This is an article I wrote for an arts reporting class in December of 1999. This is the original version, and not the edited one, which I can’t seem to find at the moment. So bear in mind that anyone you don’t like was probably changed. 😉
Enjoy!
The Mysterious Case of Jekyll & Hyde
By Stacy McInnis
The lights go down and the curtain rises on a touring production of a
megamusical. Whether you’re sitting in New York or Saskatoon, you expect to
see the same show. The sets might be smaller, and the cast might be different,
but that’s about all. Unless the show you’re seeing is Jekyll & Hyde.
Like the lead character of the story, this show seems to have a bit of multiple personality disorder. The touring version that passed through Ottawa earlier this fall is vastly different from the one that’s playing at the Plymouth Theatre on 45th street in Manhattan. It also bears little resemblance to the production that’s packing in audiences in Bremen, Germany.
This may seem pretty
unusual, but then, the show’s history and its composer aren’t exactly what
you’d call typical either.
The musical
“journey”, as he calls it, known as Jekyll & Hyde, began when
composer Frank Wildhorn was an 18-year-old university student in California. A
trip to New York that included a production of Dracula ignited a passion for
theatre and a desire to write a gothic show.
“They were able to take it
and make it sexy,” he recalls. “It really spoke to me.”
Determined to recreate this
experience for audiences around the world, Wildhorn seized
upon the idea of dramatizing Robert Louis Stevenson’s classic novella Dr.
Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. The story of good and evil was one that appealed to the
young songwriter.
“Jekyll is a very complex
man. It’s always a great challenge to take one character and give his two
musical points of view.”
Through the course of a
successful career in the pop music world, Wildhorn continued to rewrite and
change his ideas for his first musical. In 1990 he met Leslie Bricusse, who
would become the show’s lyricist and bookwriter, and from then the show began
to really take shape.
In 1995, after one brief run
in Texas and two concept recordings, the musical hit the road in a national
tour, which is rare among shows that have not yet appeared on Broadway.
Two years later the show
finally opened in New York. It will celebrate its third anniversary in March of
next year. It has since spawned the German production and the current national
tour, as well as upcoming openings in Spain, Japan, Australia and Sweden.
Despite poor reviews on Broadway, it has continued to sell, thanks to remarkable
fan support and word of mouth. The show has a large group of dedicated fans
known as “Jekkies”, some of whom have seen the show hundreds of times.
Throughout this time the
show was constantly evolving. Songs were removed and new ones added. Remaining
songs were rearranged, and dialogue inserted, so that the Broadway show seems to
have little more than the title in common with the 1990 concept recording.
Many of these changes were
artistic decisions and are natural in the course of building a show. The
“complete recording”, released in 1995, included the most music so far and
is “the version I like best as a composer”, says Wildhorn. The pre-Broadway
tour that was based on this recording was directed by Gregory Boyd and was a
huge hit with the public.
But, when Pace Theatrical
decided to bring the show to New York, they also decided to bring in a new
director, someone with more Broadway experience and credibility. Robin Phillips,
a former director at the Stratford Festival, made significant changes to the
show, removing a lot of music, replacing other songs and reinventing characters.
“A director always brings
in his own sensibilities and artistic tastes,” says Wildhorn. “So the
Broadway production is naturally very different. But most international
producers saw the show when it was on tour, and not the Broadway version. And
they chose to do the one they saw on the road.”
In
February of this year, a German language version of the show opened in Bremen,
Germany. While Wildhorn retains basic creative control over casting decisions
and directors, he emphasizes that the producers know their audiences better than
he does.
“You
have to trust the producers in an international production. They want to make
the best show for their situation.”
For
a production in Europe, Wildhorn says that audiences are used to longer shows,
so many of the songs that were cut for Broadway were brought back for the German
show. While the budget for the Broadway production is estimated at around $6
million, the Bremen producers spent $20 million on their show.
“It’s like Jekyll
on acid,” laughs Wildhorn.
Koen Schoots is the musical
director of the Bremen Jekyll & Hyde, and was involved in many of the
creative decisions about that production.
“When we negotiated the
rights for Jekyll & Hyde, we had two options,” he says. “We could
do the Broadway version as it is in Germany, or develop our own concept. We went
for the latter.”
“I think that European, in
particular German audiences are a little ahead of the American audiences. A lot
of the things that we show on stage would be problematic for US audiences, such
as the graphic murders, the couple having sex during one song, and so on.”
While the Broadway
production includes 28 musical numbers, the Bremen show has 34. In terms of
full-length songs, the ratio is 19 to 26. The running time of the show is more
than half an hour longer in Bremen.
