Louisiana State University - Gumbo Yearbook (Baton Rouge, LA)

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Audience Lends Hand in Deciding WHODUNNIT h was a dark arui shrrmy night. . . Well, not actually, the weather on February 1 st was fair with just a slight touch of chill in the even- ing air, but it was an evening of mystery nonetheless. The national tour of The Mys- tery of Edwin Drood made an appearance in the Union Theatre at 8;00 p.m. and entertained a near-capacity audience with bawdy humor, slap-stick com- edy, and a twist ending to its ever changing story line. The reason the story line is ever changing is that the audience of each show gets a chance to vote on the outcome by a show of raisc ' ' ■inrts. !■ The story was originally pen- ned by Charles Dickens, but due to the untimely demise of Dick- ens the story was never ci m- pleted. Pop music star Rupert Holmes ( Escape The Pina Col- ada Song ) worked the story into a musical which would go on to earn a Tony Award during its s ' ay on Broadway. Pictured here, young edwin Drood ha disappeared and Princess Puffer (front left) and Dick Dalchery (a disguised de- tective who could end up being any one of a number of Ihe story ' s characters, front right) are each waging their own private investigations. iCtOSli fellkai i; DOI I HcltlH I ' holos by George Whitney 28 Mystery of Edwin drood

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7i while others are had by actively pursuing their management. It is indeed a method that has work- ed well for The Chimes for sever- al years. Although The Chimes caters mainly to a roots, blues, and cowpunk taste, near-stellar acts such as Leon Redbone. Jerry Jeff Walker, and the maniacal folkie Mojo Nixon have all used The Chimes as a venue while on tour. One of the newest additions to the number of local enclaves who boast live decibels is the Dougout (previously Doc ' s). Confound- ing some in the beginning of the fall promising The Smithereens and other prominent acts, the Dougout has nonetheless pro- vided a surprisingly active sche- dule of musical events. ' The problem with the Smithereens was that we had everything but a signed contract and we were out- bid by about $2,000 by some bar in Memphis. said assistant manager Mike Lamendola. attesting to the ephemeral nature of the industrv. Addina to some of the early difficulties experi- enced by a new establishment trying to edge into the local music circuit is the circulation of a com- munity petition by homeowners residing directly behind the Dougout and their acclaimed patio. This petition has thus far forced the fun associated with a live performance inside the bar. resulting in a few cancellations by otherwise-accessable bands. If we had access to the patio. said Lamendola. we ' dbekillin em right now! Another local bar that has al- ways featured simultaneous rock n roll is everyone ' s favorite pledge tank. Murphy ' s. Although Murphy ' s has only re- cently began to vigorously adver- tise and promote their reputation as a viable live music source, according to manager Mark Brown, Murphy ' s has always featured live music ever since it ' s opening in 1980. Even with such a history, one rather im- pressive coup that the bar has scored were the shows both Will (Sexton) and the Kill, and Guadalcanal Diary played there last year. Those were had almost by pure luck, com- mented Brown. We found out that Guadalcanal Diary was in town visiting the guys in Dash Rip Rock and were willing to do a gig. while Will simply had a free date, and there we were. Despite the various monetary principles that are involved in the reasonable healthy local rock n ' roll environment we sometimes take for granted, the enthusiasm local bars express in attracting ta- lent has indeed sparked an in- terest in the local music scene. Because of this, the appeal that a living, breathing, chord- thumping ensemble enjoys over pre-recorded sounds will, hope- fully, always prove to be more profitable to bar owners and en- joyable to patrons. Besides, it just isn ' t any fun to throw a beer bottle at a tape deck. J. Steve Zaffuto POPULAR BANDS IN LOCAL BARS 27

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One of these people did away wuh young Edwin Dro(xJ. The Chairman (tar right) introduces the suspects; (left to right) Durdles, Rosa Bud. Bazzard. Helena Landless, John Jasper, Princess Puffer, Neville Landless, and Reverend Cris- parkle The audience decided whodunnit by a show of hands. J pv i MMi 1 a tt i : w l-l SI A ' K IL i ] |yfM p mm 1 IPII HH riW i Sfli ' 1 ' ' - i] ;ij M mm I 1H iM M 1 1 liii HI Hi mm - m The pre-show warm up con- sisted of members of the cast accosting the audience and plying us with information about the individual characters. For in- stance, whenever we heard the name of the villainous John Jas- per we were suppossed to hiss and boo. I walked in on the middle of this part of the show due to the fact that my iate had mysterious- ly not met nie in the previously agreed upon ;.pot. I left the extra ticket in the lobby of the Union Theatre and continued to my seat writing off that date as a loss. Our guide through the en- deavor was The Chairman who served as narrator and sometime- actor when need arose. He helped to keep us abreast of all vital in- formation with tuch expostula- tions as, ' ' That sounds like a clue to me! Catchy tunes such as Don ' t Quit While You ' re Ahead and Perfect Strangers led us through the course of events as the plot thickened. Some of the lyrics were lost due to a number of factors; one of them being the fact that the microphone — equipped actors were being broadcast through two speakers mounted on each side of the stage and their sometimes cumbersome costumes served to hinder them at points by blocking their mikes. When the time came for the audience to decide who was the murderer the show ground to a halt while those same support- ing characters of the pre-show capers came into the audience and counted the raised-hand votes. The suspects stood at the footlights holding numbers dur- ing this time. My date (who showed up dur- ing the intermission oozing weak stories about getting off work late and really having t een there at 8:10 and having bought another ticket and sitting alone in the back until intermission and other such poppycock) refused to vote due to personal indecisiveness, could not be persuaded to vote for my susf ect and sat nervously by while the votes were tallied. It turned out that on the even- ing we went the audience decided that the murderer was the lovely Rosa Bud, Edwin Drood ' s own fiancee. It seems that she saw him in the fog one evening and thinking that he was the vil- lainous John Jasper sought re- venge on him for various wrong doings and lascivious overtures. We also got to vote on who we thought should end up as lovers. My section of the audience, being irreverent and adventur- ous, voted that the opium dealing Princess Puffer and the Reverend Crisparkle should end up the lucky pair, but at the last minute one of the other male characters tore open his costume to reveal an LSU jersey which caused the au- dience to roar with approval. This being the case he was awarded the title of lover of the Princess Puffer. With all wrongs righted and everyone living happily ever af- ter the curtain descended on a satisfied audience and. I ' m sure, an exhausted cast. We left the theatre ravenous (my date had cancelled out on dinner before the show at the last minute) but humming some of the tunes from The Mystery of Edwin Drood. David Hawkins Mystery of Edwin Drood 29