15 thoughts on Jekyll & Hyde, the Musical

I was able to see Jekyll & Hyde, the Musical (based on the story by Robert Louis Stevenson, conceived for the stage by Frank Wildhorn and Steve Cuden, book & lyrics by Leslie Bricusse, and music by Frank Wildhorn) thanks to a lovely friend. Note, the poster I've included as the image for this post is from the 1880s stage (and non-musical) adaptation of Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson.

1. Overall, I really enjoyed the production
2. I do think (as did my friend) that most of the songs could've been shorter and a few could've been cut
3. While all of the actors were great, the stand outs to me were David Moreland as Dr. Henry Jekyll and Mr. Edward Hyde and Ava Stovall as Lucy Harris
4. I was quite impressed with how well the simple set was utilized (like the only piece of furniture was a table)
5. There were times when I had difficulty hearing the singing voices over the live orchestra (though, I do want to note that this is far from the first musical that I've had this problem with)
6. The live orchestra, despite my issues hearing the lyrics, was great
7. I noticed that the show played with typically gendered clothing in an interesting way. The most prominent way they did this was by having Jekyll/Hyde wear a corset. I wondered if this was a comment on how gender is often seen as dichotomy between male and female, but it's really a spectrum, much like how good and evil is seen as a dichotomy, but is really a spectrum
8. I predicted (incorrectly) that Jekyll would end up in the asylum from which he initially sought a subject
9. I am not convinced I liked the ending where Jekyll seemingly takes his own life as it implies the only freedom from his madness is death, which is what he railed against in the beginning 
10. The actor who initially played a patient at an asylum (Quinn Kelch I believe) was disturbingly convincing (I was a bit stressed out by his acted distress)
11. I thought the ambiguity of whom Lucy was seeing regularly (Jekyll or Hyde) worked well (my friend and I ultimately concluded that she was seeing both and perhaps had been staying in the area despite Hyde's abuse so that she could see her beloved Jekyll)
12. I was waiting for Emma and Lucy to discover each other, but that didn't seem to happen
13. There is a song where Emma and Lucy both seemingly sing about their love of Jekyll, but I honeslty thought it would've worked a tad better if we start off thinking they're both singing of Jekyll, but it gets revealed that Lucy is singing about Hyde
14. One of Lucy's great songs features a lyric like "if he loved me" or something to that effect and I so wished the song ended midsentence just on "if"
15. I hope this production gets the attention it deserves (I know I raised some complaints, but it really was great and inspired me to look up more about the original work and author)

(Prompt by me)

Poster for a theatrical adaptation of Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde

Image source