Images: 
Total Rating: 
***
Previews: 
April 18, 2002
Opened: 
April 25, 2002
Ended: 
May 7, 2002
Country: 
USA
State: 
New York
City: 
New York
Company/Producers: 
Ambassador Theater Group, Act Productions, Pre-Eminence, Ltd.
Theater Type: 
Broadway
Theater: 
Belasco Theater
Theater Address: 
111 West 44th Street
Phone: 
(212) 239-6200
Running Time: 
2 hrs, 15 min
Genre: 
Solo
Author: 
Peter Ackroyd
Director: 
Patrick Garland
Review: 

He's the college English professor you wished you had - the one who transforms the life and works of an author into a lecture as entertaining as it is educational. Grandly hammy Simon Callow narrates and plays Charles Dickens, a bunch of Dickens' most colorful characters, and Dickens playing those characters. He justifies his over-the-topness by reminding us that this is probably how Dickens played Micawber, Gamp and Heep when he embarked on the reading tours that thrilled but ultimately killed him.

If The Mystery of Charles Dickens drags when Callow puts Dickens' bio on hold to indulge in one too many reenactments from the author's books, it nevertheless creates an energetic, rounded portrait of the eccentric genius, warts and all.

Cast: 
Simon Callow
Technical: 
PR: Boneau/Bryan-Brown; Set: Christopher Woods; Lighting: Nick Richings.
Other Critics: 
PERFORMING ARTS INSIDER Richmond Shepard -
Critic: 
David Lefkowitz
Date Reviewed: 
April 2002