You'll certainly get your money's worth from "Jekyll & Hyde," unless you're
paying for nuance.
The Broadway show, which opened at the Fox Theatre Tuesday night, is musical-as-spectacle,
with characters swinging from wrought-iron balconies onstage, exploding flashpots,
a mirror the size of the side of a barn, power ballads alternating with scenes
of high camp, and so much over-the-top histrionics you practically expect
that when Dr. Henry Jekyll injects himself with his bright-red potion, he'll
transform into Siegfried or Roy. "Jekyll & Hyde" has been cuffed around by
the critics, so much so that even lyricist Leslie Bricusse's liner notes in
the soundtrack refer to "cheap shots" about the show's "ice rink music" (a
reference to "This Is the Moment," a favorite of competitive skaters).
Much of Frank Wildhorn's music starts out bombastically overwrought, then
modulates upward relentlessly, straining to reach uber-wrought.
And the lyrics sometimes sound like a middle school creative writing magazine:
"There are preachers who kill! There are killers who preach! There are teachers
who lie! There are liars who teach."
None of that, however, has deterred "Jekyll" from becoming a pop-opera
phenomenon in the lineage of "Les Miz" and Lloyd Webber.
Thousands of fans call themselves "Jekkies" and attend over and over. Multiple
viewings of "Jekyll" would not result in any greater understanding of the
show, as there isn't that much to understand, but would yield a string of
adrenaline rushes.
Robert Louis Stevenson's 1886 novella is simple but resonant. Jekyll, a respected
scientist in Victorian London, invents a formula he hopes will cure insanity,
but when he tests it on himself, he turns into murderous Mr. Hyde.
Chuck Wagner, who plays the lead roles at the Fox, originated the part
in Houston in 1990, where the play began; to Jekkies, he is the one true Jekyll.
He has the bearing and booming voice of the young Robert Goulet and looks
like the cover of a romance novel, exuding so much charisma he threatens to
burst his cummerbund.
Love and sex in his life are personified by his fiancee, Emma (Andrea
Rivette) and a prostitute, Lucy (Sharon Brown), the latter of whom could blow
the great Merman off the stage in a voice that can be heard down Peachtree.
"Jekyll" is far from the traditional American musical (and parents, it's
not for young ones). It beats its breast, shouts at the rafters, and when
your ears are done ringing, you can still feel the adrenaline.
REVIEW
"Jekyll & Hyde"
8 nightly through Friday; 2 and 8 p.m. Saturday; 2 and 7:30 p.m. Sunday.
$18-$40. Fox Theatre, 660 Peachtree St. N.E. 404-817-8700.
The verdict: Like the doc himself, some good aspects, some bad.