The Mystery of Charles Dickens
Opening Night: April 25, 2002
Closing: May 12, 2002
Theater: Belasco Theatre
Following sold-out seasons in London’s West End, Simon Callow makes his Broadway acting debut in The Mystery of Charles Dickens, directed by Patrick Garland. In Peter Ackroyd’s new play, Callow portrays the popular Victorian author along with forty-nine of the most famous characters from Dickens’ beloved novels. Taking it’s form from the personal appearance tours that made Charles Dickens a virtual pop star in the United States in the mid-19th Century, the show is a funny and compelling look at the brilliant and contradictory life of one of the greatest writers in the English language.
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April 26, 2002
As the entire — and immense — cast of ”The Mystery of Charles Dickens,” Simon Callow is the English teacher of your adolescent dreams. Or perhaps nightmares. That depends on whether you regarded English class as an occasion for learning or for thinking about grave issues like your popularity rating.
Mr. Callow, you see, is not about to let an itchy mind drift into reveries of life after the recess bell. As he gallops from cradle to grave through the story of England’s most beloved novelist, from a script by Peter Ackroyd, Mr. Callow projects an enthusiasm and an urgency that make you feel it would be impolite and possibly life-threatening to look away.
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