Jekyll & Hyde — Page 2

Wow, JRybka, you really have a great way of describing the elements from the touring production. I will never forget when I first saw it. It took me totally by surprise. It was original and the suspense built with each song and each scene. It was so well staged and even though it was a tour, it really took over the theatre with big sets and as your have described really great effects. The one with the death scene was a great concept and the pay off was breathtaking, I often wondered how they got everything white agian, becausue that seemed like an awfull lot of blood. I was shocked that these effects were gone when I saw it on Broadway. You often here of a tour being scaled down, but this was the other way around. Thanks, for bringing back some great memories.

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Updated On: 3/22/07 at 02:17 PM

I didn't get to see Cuccioli. He missed a number of performances in Denver. Rumor had it that he did not pay attention to the packet sent to the production in the city before it came to Denver and was having issues with the altitude. (We send packets to shows before they get here to let them know what to do to deal with the altitude. There are times that oxygen tanks are backstage at shows.) I did see Lindfa though. She actually came back to Denver to do a special concert performance after the tour and before the Broadway Opening. She said it was a thank you for being the highest grossing city on the tour. Needless to say, she was fantastic.

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Actually, there were three pre-Broadway productions: Alley Theatre in Houston and then two tours. The first tour was my favorite. The second tour was similar, but the cheesiness started sinking in (Bring on the Men looked more like New Orleans Mardi Gras).

I do agree that the use of the mirror for Confrontation was spectacular. Jekyll stood in front of the giant mirror as a huge video of a demonic-looking Hyde's face appeared in the reflection which was timed with the orchestra so they could sing the duet. At the end, Jekyll picks up a chair and hurls it at the mirror as lights and pyrotechnics flash and a broken mirror is revealed in the end. It was electrifying.

The lab set was much bigger as well. There were all sorts of bubbling beakers, bolts of electricity passing between metal rods and such flew in above the laboratory workspace and pretty much filled the entire stage.

And Lucy's death was incredibly creepy. She sings A New Life in white nightgown in a white bed in a white room. The song ends and she goes to bed in total darkness. Thunder cracks and lightning flashes. Around the third flash, you see Hyde standing in her room. Just suddenly there. You never see or hear him enter the stage. The lights come up dimly to reveal the action as he stabs her in the back and she lightly gasps and reaches for the end of the bed. He turns her to face him and blood is revealed all over the back of her nightgown. The gasps and squirms from the audience during this whole sequence were not to be believed. People were all but leaping from their seats from the tension. It was absolutely thrilling.

To this day, I have never understood why it was so drastically changed. Jekyll and Hyde had some of the biggest and most positive pre-Broadway buzz for a musical. Then it opened on Broadway and very little resembled the wonderful show it once was. I was literally laughing during many of the scenes in the Broadway production, it was so bad. The one major improvement they did make was in the orchestrations and vocal arrangements. Everything else was for the worse.

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Updated On: 3/22/07 at 05:27 PM

we're singing this is the moment in chorus. it's so pretty in 4 part harmony. loooove it.

i would love to see this show!

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I am sure I speak for many when I ask if there are any pics or vids out there of this earlier version. I would really like to see this.

slim to none. the original creators and producers have moved on. maybe you should e-mail net-works, big league or troika. start a petition or something for a non-equity tour.

Updated On: 3/23/07 at 01:30 AM

I'm totally looking forward to SMC's!

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I love SMC. I was born and raised there and worked for them for many years in my late teens early twenties. I was so lucky to sit in the back row of the Convention Center for the week it played there. You are right about the white stage and the blood. It was so gastly. But fabulous.

On another note.. SMC has done some amazing shows and I have been able to find stars in the making... Susan Egan in BABY was amazing! (And South Pacific) Judy McLane in CHESS...(that was a brilliantly done show-- when they did I know him so well it was just the two of them on a blank stage that was done up to look like a chess board...Florence was in white on a white square and Svetlana was in black on a black square -- the stage just slowly rotated.. and when the song was over... Florence's square had turned black and Svetlana's had turned white...) It was freaking AMAZING!

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If you look REALLY closely, you can find Kelli O'Hara in this show as an ensemble member (this was recorded during her stint there. I got so bored with this show when I watched it, I just played find Kelli O'Hara! It was quite amusing.

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