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.
- Overall, I really enjoyed the production
- I do think (as did my friend) that most of the songs could've been shorter and a few could've been cut
- 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
- I was quite impressed with how well the simple set was utilized (like the only piece of furniture was a table)
- 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)
- The live orchestra, despite my issues hearing the lyrics, was great
- 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
- I predicted (incorrectly) that Jekyll would end up in the asylum from which he initially sought a subject
- 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
- 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)
- 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)
- I was waiting for Emma and Lucy to discover each other, but that didn't seem to happen
- 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
- 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"
- 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)
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