Jekyll & Hyde - BWay 1997, Revival 2013

Book:  Leslie Bricusse
Music:  Frank Wildhorn
Lyrics: Frank Wildhorn and Leslie Bricusse (Also Steve Cuden for some songs)

I watched the DVD version of the 1997 BWay production.



Jekyll trying to save his father.  Reintegrate his mind and... his humanity basically.  Dares to change what God has done.

"Facade" originally like something from Les Mis (the set reminds me of Les Mis as well, not sure why though cause it's actually not quite alike).  Comes back as an interlude a la the ballad of Sweeney Todd.

"The late Dr. Jekyll."  Foreshadowing?  (YUP!  :D )


Song leading into the red rat:  FINALLY a different style.  I appreciate the darker style, and I suppose they had to set it up with the very light, orchestral style before.


"This is the moment" song.  Seems out of place, particularly with his supposed high-falutin' ness.  Why is it rock-y and cymbals and drums?  To be honest, I was zoned out through the song.  Which is sad.


Unclear reaction when Lucy kissed him.  I thought.  Then her song seemed an appropriate reaction from HER, but after about the third modulation...


"Murder" effective chorus song.  With 2 exceptions.  There's a sweeping major bridge section that feels really out of place.  Lyrics are something like "What can we do?  We don't know, and we need to find out." and the melody and accomp is so heroic and majestic, and out of place.  Second is at the very end of the song, when Hyde appears at the back of them with his knife.  Was that really necessary?  Answer: no.
There was a really cool part in the middle where it was "Murder, murder, more words go here. /  Murder, murder (beat) more words go here. / Murder, murder, (beat) (beat) more words go here."  Glad I caught it when it happened, but was disappointed it didn't continue.  Though it maybe would have gotten tiring a few times through.
Were umbrellas in choreo, which was fine except that they were all black, save one red and one blue.  Couldn't figure out the significance of them, which then drew my attention to the fact that the umbrellas were simply there for the purposes of the choreo.

His thoughts before "Obsession" were pretty interesting.  The fact that while Hyde is the dark, evil stuff, he also possesses an admirable love of life.  Seems to suggest that a love of life is more easily found in the dark sectors, and I thought that was interesting and the song might explore that.  But it didn't.

"In his eyes" a little confusing that they take turns so neatly.  Is it a duet?  Or are they two separate songs that just so happen to wait neatly for each other?  I'm unsure if they are having the same thoughts, and splitting their thoughts between them, or if they're thinking separate thoughts that rhyme.


Facade reprise #3 (with Spider, and chorus) was an awesome mood-setter.  With the chorus whispering words that he had just said, words that he was about to say, or whispering unintelligible things.  Beautiful.  Also, creepy.  :P


Why did Hyde show John the transformation back?  Just to show him, which seems kind of random, and/or weak writing.  Cause earlier Hyde said "I don't expect him back any time soon."
In his next song, he had a beautiful vocal performance when he stabbed himself with the needle.  But as per usual, the lyrics seemed very generic.

Kinda wished for a Jekyll and Hyde bow.  He did something that seemed like it could have been, but I don't think that was the purpose of it.




Especially in the first act, the songs felt VERY often.  Almost too often.  They don't seem to further the story, but rather to dwell on... what?  I'm not sure, cause I don't hear most of them.

"Confrontation" was the strongest moment in the show.  That is, in my opinion, the sole reason the show exists.  Even with the unfortunate blocking (or was it unfortunate?  More on that in a bit, hopefully.) it grabbed my attention, and HELD it, something which this musical largely failed to do.
   This version with Rob Evan seems to be stronger.  Part of the problem with the turning back and forth comes when they hit the same poses.
Hasselhoff's Hyde pose was NEVER different.  And the Jekyll seemed to always be pointing.
Evan's Hyde was very different, very fluid and random in movement, which was beautiful.  His Jekyll sometimes suffered from the pointing all of the time.  Something beautiful he did (though with the repetition, I don't think it was intentional) was physically fighting with himself.  Grabbing his arm, and wrenching it back into Hyde, or throwing his arm into Jekyll.  With added specificity, I think that would have been very beautiful.