Theater, band and stage tech have joined forces to produce The Mystery of Edwin Drood, a musical work different from any Gunn has put on before. Set in Victorian Era England, the musical takes the audience straight back to Charles Dickens’ time to bring his unfinished novel to life. Dickens died before he was able to write an ending to his story, so the play has many paths through which it could progress.

“Someone actually calculated that there are 600 different combinations of the play sequence,” senior George Sun said. There are eight suspects for the murder of the main character, Edwin Drood, played by senior Chloe Fuller. Junior Michael Norcia plays the chairman, William Cartwright, who tells the story and pauses the plot at every fork in the road. The cast gathers on stage, and the audience votes to choose who they want to prosecute. “It is like a play within a play,” senior Franzi Mayer said. The actors are acting as actors putting on a show, whose ending has not yet been decided. “We go in the audience as our actor selves, and we go up on stage to perform the story, and we get to break character and be our actor selves,” senior Rivka Kelly said.

The time period of the play has inspired the cast and crew to go above and beyond with costumes and characterization. “It’s this amazing English show in 1892, so the costumes are so unique, and the hair takes like hours before every show,” Kelly said.

Senior Franzi Mayer is particularly enamored with her character. “I think my character is the most fun character, personally, because I just come on stage every single night and just have a whole lot of fun, basically,” she said. “I get to play with the audience all the time, and I just get to be flamboyant and huge, and my costume is huge.”

Despite the tragic murder, the story is definitely a comedy. “I have to say the novel was much more depressing than the thing we’re putting on,” Kelly said. “That’s what we’re aiming for with this show, is that you could watch any one character and just be completely entertained, and so when you get the whole picture as a whole it’s just amazing.”

The musical has aroused excitement in all involved. “The music, everything is spectacular on another level, and it’s fun and funny, you’ll cry and you’ll laugh,” director Jim Shelby said. The Mystery of Edwin Drood has been performed on Broadway in the same style, questioning the audience as to how they would like the play to continue, but this is the first time Gunn has put on a show in this style. The band had to learn to play 30 new songs, including a couple for each alternate ending. The stage has been modified, as it is every other year, to create an open box for the band in the front of the stage. “It is so hard not to get distracted,” senior Monica Datta said. “I always want to stop and listen to the play progressing above our heads, but I know I have to keep playing.” The variable nature of the play presents a challenge to the crew. “My job is calling cues and calling what has to happen and when, and if you don’t know the ending you have to be really on top of everything to know what to direct,” senior stage manager Kanika Khanna said. “You have to be ready to go to which ending.”

While the show will be different every night, the atmosphere is bound to be warm and exciting every evening. “Come to our show, you’ll be our best friend,” sophomore ensemble actress Catherine Volpe said. The show runs from Friday, March 13 to Saturday, March 21 with performances at 8 p.m. and one matinee on March 18 at 3:30 p.m.