wrong: I think it's great that an LA theater has even bother to find a style and really brand themselves. And while I don't love their style, per se, their consistency has garnered them an audience; and in fact when they do fun, light, glossy material they are quite terrific (as opposed to when they try to be heavy. Again, like Madonna, it only ends up laughable).

So to no surprise from me, their version of the flashy, theatrical, and shallow "The Mystery of Edwin Drood" is great fun. Executed with real authority by a terrific cast under the bang-on direction of Douglas Clayton, it had an infinity more going for it that the truly tedious Broadway tour of "Light in the Piazza" this past year at LA's huge Ahmenson Playhouse. For those of you who don't know "Drood" (and I suspect that's most of you) this c-grade musical takes it's title from the name of a book that Charles Dickens was in the middle of writing when he died, thus leaving it unfinished. The as-is story is presented in the "Drood" show as a performance by 18th Century music hall performers (and all that that entails), where we-the-audience take on the role of their audience, if you will. When they get to the last bit Dickens wrote it becomes an audience participation exercise and the performers give the audience options for the inevitable "who done it". When the guilty party for that night is chosen, the cast plays out the last scene for how that version of the story would end. The result is a different show every night.

The effect is all very Brechtian, with the audience constantly being reminded of the fact that they are in a theater watching a show. The flip side of this is that the audience never ends up being able to get caught up in the plot (such as it is) so we're left, frankly, not caring about the characters at all. Not aiding this is a wildly (and widely) styled series of songs, almost none of which you can hum upon one hearing (the exception being one particular number which gets repeated a lot, since, I suspect, the composer/writer/lyricist Rupert Holmes knew from the get-go it would be the only potential hit in the show).

So, substance and a real human emotion are really lacking here. But there is still a lot to love in this production. On top of a wonderful cast and inspired stage and musical direction (this latter by Bill Newlin, with a terrific small ensemble off to one side), the Fools' tight space is used to superb effect, setting up small playing areas in the house, and putting two "box seats" for the audience on stage, which has been turned into an opium den by set designer Joel Daavid. You can not help but have fun with the whole circus of it all!

But like the circus, you might ooh and ahh while you're there...and might not remember much the next day. I didn't. But I had fun while it lasted. B.

Til next time!
--HDSQ, Jr.