The * ideal * Jekyll & Hyde: A discussion — Page 3

My quibbles are as follows:

* Too long by far. And no, banding them together with "/" doesn't disguise the fact that there are far too many numbers in this version of the show.

* No "Bring On The Men"? Seriously? You found time to slot all the other crap back in, but "Bring On The Men" isn't an option? It's one of the few things that most people agree should be there.

* "If You Only Knew" and "His Work And Nothing More" are numbers for the same slot. Directly following one with the other is overkill. (You could say the same about other numbers in the show that are truthfully variations of the same theme or plot function, if you know the history of the material -- "I Need To Know" and "Lost In The Darkness," for example. Separating them by distance doesn't change the fact that they offer two motivations for Jekyll, his quest for knowledge and his fight to save his father, which, while not mutually exclusive, can be conveyed without needing to resort to two whole songs.)

In short, I feel like plunking this list down without a little explanation was very bold, but some is called for.

Updated On: 12/21/15 at 08:53 AM

Facade is one of my favorite numbers in the show, but as I mentioned before, it's always been in the wrong place. The original pre-Broadway staging of Facade was really effective and the number worked well. Good 'n' Evil still shouldn't be in the show and it does NOT serve as Jekyll's inspiration. I saw the show when Bitch Bitch Bitch was still in and though mildly humorous, it added nothing and was rightfully cut.

Coincidentally, the girl who originally played the "newsboy" calling out the headlines that opened Murder Murder in Act 2 for the world premiere of J&H is a friend of mine.

Ok keep it but deep six Murder Murder. By doing what you say Dig, it would be an opera.

Mr Roxy said: "By doing what you say Dig, it would be an opera."

What's wrong with making J&H sung-through, opera-style, in the same vein as Les Mis and Sweeney Todd?

Meh, I'm bored -I'll play. Jekyll is my favorite musical. Here's what I what do:

Act 1:
"I Need to Know" - Jekyll
"Board of Governors" - Jekyll/board
"Facade" - Ensemble
"Possessed" - Jekyll, Emma*
Engagement Party
"Take Me As I Am" - Jekyll, Emma
"Letting Go" - Emma, Danvers
"Bring on the Men" - Lucy
"Lucy Meets Jekyll" - Lucy, Jekyll
"No One Knows Who I Am" - Lucy (short)*
"Pursue the Truth" - Jekyll, Utterson
"This is the Moment" - Jekyll
"Alive/Lucy Meets Hyde" - Jekyll
"Once Upon a Dream" - Emma
"Reflections" - Jekyll**
"Sympathy, Tenderness" - Lucy
"Someone Like You" - Lucy
"Alive Reprise" - Hyde

Act 2:
"Murder, Murder" - Ensemble**
"Girls of the Night" - Lucy, Nellie/etc*
"Obsession" (or "Reflections" - Jekyll
"In His Eyes" - Lucy, Emma
"Dangerous Game" - Lucy, Hyde
"If You Only Knew" - Emma
"The Way Back" - Jekyll
"A New Life" - Lucy
"Sympathy, Tenderness Reprise" - Hyde
"Facade Reprise" - ensemble
"Confrontation" - Jekyll/Hyde
"Once Upon a Dream Reprise" - Emma, Jekyll

A few notes:

-The ending for me has always been cringeworthy - the whole wedding scene. Cut it, and have Jekyll die in his lab.

-A new song should replace "Murder, Murder." I've got some ideas for one.

-Any song with a * means you could cut it. I love "Girls of the Night" and a shorter version of "No One Knows Who I Am" (I actually love the version Deborah Cox recorded on that last album), but I'm not sure both is needed. I like the idea of giving Lucy more back story, and would be open to Lucy seeing Nellie's death or something to spook her to get away from Hyde and go towards "a new life." Maybe that could open Act 2 and have "Murder" be the first death of Act II.

-Emma needs something to do in Act 1, but I just can't wrap my head around why she'd sing "If You Only Knew" so early on; then again "Once Upon a Dream" doesn't make much sense either.

I was pretty disappointed with Jeff Calhoun last time around. All he did was cut the fat despite say he was making big changes (adding "I Need to Know" and "Bring on the Men" which are in nearly every version of the show except Broadway does not mean big changes). The show will always get clobbered by the critics unless they actually try to change something. Obviously you must love ballads for my version...

Dangerous Game was trashy...

The lyrical message of Bring on the Men runs completely contrary to Lucy's character for me. That's why I don't like the song.

I wonder what John Doyle would do with a show like this. Of course, if I were he I wouldn't go near the unruly mess.

Let's also note that the only script which establishes Lucy as attempting to do anything substantial to get out of her station in life as an anything-for-a-fiver honey is the Broadway version. Yes, there is a general sense of melancholy and a desire to find something better to do with her life in all versions, but only in the Broadway version is it ever indicated (however briefly) that she's actually attempting to be informed about anything outside the world of the East End, what with going to Speakers' Corner in Hyde Park to listen to speeches.

(And, speaking only for myself, I don't think that's essential -- you don't have to prove you're "above" your lot in life to want to get out of it. Who gives a rat's ass what speeches she's been hearing? And if you must strive to be above your station, then show it in more than a throwaway line. You wanna show me she's learned something from all that, show me Lucy trying to debate one of these topics the orators talk about with a brain-dead coworker and getting nowhere. Show me Lucy reading something and trying to understand the ideas, but comically missing the point; it allows us an easy laugh, but also to see that she is trying. Give me something that's not heavy-handed and telling instead of showing. It's drive-by exposition like that in the Broadway script that makes me wonder how the hell it was ever Tony-nominated.)

And this is leaving aside the fact that, as CATSNYrevival put it, this is not a song about her character. It's a number that she performs in a club. Look at the example of Cabaret: "Don't Tell Mama" [or for that matter, "Mein Herr"] doesn't tell us anything about Sally Bowles -- the scenes that follow do. These are just cabaret numbers which, while they may comment on the action depending on the version of the script being used, have nothing whatever to do with establishing character. They're just numbers. At most, in either show, you could say they establish that this person is being put out there doing second-rate "sexy" spots at a dingy dive for an appreciative audience, and in order for the protagonist to be introduced to them. That's it. No heavy lifting necessary.

Updated On: 12/22/15 at 11:02 AM

In concert, Eder has said BOTM should not have been removed. She let it be known she prefers it to Good.

It would be completely unnecessary to have two songs at the pub. Although, there is an early Broadway draft that has Lucy singing another song called "Anything is Possible Tonight" and is immediately followed by one of the other girls, Aggie, singing a second song, described as a Victorian music hall number, which she sings under the dialogue that follows between Jekyll and Lucy.