Review by Catey Sullivan
Attend the tale of Edward Hyde. And, of course, his tragic creator, Dr. Henry Jekyll. The late Victorian-era vernacular makes reading Robert Louis Stevenson’s groundbreaking 1886 novel “The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde” a bit of a slog. Kokandy Production’s ghoulish, gorgeous, riotous, operatic, over-the-top, burlesque-tastic Grand Guignol musical version is anything but.
Directed by Derek Van Barham and running through Nov. 8 at the Broadway Playhouse in a collaboration between Kokandy and Broadway in Chicago, Jekyll and Hyde is macabre and magnificent.
You know the story: Well-intentioned but ruinously monomaniacal physician Henry Jekyll believes people are made up of two halves – good and evil. He also believes he’s invented a potion to squelch the evil half. Applied to humankind, he believes his tonic could make the world entirely harmonious and cure madness. (Science fiction? Hah. Jekyll tries to sell his elixir essentially using the same arguments doctors use when advocating for lobotomies.) Things go horribly awry when Jekyll makes himself the first human test subject, and unleashes Edward Hyde, a homicidal beast of an alter-ego.
Barham’s cast kills it. The show (music by Frank Wildhorn, book and lyrics by Leslie Bricusse) is the perfect portal to Halloween season.
As Jekyll/Hyde, David Moreland makes Hyde the unholy lovechild between Patrick Bateman and Dorian Gray. Dr. Jekyll, meanwhile, is all feverish ambition and reckless, blinkered idealism.
Wildhorn’s score is an inferno of full-on, face-melting belt-offs. It’s the kind of insanely demanding barrage of notes that requires absolute vocal rest between performances, especially for the actor playing Jekyll and Hyde. Moreland’s vocal pyrotechnics are explosive. He’s technically astounding and emotionally thrilling. Switching between Hyde and Jekyll within a few measures is a Herculean task. The 11 O’Clock barnburner “Confrontation” is a power duet sung by one voice. Throughout, Moreland makes both Jekyll and Hyde distinct and vivid.
Speaking of barnburners: As brothel worker Lucy Harris, Ava Lane Stovall brings a cheeky, gritty, pile-driving defiance to “Bring on the Men,” backed by a chorus of raucous, beautiful strumpets. Stovall has the moves and the pipes to make Lucy unforgettable. Related: Kudos to Barham for not sanitizing the violence faced by Lucy and her sex-worker colleagues. When Hyde comes to visit their brothel, you can almost feel a miasma of fear threading through the air.
As Jekyll’s fiance Emma, Emily McCormick is strong-minded, sweetly in love and ultimately devastated by her betrothed’s intensifying madness. McCormick has a soprano that could shatter fine crystal, and some of the best musical moments arrive with the silvery arias she spins in the uppermost reaches of the vocal stratosphere.
Kevin Webb brings gravitas and a thundering bass to Jekyll’s confidante and lawyer, Henry Utterson. Webb’s on fire this season, performing in two Kokandy shows simultaneously. On his off nights from Jekyll you can (and should) catch him in the title role of Sunday in the Park with George. It’s a feat of strength, endurance and sheer talent.
Music director Nick Sula’s 15-piece orchestra lets you know from its bombastic, swoony, richly chorded opening notes what you’re in for – a story that’s dark, seductive and unapologetically melodramatic.
Sotirios Livaditis’ set of weathered wood (which could be repurposed for a remount of Kokandy’s Sweeney Todd) allows plenty of room for the cast to go full-tilt boogie, while still being intimate enough for the intensity of the smaller scenes. It also features a chandelier hovering above the stage like a tip of the hat to that other great gothic musical, The Phantom of the Opera.
Jekyll and Hyde comes with creepy, built-in context: It was published in 1886, shortly before Jack the Ripper began preying on women in Whitechapel. Edward Hyde’s serial killing spree, while fictional, unfolds during a time of true terror.
In all, Kokandy executes Jekyll and Hyde marvelously. As the score’s sultry, showstopping bawdyhouse banger demands: Bring on the (two-faced) men.
Jekyll and Hyde is a Kokandy Theatre Company production in cooperation with Broadway in Chicago. It is playing at the Broadway Playhouse through November 8. For tickets, see the BiC website. For information about other current Chicago shows, see our Recommendations or Theatre in Chicago.