One song that was replaced
on Broadway was the opening number. On the complete recording it is a song
called “I Need to Know”, which outlines Jekyll’s determination to find a
way to separate good and evil for the sake of mankind. On Broadway, this became
a song entitled “Lost in the Darkness”, where Jekyll laments the failing
sanity of his aging father, and vows to unlock the secrets of the mind for his
sake.
As one can imagine, this
change affects the tone of the entire show. In Bremen, both songs were used.
“First of all, we included
“I Need to Know” because it’s a great song,” says Schoots. “The
motivation for Jekyll remains the same: his father. However, we think that the
condition of his father is only confirming his thoughts and ideas.”
The national tour of the
show began in April of 1999. It also uses both songs at the beginning, a fact
that pleases the current Jekyll/Hyde on the road, Chuck Wagner.
“What I like about the
inclusion of both is that you still get the love Jekyll feels for his ailing
dad, and then you experience his passion and zeal which leads to the courage to
do the experiment. It is a much more dynamic way to start the show.”
Another song that was
replaced on Broadway was a song called “Bring on the Men”. It is the
audience’s introduction to Lucy, a young prostitute who gets caught between
Jekyll and his alter-ego Hyde. She sings it as part of a performance at the club
where she works. In New York, Lucy sings a song called “Good ‘n’ Evil”,
with lyrics like, “Evil is viable, good’s unreliable, good may be thankable,
evil is bankable.” Again, in Germany and on the tour, the original song was
restored.
“We think that ‘Bring on
the Men’ is the better song for a cabaret,” says Schoots. “’Good ‘n’
Evil’ is a “hammer on the head”. We have Jekyll sing about it, we don’t
want Lucy to sing about it too.”
Wagner agrees that the
original song makes more sense. “I much prefer our Red Rat, with the
reinstated ‘Bring on the Men’. Broadway’s ‘Good ‘n’ Evil’ is less
appropriate for the scene.”
One particularly stunning
scene in Germany is absent in both the Broadway and tour productions. On the
complete recording, Jekyll sings a song called “The World Has Gone Insane”,
where he describes the effects of the experiment on his mind. This song was
resurrected for the German production, and is sung as Jekyll “flys” around
the stage.
“The song describes a
state of mind,” says Schoots. “We wanted to show that Jekyll’s world has
gone completely mad. Just before this song, we inserted “Reflections”, which
came from the complete recording as well to state Jekyll’s thoughts on his
experiments. So “Reflections” is the intelligent philosophical way or
looking at it and “The World Has Gone Insane” is the out-of-mind,
hallucinating way of seeing what the experiment does to Jekyll.”
Many more examples of these
kind of differences exist in both the Bremen and tour productions. The changes
are not only musical, but also affect the characters. On Broadway and in
Germany, Jekyll’s friend Utterson takes him to the club where Lucy works after
a setback in his work, to help him unwind. On the tour, the roles are reversed,
with Jekyll suggesting the diversion.
“In the Houston [original]
premiere, it was Jekyll’s idea to have a drink to relax,” explains Wagner.
“In the Broadway show, Utterson takes Jekyll to his ‘usual’ table at the
whorehouse. What does that say about Utterson? And it paints Jekyll as a bit of
a prude. I feel that Jekyll, as in the book, is quite comfortable in the bawdier
sections of town.”
Aside from the symbolic
changes, the physical appearances of the shows are highly individualized as
well. While the laboratory on Broadway is exactly what you might envision, with
test tubes and strange-coloured liquids, the Bremen show features a long, deep
room with one bare table.
“Our goal was to reduce
the set to the minimum, with a maximum of effect,” says Schoots. “That’s
why there are so few props. Everyone expects the laboratory to be like the old
one. We wanted to draw the audience’s attention to what is happening on
stage.”
Despite all the differences,
everyone involved seems to agree on one thing: they enjoy the show.
“I would love to see the
German show,” says Wagner. “And though I sometimes criticize it, I do love
the Broadway show too. I think ours is the best one around…for now. Frank’s
shows are always evolving.”
“I’ve seen the Broadway
production many times,” says Schoots. “And I have to say the show works as
it is. If you’re not a Jekkie, spoiled by all this great music you knew
before, you’ll be blown away by it. The material is too good to kill.”
And as for the composer, the
diversity is what he thrives on.
“Most composers want their
shows to be cookie cutter copies,” Wildhorn says. “And that’s fine, but
it’s not as much fun. I like to collaborate. It keeps the piece alive, keeps
it in a living form.”
“I tend to play with my stuff a lot more than traditional Broadway
composers. I don’t believe that once a show is written, that’s it. Once you
record an album, you can’t change it, it’s done. The fact that I do get the
chance to play with it is one of the things I love about theatre.”