Dickensblog

Drama Desk results

The Mystery of Edwin Drood won only one Drama Desk award -- for sound design -- and that was a three-way tie. Here's hoping for better things at the Tonys!

On playing Dickens's bad guys

In this interview, actor Robert Powell talks about his one-man show Dickens' Villains.

Revisiting 'The Old Curiosity Shop'

Random Reads, a blog at Random House India, is doing a series about "forgotten" classics. This month, The Old Curiosity Shop is featured. It's odd to think of this one as "forgotten," when it was so immensely popular in its time -- but there's no doubt that tastes have changed since then. Makes you wonder which Dickens novels will be considered the best, and which will be "forgotten," in another century or so.

(Elsewhere, Simon Riley, reviewing an updated dramatic version, reminds us how relevant The Old Curiosity Shop still is.)

Congratulations, 'Edwin Drood'!

Broadway's Tony Award nominations were announced this morning, and The Mystery of Edwin Drood picked up five: Best Revival of a Musical, Best Director (Scott Ellis), Best Leading Actress (Stephanie J. Block as Edwin), Best Featured Actor (Will Chase as Jasper), and Best Scenic Design (Anna Louizos). The winners will be announced June 9, in a live ceremony on CBS.

Drood also received seven Drama Desk nominations: Outstanding Revival of a Musical, Outstanding Actor (Jim Norton as the Chairman), Outstanding Actress (Block), Outstanding Featured Actor (Andy Karl as Neville), Outstanding Featured Actress (Jessie Mueller as Helena), Outstanding Set Design (Louizos), and Outstanding Sound Design (Tony Meola). The Drama Desk winners will be announced May 19.

Congratulations and best wishes to the nominees!

Two premieres

The play A Perfect Likeness, which imagines a meeting between Charles Dickens and Lewis Carroll, will premiere Thursday in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. (Thanks to The Buzfuz for the tip.) Also, the new musical Peggoty's Boy, based on David Copperfield, will have its world premiere in Cheltenham, England, next Thursday.

'Great Expectations' in London: A review

No, I didn't get to go to the current London production of Great Expectations, but I did get to see the filmed version of the play! I attended a screening in Reston, Va., yesterday afternoon.

Win an autographed 'Edwin Drood' Playbill

Details and instructions are here!

'Great Expectations' ticket giveaway

Remember those screenings of the London production of GE that are going to happen this spring? Now you can win free tickets! Go here to read all the details and to enter!

An evening with Edwin Drood

It took me a long time to get up to New York City and see The Mystery of Edwin Drood (didn't make it till its closing weekend, in fact!), but it was so worth the wait. Done in old-fashioned English music-hall style, Drood was a brilliant, uproariously funny piece of theater. Full scoop and photos below the cut!

'Drood' report coming

Just a brief post to tell you that I got to see Broadway's The Mystery of Edwin Drood on Saturday night, and it was bliss! Full report and photos coming soon -- hopefully tomorrow.

(By the way, on the bus to New York, there were people behind me talking about Oliver Twist and Great Expectations. No joke. I'm telling you, he follows me.)