The nineteenth century provided many of literature’s great classics. Gothic novels became incredibly popular in the nineteenth century and continue to be so in the modern day.. On Thursday, October 16, thanks to the Fulton Theatre and Kevin Faraci, I attended a showing of Marc Robin’s production of Jekyll & Hyde: The Musical, a heavily-altered stage adaptation of Robert Louis Stevenson’s incredibly influential gothic novel, Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. In this brief article, I will be highlighting a few of the production’s greatest strengths and a few avenues for improvement.
Firstly, I must note how incredibly well the players performed during the showing; the level of visible talent in the cast is a major strength of Robin’s production. All of the actors performed lines in both dialogue and song, and all fulfilled their musical responsibilities exceptionally well. In particular, Kanisha Feliciano (Emma Carew) stunned the audience with beautifully high tones, matching the distinguished, aristocratic air of her role as the daughter of a distinguished gentleman, Sir Danvers Carew. Kristina Leopold (Lucy Harris) captivated all with her scintillatingly raunchy yet beautifully emotional vocals. David Toole (Dr. Jekyll/Edward Hyde) also impressed the crowd with his exceptional voice, but the production’s heavy reliance on digital screen technology in the final quarter of the musical slightly distracted from the quality of Toole’s live performance. This note, however, should in no way reflect poorly on Toole’s performance.
The production itself is considered melodrama, so judgments regarding how “natural” each actor fulfilled his or her role become more difficult to make, but each and every actor committed to their roles so strictly that the audience very easily suspended its disbelief in the sensationalism. Joey Abromowicz (Casting Associate) should be applauded for assembling such a highly-skilled cast.
The exceptional work done by William James Mohney (Scenic Designer), Ryan J. Moller (Costume Designer), Paul Black (Lighting Designer), and Katelin Walsko (Props designer) provides another great strength for the production: the designs of the stage and characters are aesthetically stimulating in a way that allows for the audience to suspend its disbelief despite the production’s melodramatic nature. In other words, Mahoney, Moller, Black, and Walsko are deserving of praise for providing the production with so much melodramatic liberty, while also making the production more specifically related to Stevenson’s novel.
Lastly, one of the strengths that I would like to highlight is the brilliance and discipline of Conductor Ben McNaboe’s orchestra. It became clear to the audience in the duet with George Dvorsky (Sir Danvers Carew) and Kanisha Feliciano (Emma Carew) that the orchestra played very skillfully according to the vocal cues of the actors. With the exception of just one scene in which the actors’ song and the orchestra’s tune lost synchronization, it seemed as if the orchestra played in perfect harmony with the actors. Credit for the direction of the musical program belongs to Laura Bergquist, and credit for the origination of the soundtrack belongs to Frank Wildhorne and Leslie Bricusse.
Making a criticism, with the goal of finding areas of improvement, of such an impressive production requires one to search for lapses and inconsistencies. For example, during one of the duets performed by Toole (Jekyll/Hyde) and Feliciano (Emma Carew), their simultaneous vocals sounded in opposition to each other, creating a noticeable but very short-lived feeling of unease due to a loss of harmony. Though I am unqualified to prescribe any solution to such a lapse, I do believe it might be valuable to explore and safeguard against this issue so that it does not become more apparent in later showings. It should be noted, however, that Toole’s and Feliciano’s voices harmonized fantastically in all other scenes.
My final and biggest critique applies equally to Robin’s production and other productions of Jekyll & Hyde: The Musical: calm down the narrative! Murder and death can be useful tools for propelling a narrative forward, but, in excess application, they can seriously distract from and question the message of the narrative. One of the most interesting and applaudable aspects of Stevenson’s 1886 novel is that its narrative sees Hyde murdering only one person. Robin’s production sees Hyde murdering (at least) six characters. Melodrama indeed calls for sensational plots, but there are better ways to wow than killing characters. The basis of this criticism I make is founded in a belief that Dr. Jekyll’s conflict stems from questions about the meaning of life, and what it means to live a good life. If death becomes so frequent, how can the audience reflect on life as having meaning?
Robin’s Jekyll & Hyde: The Musical is playing now at the Fulton Theatre and exits November 2. If you love gothic horror, musicals, or simply good acting, make sure to catch a showing before it exits. Support your local theatres!
Junior Charlie Burns is a Contributing Writer. His email is cburns1@fandm.edu.