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| Never was there a musical with more emotion, drama, and tragedy than this musical by the same music writer as The Scarlet Pimpernel: Frank Wildhorn, and lyrics by Leslie Bricusse. Based on the twisted story of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (I've yet to read it, but plan to!) this musical tells of the kind Dr. Henry Jekyll who has discovered and developed a formula that will seperate the two dominant forces inside of all mankind: good and evil. By isolating the evil in a seperate identity, he believes that it can be eliminated entirely. His experiments on animals have proven positive, but when he presents his request to the Board of Governors that dictate the mental hospital he works at, they reject it with all prejudice. Therefore, Jekyll sees no other choice than to try the formula on himself. Indeed, the potion works, bringing forth Jekyll's side of pure evil in its own identity, self-dubbed Edward Hyde. The feeling of power and sensation Jekyll feels in his alter ego is cruelly addictive, and repeatedly he transforms into Hyde. He isolates himself in his laboratory, pursuing his quest to seperate good and evil, and continually ignores the concern and advice from his friend John Utterson and his fiancé Lisa Carew. Another woman enters Jekyll's life: a prostitute named Lucy, who falls in love with Jekyll as well as the strange enticement when meeting Hyde. But Jekyll's experiment spins steadily out of control, Hyde growing stronger with each transformation, and only when Lucy is killed by Hyde does Jekyll decide things have gone too far, and destroys his potion to go back to real life. He marries Lisa, but not even their wedding day passes when Hyde remerges, and in a desperate attempt to save Lisa, Utterson shoots and kills him, but only after Jekyll's begging. |
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| If this musical was any more emotional I'd cry. Seriously, the recording I've got of Anthony Warlow as Jekyll and Hyde, Carolee Carmello as Lisa, Phillip Hoffman as John Utterson, and Linda Eder as Lucy, is approximately three hours of the most intense, passionate music and vocals I've ever heard...aside from the OBC recording of CATS. I'll admit that sometimes I think it's a little drawn-out, seeming to be that there's more songs about Lisa and Lucy than there are about Jekyll and Hyde. But overall the majority of the songs are great. My favorites are mostly the ones Jekyll or Hyde sing: This is the Moment, I Need to Know, Alive, and others like Facade, Take Me As I Am, It's a Dangerous Game, Girls of the Night, Board of Governors, No One Must Ever Know, Bring on the Men (hilarious!), and the master of them all: Confrontation. Confrontation has got to be one of the coolest songs...the only one (I think) in the entire show that is sung by both Jekyll and Hyde. And I only do it for fun, but singing along with it and doing the choreography (or what I can remember) is pretty neat...haha! Character-wise I'm not very familiar with it, because I only saw the real show once and at that time I wasn't very interested (besides, the guy playing Jekyll and Hyde wasn't very good). Basing on what I've heard from the CD I have, of course I like Henry Jekyll and Edward Hyde, but in choosing a favorite character I think I would have to say John Utterson. I'm not sure why...it's just one of those things. |
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| "You have your work, and nothing more. |
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| You are possessed, what is your demon? |
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| You've never been this way before. |
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| You lost the fire you built your dream on. |
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| There's something strange; there's something wrong. |
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| I see a change: it's like when love dies. |
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| I, who have known you for so long, |
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| I see the pain in your eyes." |
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| --John Utterson, His Work and Nothing More |
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| My CD Principals: Carolee Carmello (Lisa), Anthony Warlow (Jekyll/Hyde), and Linda Eder (Lucy) |
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