Two on 'Drood'

Broadway.com has a thorough, and very enjoyable, article about The Mystery of Edwin Drood and its many incarnations through the years, culminating in the current Broadway revival of Rupert Holmes's musical version.

And Playbill.com has an interview with Holmes himself, which explains just what a mammoth undertaking the musical is. (You may recall that the show is staged as a play-within-a-play, and the audience is allowed to vote on the outcome.) Here's a quote from the latter article:

"There are eight candidates for murderer, five candidates for the detective-in-disguise and 36 combinations of lovers. If you combine all the different components, all the different lines that everyone has to memorize, there are over 400 permutations of endings — some combinations of which I have never seen. That does not mean I sat down and wrote 400 endings, but there are 400 combinations of different characters being different things. Each actor has to be responsible for what he would do if voted a detective-in-disguise or a murderer or a lover. The women have to know what they will say to nine or ten potential lovers so that it all makes sense. To be a swing on this show is to earn the Congressional Medal of Honor."

Comments

[Zeb]

This might seem like a silly question, but it's really been bothering me and it is Edwin-Drood related. :) Do you have any idea whether Helena and Neville are actually Sri Lankan, as opposed to just having been living in Ceylon?
I can't make it out, because it seemed like they were Sri Lankan, but then Neville said something weird about having been brought up among an "inferior race" which made me both angry because of the gross racism and also confused. :/ Any thoughts, smart people who know more about Dickens than me???

[Gina]

That's a very good question, Zeb, and the answer is . . . I'm not sure. I believe that topic has been debated a good deal. But their "very dark" coloring and other hints seem to suggest that they're at least half Sri Lankan. It's possible that Neville is simply ashamed of that heritage, as it would have caused many people to look down on him and his sister.

Anyone else want to chime in on this one?

[Zeb]

Thanks for your thoughts! It's a very interesting matter. :)