Jekyll & Hyde (Broadway Previews!)- Page 2

[rorschach37]

Posted: 4/3/13 at 11:29am

Anyone know if any tweaks have been made to the show? I saw the show in DC last November and enjoyed it, but it really needed some work.

[philly03]

Posted: 4/3/13 at 11:53am

^ Yes, but nothing too drastic, honestly.

Calhoun visited for tweaks in Philly, LA (Leslie Bricusse/Wildhorn as well) and Chicago. Previews this week are also for this.

[theaterfan862]

Posted: 4/3/13 at 12:05pm

Seeing these photos is making me change my mind about seeing this show.

[TheatreDiva90016]

Posted: 4/5/13 at 1:44am

I guess no one uses the search feature any more

[SNAFU]

Posted: 4/5/13 at 2:31am

I am trying to search: ways of polishing a turd and have gotten no responses.

[DEClarke]

Posted: 4/5/13 at 10:11am

Have the pictures been removed? The only one I saw was the "Bring On the Men" shot that's been available the WHOLE tour.

[bwayphreak234]

Posted: 4/5/13 at 6:21pm

They're still showing up for me! I can post a link to the projection designer's website if you can't see them - that's where they come from.

[WhizzerMarvin]

Posted: 4/5/13 at 11:17pm

I was there tonight and what can one possibly say? It was trash. Pure trash. Trash that stunk so badly even the great Nell Carter herself wouldn't have advised to get any cash for it. Burn the damn thing and start all over again.

First let me say that I like Jekyll & Hyde- well the concept recording and OBCR anyway. They are both major guilty pleasures of mine; soaring power ballads and inane comedy/ensemble numbers. What's not to love.

The score is done a major disservice in this revival. The book has been hacked to bits, making the story very hard to follow, and the score sits on the stage like mush. Tempos are all over the place, and even the big numbers like This is the Moment and Someone Like You tend to get lost in the mix. (I hated the new version of Murder that opened act two- where was all the campy fun of the previous incarnations?)

The physical production is a mess. The set is hideous; the projections pure dreck. Not since Baby, It's You have projections looked this bad. For a while I thought we were back in Chaplin as everyone was dressed in black and white. The laboratory set is joke and overall the thing looks cheap, cheap, cheap.

Of all the badness in this production, the worst offense might be the direction. (There is A LOT of competition for the honor of worst aspect of the night, but forced to choose I opt for Jeff Calhoun's shoddy work.) Basically the actors are asked to plant themselves whenever a song starts and just belt and riff as much as possible. The staging is so stagnant that as campy as it can be in one moment, by the next it's mind-numbingly dull.

The actors were bad, each in their own special ways. Constantine sounded fine, but sang each number as if he didn't have a single clue what he was singing about. There was no variation to anything he did. Well, that's not quite true. He try out about 10 different English/Irish/Scottish accents throughout the evening, hoping one would stick. Alas none of them stayed for very long, although some made several repeat appearances. He riffed away at each song, but This is the Moment frankly had me struggling to stay awake.

Deborah Cox's voice was in rough shape, save for a few big notes and the second half of A New Life. It was like listening to Whitney post My Love is Your Love. A shadow of what things once were, peppered with glimmers of the past. Bring On the Men was her low point of the night. There was no understanding of the humor in that song. At least Linda Eder, limited actress that she is, had fun with it.

Teal Wicks comes off the best I guess, and truthfully she sounded great during In His Eyes, but other than that she made no impression.

The board of governors need to enroll themselves in overacters anonymous ASAP. At least they get killed and we don't have to put up with them for most of act two.

At least Wonderland had me hysterically laughing. This is just shockingly awful.

[April Saul]

Posted: 4/5/13 at 11:22pm

And people think you like everything, Whizzer! I think people were waiting for your take on Bette Midler's show on another thread; bet you wish you'd been there tonight instead

[WhizzerMarvin]

Posted: 4/5/13 at 11:25pm

Unfortunately there were two first previews tonight, and I'll usually choose a musical over a play. I'll be seeing Midler shortly though!

It was a very weird first preview. There was scads of empty seats. I'm talking hundreds of empty seats. The audience response was very tepid as well. Doesn't this show have something of a cult following? Where were the fans?

[TheresaG]

Posted: 4/5/13 at 11:30pm

"At least Linda Eder, limited actress that she is, had fun with it.:

She did? That's odd to read considering that when I saw her last concert at Town Hall, she said she was sorry she hadn't been more of a diva and fought harder to do that song and have included in the show. She joked that was one reason she might like to have done this revival.

[Playbilly]

Posted: 4/5/13 at 11:30pm

This show has its fans, for sure. This thread was started 5 days ago and has almost 8000 views.

[Playbilly]

Posted: 4/5/13 at 11:30pm

This show has its fans, for sure. This thread was started 5 days ago and has almost 8000 views.

[WhizzerMarvin]

Posted: 4/5/13 at 11:39pm

Linda did have fun with the song on both the concept album and pre-Broadway tour. Listen to the recording and she is having a blast- I mean she sings that she's partial to buns!! Cox bellows out the number without any regard for the lyrics and the number never gets going. It doesn't help that the choreography for the number is uninspired either.

Playbilly, that's why I asked where the fans were tonight. They certainly didn't show up in droves to support the show. Usually these first previews are packed with well-wishers and they can be quite rowdy. This felt like a half-sold Wednesday matinee.

[philly03]

Posted: 4/6/13 at 12:12am

I wasn't there tonight, but having seen the tour a few times sounds like (as expected) Calhoun axed "making changes" and just made tweaks. (Naturally there were rumors of expanded set (particularly the lab set - so hold on) and a revision of "Bring on the Men" come Broadway). As Whizz said, "Bring on the Men" is obligatory camp, but seemed like Ms Cox wasn't having much fun with it.

