Jekyll and Hyde: The Musical on HBO Signature right now

[beacon1]

Posted: 6/17/04 at 9:22pm

So...I finish watching (devouring) Chapter III of "Angels in America" on HBO Signature tonite...then lo and behold on comes a film of the stage performance of "Jekyll & Hyde: The Musical with David Hassellhof in the title role.

Did he do this in NYC? How was this production received on Broadway? Isn't one of the major numbers "This Is the Moment?"

I'm clueless about this particular musical.

[wickedfan]

Posted: 6/17/04 at 9:26pm

yes to NYC, yes to "this is the moment". in this recording his performance was taken well. But watch it. He was great as Hyde. But sucked royally as Jekkyl, he had the same tone as he did on Baywatch.

[beacon1]

Posted: 6/17/04 at 9:28pm

LOL. Baywatch. I flashed on Jekyll running in slo-mo and carrying a flotation/rescue board.

Guess I'd better watch this...

[beacon1]

Posted: 6/17/04 at 9:51pm

Well...just heard him do "This is the moment" and WAS NOT impressed with his voice. Shouldn't it be done by someone with a richer, true voice. His vibratto was odd/strained...and I didn't take that as being part of the scene...

This guy is a music star in Germany,too, right????

[Unknown User]

Posted: 6/17/04 at 11:05pm

they video taped him in the role as opposed to any other (better) jekyll/hyde largely because he put a lot of his own money into the tapes' production.

[luvtheEmcee]

Posted: 6/17/04 at 11:21pm

haha, I saw that. I remember nothing but everyone and their mother raving about how he was "That Baywatch Guy" and that I was scared out of my mind of the show... I wasn't more than 10 though.

[jezzebelle]

Posted: 6/17/04 at 11:22pm

And he was bad. Not the worst I've seen, but he was very blah, I'd say. His singing is medicorce at best, but it's far better than his acting, which is awful.

Aside from a couple of performances (especially Coleen Sexton as Lucy), it's not a very memorable version of the show.

[Musetta1957]

Posted: 6/18/04 at 12:12am

I'm 10 minutes into the broadcast here on Signature West.

I've already laughed out loud at least three times.

Who knew Hasselhoff had a little Rex Smith vibrato? Not I!

When this was first broadcast on HBO, I didn't have HBO.

Now I am oh so glad. I should tape this and pour myself a stiff drink next time I watch it.

THANK YOU for alerting us!!! :)

[sharon1]

Posted: 6/18/04 at 4:43am

Do you have a remote?? Maybe it needs batteries?? But you should run not walk to change the channel. I very seldom say anything bad about a performer or performance. This is that time.

[iruvyou]

Posted: 6/18/04 at 7:02am

I think i was at the b-way show when they were tapeing it for pay-per-veiw or something my uncle was friends w/ the camera man. I didn't know they were putting it on HBO!

[PB ENT.]

Posted: 6/18/04 at 9:41am

::sigh:: The days following the viewing, always brings out the "best" in everyone! Yep. DH is dreadful! Probably the weakest J/H ever recorded (LOL!Rex Smith vibrato, you are so right. I have an experience about Rex in SP that is pm material).

The Broadway Television Network (BTN) was contacted to film this to archive and re-produce for sale. Hasselhoff foot the bill (before anyone asks why did they not use the OBC or any other faves? or why didn't they do it prior to DH comming in? Answer: $$$. DH paid for it and he was quite pleased with his performance. Besides Cooch and Eder were committed the days of the shoot and Rob Evan, who was playing aternate had no hope of being asked, though he was amazing!

In all fairness to the rest of the cast, they should have been in the film. What a slap to kick them out just to hand pick a select cast for the video. I am happy that some of those nice people had the opportunity to be part of this.

That's all I can share. I'm sure others could add more, but why?

Updated On: 6/18/04 at 09:41 AM

[broadwayguy2]

Posted: 6/18/04 at 11:36am

LOL. David was pleased with his performance.. LOL. He is the only one I'm sure.

Hasselhoff is godawful in that role.. a TOTAL disgrace. I can't watch it without laughing at him. Look at him try to be a scary Hyde.. it's purely comical!

I own this show on VHS and DVD for one reason. Coleen Sexton. She turns in one hell of a perormance and I absolutely LOVE her voice.

[Sheryl]

Posted: 6/18/04 at 4:39pm

I turned it off after 15 minutes. I couldn't bear to watch another second.

[~FloweryFriend~]

Posted: 6/19/04 at 2:08am

Random tangent:

I have a sort of weird connection to a woman by the name of Christy Tarr McVey and her husband J. Mark McVey (he was Jean Valjean on Broadway for a couple of years).

(Christy grew up in the same town as myself and Paul LW, so we've met her and Mark. They have really cool stories, like how they got married in Marvin Hamlisch's house.)

Christy was in Jekyll & Hyde (I don't know the show well enough to know her character, but I think it was relatively major).
Then, she had a baby.
While she was on maternity leave, they brought in David Hasselhoff.
And the show closed before she could get back onstage.

Good story, eh?

~ff~

Updated On: 6/19/04 at 02:08 AM

[bythesword84]

Posted: 6/19/04 at 2:23am

God bless Rex Smith and his vibrato, my mother adores that about him from the Pirates of Penzance to Pimpernel to anything else.

Side note: I enjoyed J Mark McVey's Valjean he did a great Bring Him Home!


I didn't mind David's J/H. I saw him do it on Broadway after having also seen the Original Broadway Cast. Was he fantastic? No but I didn't think he was awful. The only mega complaint I had about him was that I thought the voice changes in the confrontation at the end didn't even come close to Cuccioli's from the original cast but I didn't see anyone who played the role between those two.

As for Coleen Sexton- her Good and Evil is fantastic! I actually enjoyed her even more than I had enjoyed Linda Eder in the role.

[CATSNYrevival]

Posted: 6/19/04 at 2:34am

I don't mind David's performance at all. My only complaint is about the production in general and that they didn't replace "Good 'N' Evil" with "Bring on the Men" after Linda left... But there are so many little things that they changed for the Broadway version that were all corrected in the post-Broadway tour and why they never made the changes I'll never understand.

[broadwayguy2]

Posted: 6/19/04 at 12:33pm

The tour was better in my opinion.

[musicalfandukie]

Posted: 6/20/04 at 8:37pm

i love the show jekyll and hyde. i have watched the film version of it on HBO several times and david is horrible. he has no idea how to act on a live stage. his singing is very weak also. i dont know what broadway was thinking i guess trying to sell tickets by using his name in the show. to bad they couldnt of recorded it when robert cuccioli or chuck wagner played jekyll and hyde. they both did a good job. david's performance is very laughable at times.

[Benzy92]

Posted: 6/20/04 at 10:13pm

Coleen Sexton was brilliant and also the only reason why I bought the DVD.

Where are the Wicked producers? I feel like sending them a copy of her performance! I can just hear her Defying Gravity now! HEAVEN!