Tony award-winning author/composer Rupert Holmes in talkback at Bergen County Players

Bergen County Players, one of America’s longest-running little theater companies, recently opened its 86th season with the Five-time Tony Award winning musical, The Mystery of Edwin Drood.  With Book, Music and Lyrics written by Rupert Holmes, The Mystey of Edwin Drood is based on an unfinished novel by Charles Dickens. Holmes will make a special live appearance at the Little Firehouse Theatre for BCP's "Conversation With An Artist" talkback immediately following the Sunday, September 23 matinee performance.  Tickets can be purchased online at www.bcplayers.org, by calling 201-261-4200 or by visiting the box office at 298 Kinderkamack Road in Oradell during regular box office hours. The Mystery of Edwin Drood will be performed at the Little Firehouse Theatre in Oradell through October 6th, 2018. 

 

Rupert Holmes, a former Bergen County resident and an ardent supporter of the Bergen County Players, is perhaps best known as author-composer of the Tony award-winning Broadway musical The Mystery of Edwin Drood and the Edgar award-winning Broadway comedy-thriller Accomplice.  He was the first person in theatrical history to be the sole winner of Tony Awards for Best Book, Best Music and Best Lyrics for Drood, which also won the Tony and Drama Desk Award for Best Broadway Musical. His comedy-drama about the life of comedian George Burns, Say Goodnight, Gracie, earned him a Tony nomination for Best Play.  His stage comedy-thrillers Accomplice and Solitary Confinement broke box office records, with both shows enjoying runs on Broadway, while the musical comedy Curtains won Holmes the Drama Desk award for Best Book of a Musical, as well as two further Tony nominations. In a unique collaboration, Holmes wrote the original comedy thriller Thumbs! expressly for BCP, which had its world premiere at the Little Firehouse Theatre in 2001.

 

Winner of five Tony Awards in 1986, including Best Musical, Best Book and Best Score, The Mystery of Edwin Drood is a musical comedy about a theatre company attempting to stage a musical comedy of the story Charles Dickens was writing when he died. Because the story was never finished, the mystery of who killed Edwin Drood is left to the audience to solve. Depending on the audience’s voice votes, shows of hands and ballots, the last half-hour of the show changes at every performance. There are literally hundreds of possible endings.

 

For over 20 years, BCP's "Conversations With An Artist" talkback series has provided the public with an opportunity to converse directly with the most seminal figures in theater. Past speakers have included Tony Award-winning actor Philip Bosco (“Lend Me A Tenor”, “Moon Over Buffalo”), Tony Award-nominated Rob McClure ("Chaplin", "Something Rotten!", "Honeymoon in Vegas")  and Tony Award-nominated Beth Fowler ("Beauty and the Beast", "Sweeney Todd", "The Boy  From Oz"), to name a few.

 

TICKET AND SCHEDULE INFORMATION

·   All performances take place at The Little Firehouse Theatre at 298 Kinderkamack Road in Oradell, home to the Bergen County Players since 1949.  Performance times are Fridays and Saturdays at 8pm, and Sundays at 2pm.

·  Tickets for The Mystery of Edwin Drood are $24 for all performances, and can be purchased online at www.bcplayers.org, by calling 201-261-4200 or by visiting the box office at 298 Kinderkamack Road in Oradell during regular box office hours.  Visa, Master Card, and American Express are accepted.

·  Those interested in Group Sales or benefit theater parties can call (201) 261-4200 (mailbox #6)

·       ·  BCP offers seating to accommodate patrons who are mobility impaired. These seats can be purchased by calling the box office at 201-261-4200 and will be released for public sale two weeks prior to performance.

·     ·   Advance discount tickets for students age 25 and under with proper ID are available for $14 by phone or walk-up only, and student rush seats can be purchased for $5 (cash only) starting 30 minutes before curtain at every performance, pending seat availability. There is a limit of one rush ticket per student.

·       ·   A new program is now available for qualified non-profit organizations to use one performance of each production as a fundraising event.  The group will book all 200 seats at a deeply discounted price and then resell the tickets at a price of their choosing, with the difference in price kept by the group. The available date is the Thursday of each show’s final weekend.  Interested groups can email fundraising@bcplayers.org for more information.

·       ·    Parking is free for our patrons at the Park Avenue municipal lot, across the street, one-half block north of the theater, as well as street parking on Kinderkamack Road and various side streets, all within easy walking distance.

 

Further information can be found at www.bcplayers.org.