Jekyll and Hyde: The Musical
Jekyll and Hyde: The Musical
Adapted by Jeffery Hatcher
Directed by Paul Castaneda
Choreography by Eric Yow
Musical Direction Jami – Leigh Bartschi
Starring Adam McCabe, Siobhan Gale, and Hannah Celeste
Greater Orlando Actor’s Theatre
Presented at First Christian Church, Orlando FL</strong>
Sometimes when the ethics review board nixes your project they really are doing the right thing. Radical Dr. Jekyll (McCabe) offers a way to split a man’s personality into good and bad parts; presumably the Bad could be locked up somewhere while the Good half goes out to save the world. When his hospital board tells him to cut out these wacky experiments he loads up at his connection and begins experiments on himself. This is a slippery slope, and he’s greased himself up for the ride. We don’t see much good from the Doctor; when he’s in the Mr. Hyde mode he seems like a coked out rock star and when he’s not, he’s pretty rude to everyone he notionally loves. His fiancé Emma Carew (Gale) sticks with him as does the hooker with a heart of gold Lucy (Celeste); there’s something about a brutal man that holds a strange appeal for some women. As Hyde spirals down his male friends seem helpless; even his best friend and lawyer Utterson (Kyle Stone) grudgingly agrees to prepare papers that he knows to be a bad idea. The body count rises, the scientific mumbo jumbo deepens, and when Mr. McCabe is in this manic mode he seems like he’s channeling Ozzy Osbourne.
But, hey, this is a musical and there’s some good material up on this stage. Mr. McCabe has a strong and exciting voice; he sings some powerful tunes including “Alive” and “This Is the Moment.” Ms. Celeste belts out her own good numbers including “Bring on the Men” and “Sympathy, Tenderness.” The full cast responds with “Façade” and “Murder, Murder;” this is a classic Orlando cast packed with skilled regulars. I loved Jason Skinner’s pimp “Spider;” as I sat on the end of a row he hisses at me sotto voce “I can get her for you for a couple of shillings.” Will Barbara played the sleaze Bishop of Basingstoke; he died very nicely. There was plenty of smoke and dramatic lighting and if you’re in the right sight line as Lucy goes up in the audience she holds a beautiful red back light. Sometimes things drag, and the sung through lines aren’t my favorite but there’s plenty of good music and great staging all working to keep this standard fresh.
For more information on Greater Orlando Actor’s Theatre, please visit http://http://www.goatgroup.com/
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