“It’s such a fine line,between a good man and a… bad…” Dr. Jekyll I imagine to the uninitiated, the idea of turning the story of “Jekyll & Hyde” into a musical sounds rather strange. After all, aren’t musicals supposed to light and frothy, causing you to leave the theatre humming a happy tune? Those of us, who are a little more familiar with musical theatre, know that it is a place ripe for murder and things that go bump in the night. After all, is it any stranger than a musical based on a Phantom living in a Paris Opera, a student insurrection in France, or the sinking of the Titanic? Why not use the musical stage to tell the story of Dr. Jekyll, who wants nothing more than to utilize his experiments to separate the good and evil within man, in order to save his deranged father?

What better way to express the anguish of his dual identity than through song? I say, there ain’t no way.

“Jekyll & Hyde: The Musical” returns to its home town of Houston in what is being touted as a 10th Anniversary production at the Hobby Center for the Performing Arts, starting April 22 and running through May 9, 2004, continuing its long affiliation with Theatre Under the Stars. However, the history of “Jekyll & Hyde: The Musical” actually goes back a little bit further than 10 years.

It was originally conceived for the stage by Frank Wildhorn and Steve Cuden. Legendary lyricist, Leslie Bricusse came on board a few years later and in 1990, the show had a fairly lengthy and highly successful workshop at the Alley Theatre in Houston. There was talk of bringing the show to Broadway, but at the time it was not to be. It went through a series of re-writes, and in 1995 mounted a 34-city tour that culminated with the show finally opening on Broadway in 1997. It became the longest running show in the history of the Plymouth Theatre, and made stars of Robert Cuccioli (J&H), Linda Eder (Lucy) and Christiane Noll (Emma).

If there is any one rule that applies to “Jekyll & Hyde, it is that ‘the only thing constant is change.’ As it went from workshop, to pre-Broadway tour, to Broadway and then back to tour, there were a huge number of changes. Staging was different, songs came and went, and kind of like the proverbial box of chocolates, you never knew what you were gonna get. When most National Tour productions of a Broadway Musical are created, they try to re-create the staging as you would see it in New York as closely as possible. Not so with “Jekyll & Hyde.” When it began its post-Broadway Tour, once again the show was completely re-staged and new sets designed. Yet through all these changes, what remained was the passion.

The music of “Jekyll & Hyde” rates amongst the best written for the musical stage. Of course if you take into consideration what the critics have had to say about the show, you’d never believe it. But what do they know? Though it was often critically panned, the proof, as they say, is in the pudding. Audiences raved, songs like “This Is The Moment” and “Someone Like You” became huge hits, and it produced an extremely loyal fan-base, known affectionately as ‘Jekkies.’ It has also gone on to achieve worldwide acclaim with German, Swedish, Spanish, and Japanese productions, just to name a few.

It was with a mixture of excitement and hesitation that I made the drive from Dallas to Houston to see the new 10th Anniversary production of one of my all-time favorite musicals. I was excited to be getting the opportunity to see the show again, the last time being the post-Broadway tour a few years back, but I was hesitant because of the possibility that I might be a bit disappointed. I knew it was going to be directed by Broadway’s J&H, Robert Cuccioli, which was one thing I was definitely looking forward to.

Part of the problem was that I knew I would have to review the show, which at times can be an entirely different experience than just watching it. Having seen various versions of the show over the years, I would have to fight any and all urges to compare, as comparison is generally unfair. Those of us that see a lot of theatre have favorite actors in certain roles, but I knew I would be writing to people who may have never seen, or even heard of the show. So, that said, I decided to do my level best to critique this version of show with as little comparison as possible.

Overall, my wife and I had a really good time. We enjoyed seeing the show and being able to revisit the music that we’ve loved for so long. Was it a perfect production? No. But it’s hard for there to be a perfect one. As far as the staging, it was a combination of the many versions that have come before. It took a little of the Broadway show and mixed it with parts of the past tours, mostly taking the best parts of all. There were a few technical snags the night we saw it, which I’m sure were probably fixed by the next day. One I mention only because I feel it should be changed altogether, not just fixed. Just prior to the big ‘Transformation’ scene, Jekyll injects himself with the formula as part of his experimentation. The syringe lights up red, which is supposed to represent the lyric, ‘…Like a warning light, glimmering in red, like crimson bloodshed, shimmering in red…” Unfortunately, the syringe blinked on and off, causing more than a few chuckles in the audience. Admittedly, the light is too bright to begin with, making the formula appear to be radioactive. I would lose the light altogether.

From what I could tell, there is no denying that Kevin Gray is a terrific actor who is gifted with a wonderful singing voice, but he just didn’t seem to fit the dual role of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. This is in no way meant to be a slight toward Gray, but it is a simple fact that no one actor can successfully or believably play just any part. And though there are many difficult roles written for the musical stage, the role of Jekyll & Hyde is (in my opinion) one of the most challenging. Gray’s youthful appearance and speaking voice made him seem more like a high school student in costume whenever he took the stage in either persona. Unfortunately, he was also unsuccessful at physically or vocally separating the two ‘characters.’ This is very important to the performance as no makeup is used for the changes, only body language, voice and the tying back and letting loose of his long locks. There was very little difference in the first two, the voice only modified by adding a slight rasp, but at least when the hair went free, we knew who we were dealing with.

The two female leads, and the good doctor’s love interests, were played by Luba Mason (Lucy) and Kate Suber (Emma). There was an interesting duality to their performances as both sounded absolutely fantastic when they were singing, belting out the tunes with intensity and enthusiasm. However, both seemed to have a bit of a problem with the speaking part of their roles. Mason, who played the role of Lucy on Broadway, adopted a strong cockney accent, which would have been correct for the character, but unfortunately it sounded quite forced and was very distracting. As Emma, Suber delivered her lines as if she was attempting to ov-er e-nun-ci-ate each word. Again, it was very distracting.

We were very pleased to see Martin Van Treuren returning to the show. He’s been in almost every American incarnation of “Jekyll & Hyde”, including the early Alley Theatre workshop. He’s played a variety of parts in each version, but here we saw him once again in the dual roles of Lord Savage, a member of the Board of Governors, and Spider, the slimy and despicable owner of the Red Rat.

The difficulty with performing a show like “Jekyll & Hyde”, is that it is not a show about murder as much as it is a show about passion. This particular production was performed with a tremendous amount of enthusiasm, but little passion. When that happens, you can still get a good show, just not a great one. I can be far more forgiving when the production is done by a smaller theatre, but I really expected a bit more from a T.U.T.S production. And certainly a 10th Anniversary of such a great show should have been much, much stronger. Will you have a good time if you see the show? Certainly. Is it still entertaining enough to see? Absolutely.

Jekyll & Hyde:
When: April 22 – May 9, 2004
Where: Hobby Center for the Performing Arts – Houston, Texas

Directed by: Robert Cuccioli
Starring: Kevin Gray, Luba Mason, Kate Suber, Mark Jacoby, Al Bundonis, Suzanne Ishee, Steve Pudenz, Martin Van Treuren
Website
Website

We'll give Jekyll & Hyde: The Musical - 10th Anniversary Production a B-.