Pantages Theatre, Hollywood
Through Sept. 19
By Ed Kaufman
"Jekyll & Hyde," the pop opera version of Victorian writer Robert Louis
Stevenson's epic battle between good and evil, has finally arrived in the City
of the Angels after three successful years on Broadway. And it's full of big
show glitz, glitter, terrific staging and some lovely lyrical ballads (including
hit tunes "Someone Like You" and "This Is the Moment"). This is all very much
in the musical spectacle tradition of "Phantom, " "Les Miz," "Martin Guerre"
and "Miss Saigon."
As conceived by Steve Cuden and Frank Wildhorn, with book and lyrics by
Leslie Bricusse and music by Wildhorn, "Jekyll & Hyde" attempts to blend a tale
of romance (that of the charming and self-assured Dr. Henry Jekyll and his lovely
fiancee Emma) with the experiments of Jekyll to understand the source of his
own evil, his animalistic doppelganger Edward Hyde. Freud later simply called
it the unconscious/id.
At first, Jekyll (the brilliant Chuck Wagner) seems to have it all: the
reputation as a first-rate scientist, a loving and devoted fiancee Emma (the
first-rate Andrea Rivette) and nothing but great prospects for a solid and successful
life. But Jekyll wants to unlock the mystery of madness and is relentless in
his pursuit of the unknown. Call it his hubris and the source of his own undoing.
One of the earlier musical numbers tells it all about the hypocrisy of the
Victorians. Called "Facade," it attempts to probe into the ugly underside of
its illustrious citizens. And so the somewhat naive and headstrong Jekyll starts
his experiments, which will eventually transform him into the unfettered and
bestial Hyde. Only in his last amazing soliloquy "Confrontation" does Jekyll
come to realize that he is both Jekyll and Hyde. But by then it's too late.
As the uninhibited Hyde, Jekyll takes up with entertainer-prostitute Lucy
(the splendid Sharon Brown) who, in turn, is taken with the charming Jekyll,
not realizing that the two men are actually one. There's a romantic triangle
that involves an alter ego.
The narrative parts of "Jekyll & Hyde" don't completely come together, and
all we're left with is an unlikely protagonist and his alter ego, a brutal killer.
Still, it's an entertaining show, thanks to the savvy direction of David Warren,
the choreography of Jerry Mitchell, the lush and lovely costumes of Ann Curtis,
the moody lighting of Beverly Emmons and the creative scenic design of James
Noone.
Credit James Clow, Brian Noonan, Robin Hayes, Bertilla Baker and Dennis Kelly
with strong support.
JEKYLL & HYDE
Presented by PACE Theatrical Group and Fox Theatricals Llc. in association with
Jerry Frankel
Director: David Warren
Book and lyrics by: Leslie Bricusse, from the novella "The Strange Case of Dr.
Jekyll and Mr. Hyde" by Robert Louis Stevenson
Previous developmental productions by: Alley Theatre, 5th Avenue Musical Theatre
and Theatre Under The Stars
Music: Frank Wildhorn
Choreography: Jerry Mitchell
Musical supervisor: Jason Howland
Scenic design: James Noone
Costume design: Ann Curtis
Lighting design: Beverly Emmons
Sound design: Karl Richardson & Scott Stauffer
Special effects: Gregory Meeh
Cast:
Dr. Henry Jekyll/Edward Hyde: Chuck Wagner
Lucy: Sharon Brown
John Etterson: James Clow
Sir Danvers Carew: Dennis Kelly
Emma Carew: Andrea Rivette
Lord Savage/The Spider: Robin Hayes
Simon Stride: Abe Reybold
Archibald Proops: David Elledge
Lady Beaconsfield: Bertilla Baker
Basil/Bishop of Basingstoke: Roger E. DeWitt
You don't need a split personality to be of two different minds about "Jekyll
& Hyde," the dopey and obvious, yet powerful and enjoyably shlocky pop-Gothic
musical that opened Tuesday at the Pantages Theatre.
Viewed purely as entertainment, this 9-year-old show packs more loud, cheesy
fun than a headbangers ball at a Velveeta factory.
Instead of giving us cerebral goose bumps, like, say, Stephen Sondheim's sublimely
sinister "Sweeney Todd," "Jekyll & Hyde" aims straight for the solar plexus.
At its best, it brews up the kind of raw emotive energy associated with one
of those soaring, oversize ballads Whitney Houston sang in her pop-diva heyday.
This shouldn't be surprising. The show's 40-year-old composer, Frank Wildhorn,
is a child of the rock era whose tunes have been covered by the likes of Houston,
Natalie Cole and Kenny Rogers. His music speaks powerfully and unabashedly to
his generation, which is something Broadway could badly use.
Better still, this touring production stars Chuck Wagner, who created the
lead role(s) in the show's original incarnation at Houston's Alley Theatre.
Blessed with an abundance of, well, animal magnetism, Wagner sings and acts
with tremendous conviction, even when Leslie Bricusse's banal lyrics and by-the-numbers
book blunt the edge of Wagner's gleefully demented Mr. Hyde. One of the show's
main problems, in fact, is that the vicious, amoral Edward Hyde is so much more
fun to watch than boring, virtuous Henry Jekyll, the London physician who hopes
to cure mental patients by separating the "good" and "evil" in their souls.
When he turns into Mr. Hyde, Wagner affects a simian crouch, lets down his
ponytail, and lets loose a leering, sadistic persona that savors each deadly
thrust of his stiletto and satisfying crack of his victims' necks. (Picture
Ozzy Osbourne in Victorian men's apparel and you're not far off.)
The war in Dr. Jekyll's own psyche is personified by a classic good girl-bad
girl schism (not present in the slender Robert Louis Stevenson novella on which
the show is based). Andrea Rivette plays Emma Carew, Jekyll's upper-class fiance,
while Sharon Brown is Lucy, the East End floozy with the heart of gold, neither
of whom realizes they're double-dating the same guys. Both female leads prove
they're terrific belters, especially in the big second act duet, "In His Eyes,"
and they're appealing whenever the script allows them to act rather than simply
emote. James Clow is also solid in the role of Jekyll/Hyde's humanistic lawyer.
But the secondary upper-class characters are so uniformly despicable and
unsympathetic, they might as well wear signs saying, "Kill me!" "Jekyll & Hyde"
hammers away at its theme of societal and personal duplicity, twice reprising
a song titled "Facade" just in case you missed the point.
"Jekyll & Hyde" has been given a sharp, monochromatic production design
by James Noone and director Robin Phillips, including a terrific-looking lab
filled with evil green and amber beakers and Bunsen burners. The overly derivative
choreography by Jerry Mitchell is most obvious in a nightclub vamp lifted straight
from the "Mein Herr" number in "Cabaret."
Compared with "Sweeney Todd" or even "The Phantom of the Opera," "Jekyll
& Hyde" is short on subtlety and long on romantic cliches about lovers whose
passion can "set the world on fire."
On the other hand, it's hardly the abomination described by some New York
critics, who acted as if the show should be put to rest, preferably with a stake
through its heart. "Jekyll & Hyde" flirts with dangerous substances -- by Broadway
standards, anyway -- though it washes them down with a few too many slick formulas.
What: "Jekyll & Hyde." Where: Pantages Theatre, 6233 Hollywood Blvd., Hollywood.