Jekyll and Hyde

I've decided to begin with one my most favorite musicals, which also happens to be one of the most underrated. Jekyll and Hyde, a dark musical based on the story The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson. Music for this is written by Frank Wildhorn; an amazing composer who will probably be seen again on this blog at some point because he's a beast.

In each of us there are two natures. If this primitive duality of man - good and evil - can be housed in separate identities, life will be relieved of all that is unbearable. It is the curse of mankind that these polar twins should be constantly struggling.

So the plot is pretty much the same as in the original novel. Dr. Jekyll creates a formula that he believes will separate the good and evil within a person, and that evil can then be destroyed. Without support from the Board of Governors however, Jekyll decides to test the formula on himself, declaring his decision in the song "This is the Moment."

This is the moment! Damn all the odds! This day, or never, I'll sit forever with the gods! When I look back, I will always recall, Moment for moment, This was the moment, The greatest moment  of them all!

 Quite stunning. I love that song. It creates a good contrast. So he takes the formula, and then, DUN DUN DUUUUN, he becomes Mr. Hyde. Hyde rotates between killing people and spending time with the ladies, specifically a woman named Lucy. Lucy however has fallen in love with Jekyll and wants nothing to do with Hyde. She doesn't know that they are "the same person". Oooo, a twist. Here is the chilling but beautiful duet between Hyde and Lucy.

                                                    A dance of death out of a mystery tale
                                             The frightened princess Doesn't know what to do!
                                            Does she just run away? Does she risk it and stay?
                                                        Either way, there's no way to win!


This song, "Dangerous Game" is one of my favorites in the show. I would like to mention that the woman who plays Lucy, Linda Eder, is one of my favorite female singers. And I don't have much of those. Like Frank Wildhorn, Linda Eder will come back at some point in this blog. 


Back to the story. So eventually, after transforming into Hyde several times, Jekyll loses control of the transformations. At one point, Lucy, beaten and bruised, calls on Jekyll for medical care. It is at this point that Jekyll realizes all the shenanigans that Hyde has been up to. He sends Lucy money and letter telling her to run away and start a new life. When Hyde finds the letter on one of his "visits," he decides to kill Lucy. Sad face. 


After Lucy's death, when he is Jekyll once more, Jekyll decides to have a heart to heart with Hyde. And he does; Gollum/Smeaghol style. This is done in the fantastic song "Confrontation."

JEKYLL:
All that you are
Is the end of a nightmare!
All that you are is a dying scream!
After tonight,
I shall end this demon dream!

HYDE:
This is not a dream, my friend -
And it will never end!
This one is the nightmare that goes on!
Hyde is here to stay,
No matter what you may pretend -
And I'll flourish, long after you're gone!

Now, you might think, "Hey, this musical looks really cool! I wonder if there is a full video recording!" I am here to tell you that yes, there is a recording, but don't you dare watch it. I say this because I care. They chose David Hasselhoff to play Jekyll/Hyde for the recording. Not that he's a bad person, and he does try hard, but why they chose him for the recording I will never understand. And to prove it, compare the above version of "Confrontation" with Rob Evan as Jekyll/Hyde with, and I can't believe I'm even posting this at all, but, here is "Confrontation" with David Hasselhoff as Jekyll/Hyde. 

Sigh. This version just hurts my feelings.

In the end, Jekyll ends up committing suicide in attempt to rid the world of Hyde's evil.

Personally, I love this musical very much. There is a very good balance between the light and dark in terms of music and of course the plot. Duh. But even after my discovering of many other musicals, this one remains one of my top favorites.

Here Be Dragons

Fellow Inhabitants of the Planet Earth,

Just created this blog today. My plan is to share my thoughts on super cool things, and to hopefully instill a bit of insight and awesomeness into any readers. I am setting a goal for myself to update once a week, but who knows. I might just forget about this blog all together. But we'll see how things go.

Stay classy,

Here Be Dragons