Jekyll & Hyde 1995 Tour vs. Broadway Production

I saw the '95 tour at the massive Fox Theatre in Atlanta. I don't remember a lot of details other than that Linda Eder filled that cavernous house with her voice. I was very familiar with the concept album at the time and I remember thinking that the opening number -- "Lost in the Darkness" -- for the stage production was effective. In the scene, Jekyll was visiting his father in an insane asylum. I don't believe the song was included in any form on the early concept album and it did a decent job of setting up Jekyll's obsession.

I've never understood why "Bring on the Men" was replaced on Broadway. It got great reaction on the tour. Most of the other songs were pretty interchangable anyway, so I don't think it mattered when they replaced one obvious ballad with another.

Updated On: 5/28/20 at 08:26 AM

I saw the 1995/96 J&H tour three times. I found it to be much better than the Broadway version.

In addition to "Bring On The Men," "I Need To Know" was cut, and that was a big mistake as well. Linda Eder has said many times that she should have pulled a "diva moment," and insist that BOTM remain in the show. When the show got to NYC, it had a new director, and she assumed he knew what was best. It's a fantastic show stopping song. The first time I saw Linda Eder was in J&H, August 1995 at The Orange County Performing Arts Center in Costa Mesa, California. When she sang, it was mesmerizing. She stopped the show cold with her big solos. From that moment on, I became an even bigger fan, and have seen her in concert almost 50 times. Fantastic!

The book scenes were toned down as well as a lot of the big soaring ballads when it came to NY. Especially, "Take Me As I Am" and "In His Eyes." Still beautifully performed, just toned down, which I didn't care for as I was so used to hearing the double cd version. I just felt it wasn't necessary. If it ain't broke, don't fix it.

I remember going to see this tour on Valentine’s Day with some friends. Having seen both the tour version and the broadway version, I personally preferred the tour version, though there are problems with both.

It’s all basically the same, although the set design was different, I seem to recall a staircase or maybe even two that would slide in and out for scenes. Obviously songs were there that were cut for broadway, most notably “Bring on the Men,” but my favorite that was cut was “Girls of the Night” that the prostitutes sang in the second act...it was a really pretty but sad song.

I also seem to recall the scene towards the end when Hyde comes to see Linda Eder, and he stabs her, that they used quite a bit of stage blood which got on the white blanket of her bed, it was quite striking and then the blood was all but gone in that scene when it was on broadway.

And the last I remember was the confrontation scene which was performed with the actor playing Jekyll in front of a pre-recorded screen of the actor playing Hyde and the screen image must of been a real pain in the ass because it didn’t sync up with the pre-recorded vocal and I seem to recall that happened often.. which is why I’m sure it became the hair tossing back and forth version we got on broadway.

Those are the things that stood out to me as differences.

I still enjoy the score and loved Linda Eder, I still have the window card she personally signed to me after meeting her. I’ll have to dig out the concept album and listen to some of that cut stuff now! 😊

Updated On: 5/28/20 at 07:40 PM

carolinaguy said: "I've never understood why "Bring on the Men" was replaced on Broadway. It got great reaction on the tour."

I've never actually been in the audience for any production of this show, but "Bring on the Men" is the only song from the score that stands out for me.

CATSNYrevival said: "I thought the 2013 tour was a little over the top. And the revised version of “Murder, Murder” was weird. I didn’t have a problem with the original song just the umbrella choreography."

So, I didn’t see the original, and only clips of the Hasselhoff recording. The umbrella choreography was weird... but, I like the repeat of murder in the chorus of the song.

BenjaminNicholas2 said: "BOTM was cut because Eder was never comfortable singing it. She's said it several times in concert and while she still sings it now and then, it's never full-out and always a done a little sheepishly.

Linda was the best thing about the show and no matter how many times I've seen it, there's no one who can play 'Lucy' like her. It was a role specifically written for her vocal talents."

I think Linda Eder may have told two different versions of the story. I've definitely heard both but not from her, just recounted by others. One that she was uncomfortable with the song and the other that the producers wanted the "Good and Evil" song, and as mentioned above, Linda said in an interview she should have pulled the diva card and insisted "Bring on the Men" stay in.

Updated On: 5/30/20 at 02:56 PM

BenjaminNicholas2, I've seen Linda in concert over 50 times. She sings it pretty much each time she performs - unless she's doing her Judy Garland concert salute, or a Christmas concert. She's never once sang BOTM sheepishly or anything like that. She has kidded that they way it's written, there's no time to breathe. Ha, ha. And, she has always, always sung it full out. It was not cut because she didn't like it/want it. It was cut when the show got a new director for the Broadway production. He didn't like it, not her.

Can someone that saw the tour go into detail on the set differences?



Also from the little I saw, the German/Austrian set design looked somewhat interesting also.