DENVER - Some of the choicest roles in musical theater are ones in which the character has an "I want" song. In "I want" numbers, the characters longingly express their vision of the perfect world and how much they wish to be there.

Eliza Doolittle speculates on a "Loverly" lifestyle, while Tony and Maria hope that "There's a Place for Us." Audrey wants to escape skid row and live "Somewhere That's Green," Don Quixote pursues "The Impossible Dream," and Tevye wonders what it would be like "If I Were a Rich Man." It's important to note that seldom does the dream actually come true, and then only ironically.

Leslie Bricusse and Frank Wildhorn pack at least a half-dozen passionate, yet oddly forgettable, "I want" songs into "Jekyll & Hyde," their successful, schizophrenic musical adaptation of the Robert Louis Stevenson novella, playing through this weekend at the Buell Theatre in the Denver Performing Arts Complex.



Chuck Wagner is Dr. Henry Jekyll and Edward Hyde in the Denver Center's 'Jekyll & Hyde.'


"I want" songs are coveted by performers because singers are given an opportunity to showcase their talents. These songs almost never help move the story along, so they are often plucked right out of their context and made popular by recording artists.

There are so many of these show-stopping vocal vehicles in "Jekyll & Hyde," the plot has to lurch around in between them just to get the story told. Luckily, it's a familiar tale. Dr. Henry Jekyll (Chuck Wagner) seeks to unravel the mystery of the duality of man, in which good and evil are constantly vying for control of the personality. Hoping to synthesize a chemical that will separate the two natures and enable him to banish negative impulses, the prototypical mad scientist experiments on himself, with predictably tragic results.

Jekyll inadvertently unleashes Mr. Hyde (also Wagner), his ultra-violent alter ego. Hyde systematically destroys Jekyll's world, gleefully murdering the hospital's entire board of governors one by one, abusing a cabaret singer/prostitute named Lucy (Sharon Brown) and spoiling Jekyll's marriage to the lovely Emma (Kelli O'Hara). Jekyll/Hyde has a musical showdown with himself and finds release in the same way he had gone about "emancipating" others throughout the show.

This musical about the complexity of the human personality is disappointingly hypocritical because Jekyll/Hyde is the only well-rounded character. All the other roles - even the ones with big emotional moments and their own "I want" songs - are simplistic and one-dimensional. And since the stand-alone songs dominate the show, continuity is weak. Dramatic and romantic scenes alternate with comically over-the-top murder sequences punctuated by the sounds of crunching vertebrae and slurpingly skewered organs.

Wagner clearly relishes playing a role that revels in extremes, from a mild-mannered scientist to a strutting, spitting rock star and serial killer. Brown tries to give her "doomed prostitute with a heart of gold" role some dignity despite a sadistically constrictive costume, and O'Hara generates more emotion in the scene with her father (Jamie Ross) than with the tortured fiance who neglects her.

James Noone's set has lots of flying drops and moving pieces, allowing the scenery to change by itself while the stars stand center stage and perform their "I want" songs. Jekyll's laboratory and several pyrotechnic effects are especially impressive.

"Jekyll & Hyde" is a somewhat undistinguished addition to a subgenre of "monster musicals," which also includes "Phantom of the Opera" and "Sweeney Todd."

Contact Patrick Dorn at (303) 473-1369 or dornp@thedailycamera.com.


March 2, 2000