Jekyll & Hyde: The Rock Opera!

[furtech]

So I went to see the touring edition of Jekyll & Hyde at the Pantages last week.

The first half was all right. Not great, but still live theater. But the sound was really cranked up for some reason.

I looked forward to the second half-- it opens with my favorite song ("Murder, Murder!") and MAN was I disappointed! The director-show-whothefuckever changed that song from a snappy, snarky piece into a slow, EMO song that dragged and plodded like a zombie dirge. The orchestra was less effective because they cranked the sound even higher and at times I literally could not tell what instruments were being played. The singers began competing with the blaring music and the result was like sitting too near the speakers at a live rock concert.

E finally figured it out: they were trying to turn J&H into a rock opera! Gone was the subtlety of Wildhorn's music. Now it was all about emo and LOUD MUSIC!

The sound was amped up to high that at times the music and the vocalists seemed to be fighting each other for dominance-- resulting in cacophony. Our seats were only a few rows from the back wall and we wished we'd brought ear protection. E realized that the changes they were trying to turn the show into a rock-style musical. This explained why the actor (read: "American Idol" star) playing the title roles was selected to play the part: he was hot off of "Rock of Ages". Unfortunately, he didn't quite have the pipes for the role...and the high notes were strained. Add to this fighting the orchestra and his trying to compensate by trying too hard. Not the best actor to play the role (though he was decent in the non-singing parts).

On the other hand, Debora Cox was amazing: I saw her in Aida on Broadway-- loved her then, love her now. She is such a professional: apparently when she realized that they were over-amping the mics (they actually buzzed out at some points), she pulled her voice back (but maintained the intensity), making hers one of the few voices that sounded good throughout. An actor who was shamefully underused was Richard White: he's been in a ton of great shows in great roles and barely sang at all (you'd know him as the voice of Gaston in Disney's Beauty and the Beast). David Benoit was great as Spider and the Bishop, though.

On the bright side, "Daria" is being rerun on some cable channel I've never heard of (Logo?). Still a great show.

Comments

[c-eagle.livejournal.com]

Your review is riveting... too bad the show wasn't! :D

[silabub.livejournal.com]

One of the last times I saw J/H was during it's 'transitional' period, where the music and orchestrations were reverting back to it's original workshop days, but the costumes, writing, and even appearance and handling of the characters were heading in a new direction. When they started releasing 're-visitations' of the music, I was heavily disappointed in the direction it was going and was honestly afraid of what a revival would do to the original content I loved so much.

I think the problem is that they have been working on a film adaptation for years, and in the risky world of musical film, they have been searching for just the right audience to appeal to. Instead of going with what's tried and true and improving upon what was already working, they had to take a 'hip' approach by making something they thought a younger crowd ( particularly the 'Twilight' and other gothic romance/paranormal etc crowd ) would embrace, and that's how we ended up with this brooding, 'emo' new version.