Jekyll & Hyde: The Musical
in concert on the Civic's Main Stage
Sunday, Oct. 23, at 7:30 pm $25 (it's a fund-raiser) 325-2507
directed by Yvonne A.K. Johnson
musical direction by Carolyn Jess
book and lyrics by Leslie Bricusse
music by Frank Wildhorn
Troy Wageman as Jekyll/Hyde; Abbey Crawford as Lucy Harris; Kendra Kimball as Emma Carew
sopranos: Andrea Dawson, Hannah Kimball, Norilee Kimball
altos: Melody Deatherage, Marianne McLaughlin (Lady Beaconsfield), Darnell Preston, Jan Wanless
tenors: David Williams (Bishop of Basingstoke), Jimmy-James Pendleton, Michael Muzatko (Spider*), Tom Barthelmess
baritones: Max Mendez (Gabriel Utterson), Andrew Lewis (Simon Stride), Kent Kimball (Danvers Carew), Noel Barbuto (Lord Glossop), Charles Gift (Archibald Proops**)
* Mike as an arachnid ... sounds about right
** Charles gets one of the all-time best character names
other notes:
opened on Broadway in April '97 and ran nearly four years
four Tony noms in '98, including Best Book of a Musical for Bricusse
"Facade" must be an awfully good song - after it's performed by the Ensemble early in the show, it's reprised THREE more times
Other big songs: Jekyll's "This Is the Moment" (popular as figure-skating music, I gather)
Lucy's "Someone Like You"
"In His Eyes," sung by Lucy and Emma together
posted by Bobo the Theater Ho @ 4:59 PM
11 Comments
11 Comments:
bobo ... the blog is gettin a little boring
sarcasm doesn't become you. i think you're trying to be clever, but it comes off as kind of mean. it doesn't sound like you've heard the music before. This is the moment may be used for figure skating, but it is a very powerful number and the reprises of facade are used to forward the story. if you're trying to encourage people to go to the show, try being encouraging, instead of sarcastic. please.
Come on, Bobo, if we thought cheap shots were entertaining we'd go watch Fox or listen to Limbaugh.
I'm not fond of the recordings of J&H, but I'd be interested to know if it's the heavy-pop orchestrations and/or Linda Eder's mushy lyrics and pop scooping. And what sound is Civic going for with this concert version. That's the kind of juicy tidbit I believe you can deliver better than snide comments.
You're right. I apologize.
I don't know this music. I was just trying to be a little funny, and obviously failed.
If this show is _anywhere near_ as good as the concert version of Hair that was at the Civic awhile back, it'll be well worth attending.
If Facade advances the story, that's great. And certainly some leitmotiv songs will recur in a given show repeatedly, esp. when associated with a particular character.
I've only seen David Edgar's non-musical stage version of J&H, which emphasizes social class distinctions (Hyde is rejected for his evil, yes, but also because his manners are not up to Victorian upper-crust standards). So I shouldn't judge. But in general, going back to a song (as a listed reprise, not just a quick melodic reminder) twice before intermission and once again after -- well, that sounds like going back to the well too many times to me.
Three of the first four online reviews (of other productions) that I came across all alluded to "This Is the Moment" being used as figure-skating program music. Granted, this might be a case of people simply parroting the only thing they know to say (as it was in my case). Nor does it invalidate the song per se. But it does suggest the birth of a cliche ...
I was just trying to supplement the standard press release. Guess I better stick to being boring.
All I've come across is praise for Eder's singing -- but the lyrics are Bricusse's, aren't they?
Anyway, I hope the Civic sells it out and makes boatloads of money.
BOBO=clueless
The apocryphal story goes that when Frank Loesser was writing "Guys and Dolls", he asked Abe Burrows (the script writer) if he could reprise a song or two in the second act. Mr. Burrows replied, "Only if I can use the same jokes." Musical theatre of the Sondheim and post-Sondheim eras have relied very heavily on re-vocalized motif (rather than the underscore/scene change rearrangements the 50's classics feature), but so often the intent of the song hasn't changed at all. The strength of the great reprises is the new light shed on the song by the changed dramatic situation (e.g. the reprise of Small World in "Gypsy").
The best modern uses of motif that come to my mind directly are the thousand faces of the magic bean theme in "Into the Woods", and the gods' theme in "Once On This Island". The worst comes up in unfortunately topical Frank Wildhorn and Andrew Lloyd Webber. Has this return to the heavy use of motif affected the form of musical theatre in a positive light or a negative?
Please have your 10-page response papers to my office by 5:00. :) Seriously, just food for thought.
If you missed this performance tonight, you missed some real theatre magic. The voices were amazing, the effect so dramatic the audience was almost too spellbound to applaud.
Ooh, tell us more.
I was exhausted from wrestling with the Lion King all weekend, so I missed it -- and I really regret that.
Which particular songs and singers stood out? Could this be a try-out for a fully staged Main Stage production at the Civic?
Was it sold out, or nearly so?
I'm glad it went well. So spill ...
Troy Wageman as Jekyll and Abbey Crawford as Lucy were fabulous. But honesty, these are the best singers in town, and they all sounded great. I could listen to Max Mendez all day. I doubt Civic could book all these incredibly talented people for a full run, including orchestra, and after this anyone else would be a disappointment. It was nearly sold out, and it should have been packed to the rafters. By the by, This is the Moment is used by those figure skaters because the chills are guaranteed before the first double lutz.
wow amazing show congrats to all Abbey was a clear standout
Kendra who?
Kendra Kimball and she is lovely as Eliza Doolittle
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