By Carol Davis
SAN DIEGO— Broadway/San Diego is launching a 25-city tour of the revival of Jekyll & Hyde that is expected make its way to Broadway where it will open in April at the Richard Rodgers Theatre. A pre- tour preview in San Diego garnered yet another standing ovation from opening night audiences. This is in no way an indication of its success on Broadway.
It is, however our custom to jump up and whistle and shout at show’s end; it matters not the quality. Loud campy theatre is what we saw and ergo, up we go. And loud it was! So much so that on this night it was more detracting than inspiring and I use the word loosely.
In case you missed out on the story, Stevenson’s novella delves into the ‘duality of man’s nature’ suggesting that most struggle with the forces of good and evil within. Jekyll, a respected doctor uses himself as the guinea pig since none of the hospital wigs will allow him to experiment on their patients. As he sets out to separate the two sides of the soul, he becomes more and more obsessed with the experiment until his good is overtaken by his bad. Unfortunately, just the opposite happens over and over and over again.
His experimental lab is a collection of vials hooked up to a curlicue of plastic tubing that is eventually plugged into Jekyll at the arm and neck. As this new concoction of his flows into his body, it causes an immediate transformation. Obviously no good can come from this.
One can’t deny the star power of Constantine Maroulis (Rock of Ages) as the troubled and psychotic Dr. Henry Jekyll/ Edward Hyde; Deborah Cox’s Lucyas his sexy backstreet whore, (Dangerous Games), Teal Wicks as Emma Carew, his proper Victorian some day gonna be wife and daughter of the hospital chair Danvers Carew (Richard White).
Their voices, singularly and collectively, all can and do rise above musical director-conductor Steven Landau’s eleven-piece band with Kim Scharnberg’s orchestrations, unnecessarily loud as they may be. (Credit Ken Travis for the sound although the cavernous Civic Theatre in no way lends itself any type of musical sounding wonderful.)
The new staging, reworked by Frank Wildhorn and Leslie Bricusse can’t seem to get enough cheese, kitsch and gaudiness. This all happens when Maroulis’ Jekyll transfuses himself from the ‘good doctor’ to the evil madman, Hyde, with his secret serum. Within seconds he becomes this outrageously dangerous night stalker killing off his detractors but not before donning a wild looking wig, cape and top hat and gurgling his guttural chuckle giving him away instantly as having been transformed from good to evil.
On some level it’s difficult for me to comprehend its successful 3/12 year run on Broadway, which by the way the producers are hoping this new reworked piece will follow and more. On the other hand, since 1997 there is a whole new audience out there used to being up close and personal with their ‘appreciation’ of music plugged into their ears.
Director/choreographer Jeff Calhoun who was a Tony nominee for best direction of Newsies and for choreography and direction for Bonnie and Clyde keeps the pace moving as best as possible.
Tobin Ost’s scenic and costume designs along with Daniel Brodie’s projections work well in some instances and not so in others but are enough to catch our interest, especially in the opening-but-too-long introduction of some of the soon-to-die characters and the strung-up-in-a-strait-jacket look of Jekyll’s insane father.
All in all, this “Jekyll & Hyde” will have its own audience waiting for it worldwide (their projections, not mine) that appreciates sci-fi, mad scientists and dark Victorian campy stories.
Enjoy!
See you at the theatre.
Dates: through Oct. 7th
Organization: Broadway/San Diego
Phone: 619-570-1100 or 800-982-2787
Production Type: Musical
Where: 1100 Third Ave., downtown
Ticket Prices: starting @ $31.00
Web: broadwaysd.com
Venue: Civic Theatre
*
Davis is a San Diego-based theatre critic. She may be contacted at carol.davis@sdjewishworld.com