Local theaters bank on well-regarded works
Like it or not, theater is both an art and a business. Lots of theaters have the first part nailed; they know how to create art.
But the sad truth is that a show can be well-written, nicely cast and finely acted, but it isn't really a success unless it lures people into the seats … and keeps them there until the show is over.
Which may be why two otherwise different suburban theater companies, the Downers Grove-based New World Repertory and the St. Charles-based Noble Fool, have chosen well-regarded suspense/mystery plays that are also bona fide audience-pleasers for their next productions.
New World Rep is doing the classic thriller, "An Inspector Calls." The folks at Noble Fool are the doing the interactive musical "The Mystery of Edwin Drood." Both shows open Saturday.
When ask why New World chose "An Inspector Calls," a classic stage thriller full of twists and surprises, Alison Henderson, who directs, explained: "It is such a fun roller coaster ride for the audience."
And when the New World Rep ensemble was choosing plays for this season they were definitely looking were looking for a roller coaster ride.
"We have done comedies before," Henderson said, "but we wanted to do something different."
But something that grabbed audiences and kept them in their seats, albeit at the edge of them.
"I read a lot of the typical Agatha Christie stage mysteries," Henderson said, "but they were not grabbing me. But this one tuck with me.
"The show is such a psychological thriller, more about mind games and breaking down walls and expectations. We hope it will stimulate a lot of discussion after the show."
Kevin Bellie, director of Noble Fool's "The Mystery of Edwin Drood," is hoping to provoke a lot of discussion during the show. That's because the 1985 Broadway hit musical mystery, based on Dickens' last, and unfinished, novel, is interactive. The audience votes on how the show ends.
This continual, night-by-night variation keeps the show fresh and makes it a real crowd-pleaser.
"It's a lot of fun to watch," Bellie said.
Bellie, who directed a production of this show in 2005 at the Forest Park-based Circle Theatre, and jumped at the chance to direct it again in St. Charles, knows of what he speaks.
"There are seven possible different murderers," Bellie explains. "Six possible detectives , and something like 350 different possible combinations for the ending. I have seen so many different endings and each one works and each one shows a funny new facet of the story you didn't think about."
When the show ran at Circle Theatre Bellie said that some audience members came back multiple times, just to see how the show would end that night.
When asked why the show is an audience-pleaser, Bellie says, "You really get a bang for your buck. Beautiful costumes, beautiful sets, a live orchestra, a great story."
Art and business. That is the name of the game.
"An Inspector Calls" opens Saturday and runs through March 15 at the New World Repertory Theater, 923 Curtiss St. , Downers Grove. For tickets call (630) 663-1489 or visit www.newworldrep.org
"The Mystery of Edwin Drood" opens Saturday and runs through April 12 at Pheasant Run Resort Mainstage Theater, 4051 E. Main St., St. Charles, For tickets, call the Pheasant Run Box Office at (630) 584-6342, or visit www.ticketmaster.com.