Victorian corset tops, glistening golden drapes, whimsical British accents — and the mysterious disappearance of Mr. Edwin Drood! And it’s up to the audience to crack the case.

Audience members were greeted by cheerful screams of the cast members as they entered the Taylor Performing Arts Center (TPAC) to watch The Mystery of Edwin Drood, the Bishop’s spring musical that ran from February 28th to March 8th. In this hilarious and interactive musical, the audience determines the storyline by voting on which characters become the murderer and detective to find out what exactly happened to Edwin Drood.

The Mystery of Edwin Drood was an unfinished musical written by Charles Dickens. The musical uses his work’s incompleteness as the basis of the plot. The story first introduces us to young, handsome Edwin Drood (played by Riley Brunson (‘25)), whose velvet green coat was elegant and neat, just like him. Next, we meet his beautiful betrothed Rosa Bud (played by Lainie Beamer (‘25)), who wore a frilly pink gown and had blonde curls that reflected her delicate nature. Then comes Edwin Drood’s uncle John Jaspar (played by James O’Brien (‘26)), a music teacher with slick hair and brooding black suit that just screamed ‘creepy.’ And creepy he was, for he also held an untamed fondness for his nephew’s fiance.

Drood also offered a wide range of characters for the actors to portray. This variety provided a challenge, which was what compelled Dr. Tregar to select Drood as this year’s musical. “We were interested in a show that would really push our students as musicians, actors, and dancers, and Edwin Drood offered exactly that,” she explained. “We knew we had a significant number of strong women, so we wanted to make sure to pick a show that would offer them good roles.”

We also meet Neville Landless, the other eligible bachelor (played by Naveen Hernandez (‘26)), and his twin sister Helena (played by Malaika Khanna (‘27)), who are from Ceylon (present day Sri Lanka). Neville takes a liking to Rosa, and tension between Neville, Edwin, and John seems to peak at Christmas Eve dinner. That evening, Edwin disappears; only a scrap of the coat he had borrowed from his uncle remains by the river. Through incorporation of metafiction, particularly at the moment Dickens had set down his pen, the audience is made aware of their role in the story as well — to finish it for him.

This interplay between the audience and the cast was a major highlight of Drood. Audience members were huddled in the front row, rooted to their seats, and squirming with excitement. Particularly, Sophie Gratry (‘27), who played the Chairman, the play’s narrator, improvised many times to get the audience riled up and having fun — from having the watchers yell “boo” at John Jasper to getting them to scream at the top of their lungs during the voting process.

“The show relies on the willingness of the audience to join the actors in the world of the play,” Theater Director Dr. Tregar said. “One thing we’ve been thinking about is how to get more folks to come and see our shows and we thought that offering a production in which the audience is charged with determining the ending would do just that.” While many factors made Drood special, Dr. Tregar thinks interaction was the star of the show. Based on glowing reviews such as this article and many sold out shows, they were very successful.

Indeed, interaction became important after one of the crowning moments of the show — when Charles Dickens stopped writing it. The cast sang “Off to the Races” while prancing around the stage, wearing shining, jolly smiles, before they all abruptly broke out into sobs and the music cut off. The audience was left confused as to what had caused such a whiplash-inducing switch, until the Chairman dramatically proclaimed that Dickens had “put down his pen!” This duality between sudden highs and dramatic shocks made this production undeniably hilarious and memorable.

The costuming also delivered magic to the show — as each character took the stage, the audience was transported into different realms of the Victorian world. “We looked at, specifically, the 1870s, which is when [Drood] is set, and that was a really complicated time in the Victorian era. There aren’t a lot of bustles and huge trains because we can’t fit that on the stage, but that was our inspiration,” Costume Design Teacher Mrs. Jean Moroney said. “And, I mean, I fell in love with these things because the kids made them and I’m so proud of them for stepping up and doing something really different.”

In particular, Princess Puffer’s costume enhanced her raggedy persona, which, when coupled with her Cockney accent, was tricky for Mira to nail down. “Princess Puffer is such a different character from me personally, which has been so much fun, yet also a great challenge. It took a lot of preparation in terms of meeting with Dr. Tregar and watching videos online, then practicing the words and different combinations of letters over and over,” Mira said. “You have to be able to speak naturally as if this was your own accent to be able to tell the story.”

Mira also delved into research on her character that really brought Princess Puffer to life. From the way that she spoke or the way that she expressed variations in emotion, Mira completely embodied her role. “I played around a lot with movement, in addition to the dialect, to think how she moves, how her life experiences have informed her movement, her age, and that’s why I researched opium, because that has effects on both the mind and the body,” she said.

“There wasn’t a huge, crazy set that was drawing people in, so everybody had to fill it with their energy,” Lainie explained. “I definitely enjoyed it as a challenge, just because you had to be on your toes all the time. I’ve never really done live theater performances before, so a challenge was having to adapt on the fly and figure out who your character is that night. But I had so much fun doing it!”

Figuring out their characters, however, was only half the battle for the cast of Drood. While this happens frequently, according to Dr. Tregar, illnesses during rehearsals, including tech week, challenged them along their journey. And if flu season hitting wasn’t enough, the weeks of performances involved heavy rain, which, on one Thursday night, decided to leak onto the stage.

“ I’ve been doing shows for, for a long time now, and, and something typically happens in every show. And yes, the ceiling did leak on Thursday,” Mira said. “But it’s not necessarily about what happens, but how we go about them. The entire team on this musical was just so amazing that despite the mishaps that may have occurred, we all persisted.”

“Even with the rainstorm on Thursday, we were able to keep going and I think it’s a testament to how well the production team, crew, and cast worked together as a whole,” Dr. Tregar agreed. “Mr. Melton was able to jump in and keep the cast and band safe and the actors did a great job of both keeping an eye on where he was while also not drawing attention to his presence.”

And, as with every spring production, there comes a wave of seniors putting on their last show at Bishop’s. This year, seven seniors from the cast and crew are graduating with the class of 2025. For Ryan Zhu (‘25), who played the Reverend, this was his first and last show at Bishop’s. For others, like Lainie Beamer (‘25) and Mira Singh (‘25), this is the end of an era.

“I’m glad I’m here now, even though I didn’t come a little earlier for this,” Ryan Zhu (‘25), who plays the Reverend, said, laughing. “Our cast was very harmonious and we were pretty smooth sailing. Just lovely people working together, all the amazing castmates around me, and so much work from tech and costumes.”

“I feel very fulfilled. I can look back on my time at Bishop’s and witness my growth personally, but also the growth of the program. And to be able to be a part of a show like this, that I think is a reflection of all of that, is truly, truly special,” Mira reflected. “The show was a great one to call my last one and I wouldn’t have had it any other way.”

“It was definitely a show that was really engaging to do and never got stale, partially because it was changing each night,” Lainie concluded. “A ten out of ten experience!”

The Mystery of Edwin Drood was by far one of the most fun, humorous, playful musicals Bishop’s has done in many years. Whether it was the loud cheering of the audience, peculiar accents, or dramatic British outbursts, Drood was the kind of show that goes down in history books.