I have to be honest: the sales are entirely abysmal for this weekend, but they do pick up by next weekend. There were discussions that the pre-Broadway tour for Jekyll this time around would be damning considering that many of these Jekkies are "older" and if you can see the production in Oklahoma, why fly to New York. Sales/producers did a disservice by the ticket prices on the weekends, as well. But the run only has just begun!

Don't forget this is the Nederlander's 100th Anniversary production .

[RippedMan]

Posted: 4/6/13 at 12:30am

Calhoun is an awful director. Sorry. He's just terrible.

Philly03, if they were getting an "expanded" set, I'm sure it would have been available for the first preview. That theater has been dark since January.

[bwayphreak234]

Posted: 4/6/13 at 12:30am

Whizzer - I'm sorry you didn't like it

I LOVED everything about this production and thought the new concept worked. I loved the simplicity of the physical production, the versatility of the set, and the rock and roll orchestrations. I just found this show to be wildly entertaining, and I thought the three leads were sensational. I saw this VERY early on though (their opening week in San Diego), so their voices definitely may be tired. When I saw it, all three had very strong voices and distinct performances. Constantine definitely had a grasp on the material and I didn't feel like he didn't know what he was singing about.
Even though I adored this production through and through, I predicted this would get shredded in NYC if changes were not made. I liked the over the top stuff, but I can see how others might not. This is a Wildhorn show through and through, and I love the bombastic approach.

[philly03]

Posted: 4/6/13 at 12:36am

RippedMan - Correct. Should not be coming at this point.

It should be noted Deborah Cox is on vocal rest - as she was for a several bits of the tour, and I suspect the run, but by the second act she always sounded great.

I think Calhoun's direction comes under immediate criticism when the show's two big solos "This is the Moment" and "Someone Like You" are literally directed to be a stand center stage and whail your best notes, essentially breaking the fourth wall. ("A New Life" has always been directed this way back to Boyd)

I think the three leads do a great job, but this "Teal Wicks is the best part of the cast" is bizarre, considering she has essentially nothing to do apart from three scenes (engagement party, "Once Upon a Dream," and the finale)... Talk about catering to the stars...

[RippedMan]

Posted: 4/6/13 at 12:58am

Yeah, that just sounds like he had no imagination and no interest in telling the story. This is the Moment is a big deal. It's a big song. He needs to do more than just stand there.

[TheatreDiva90016]

Posted: 4/6/13 at 1:05am

"I LOVED everything about this production and thought the new concept worked."

Yes, we know from your countless posts.

[bwayphreak234]

Posted: 4/6/13 at 2:52am

Quick question - did anyone else notice that the upstage backdrop used to cover the brick wall unit when it was not being used looked JUST like the upstage backdrop used in Wonderland to mask the projection screen before Through the Looking Glass? Was it the same backdrop?

[philly03]

Posted: 4/6/13 at 3:09am

^^ A few productions have been in the Marquis since, but the piece that covered "the looking-glass" was.. a silver frame (exposed the entire show) of a "Tenniel" scene, apart from the three panels (with LED capabilities) the projections were based on. No correlation.

[bwayphreak234]

Posted: 4/6/13 at 3:16am

^ I was referring to the parchment texture looking backdrop that covered that frame at one point during the show! Could be wrong, but it looked exactly the same

[WhizzerMarvin]

Posted: 4/6/13 at 6:41am

I'm sorry to hear that Cox is on vocal rest, but it showed.

Bring On the Men should be one of the easiest numbers to sell and get the crowd going. One of my friends saw a drag queen perform last weekend and had a blast. The number will never be "good," but it should be fun as hell. This reminded me of when Roundabout turned "Happy Hunting Horn" into a funeral dirge with the ensemble wearing black veils. Cause for head-scratching.

bwayphreak, Other than Cox everyone else sounded fine vocally. My issue was they weren't interpreting the songs. No phrasing. No relating the lyrics to the audience. They just stood there and gratuitously riffed there way through each number. This is why I said if I hadn't been familiar with the show I would have been at sea to find the plot.

You would think that after months of touring the actors would have a stronger grip on their characters.

[TheresaG]

Posted: 4/6/13 at 9:17am

Thank you Whizzer for this explanation:

"Linda did have fun with the song on both the concept album and pre-Broadway tour."

Maybe I was reading too late but I thought you meant that she had done the song in performance when she played in the show. Big difference between doing it twice in the recording studio and doing it every night on stage. I doubt she could have pulled it off in the manner Deborah Cox has done. Deborah not only introduces the character at that point but also gives an opportunity to see a more playful side of the life that eventually becomes so much a part of the darkness.

I was very surprised to read philly's post that Cox is on vocal rest. She did the entire last week in Florida and overall on the tour she only missed either 2 or 3 shows. In fact I read that in Chicago she was scheduled to do an outside show one evening as well. Doesn't vocal rest mean the person sits out the show?

For people who liked Jekyll and Hyde in the older version, this must be quite a shock to see this new one. Maybe I'm fortunate that I never saw that older, slower, more tradition version. I liked the way Constantine sang This is the Moment as he moved around the stage preparing his experiment in the lab. He sings the song very joyfully as his happiness at finally doing what he wants to accomplish comes through loud and clear. He clearly is not standing in one place singing riffs, etc. He and Deborah are also moving very actively around in several of their songs. And his singing as he kills the bishop in Act One is definitely not standing still singing.

I don't think this show will appeal to people who are looking for a remake of the old version. It is definitely more abstract and faster paced and it does redo styles of traditionally held music.





Updated On: 4/6/13 at 09:17 AM