I mention this because this afternoon (still with the headache) we went to to Cabrillo Music Theatre (cmt_news) in Thousand Oaks to see “Jekyll & Hyde: The Musical”, the musical retelling of Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson. This version used the Fullerton Civic Light Opera version of the script (which improved upon the original Broadway script), and featured book & lyrics by Leslie Bricusse and music by Frank Wildhorn. This was the first show of our “Bloody Weekend”: tomorrow we see the deconstructed “Sweeney Todd” at the Ahmanson.
“Jekyll & Hyde: The Musical” tells the story of Dr. Henry Jekyll, a doctor in the Violent Ward at St. Judes Hospital in London. His goal is to find a medical answer to evil and violence in men. He has developed a formula that he believes will extract the evil, and wants to begin human experimentation. His fiancee’s father (Danvers Carew) helps him present his case to the members of the hospital board, but they deny his request. At the party celebrating his engagement to Emma Carew, the board members and society make it clear that they consider him mad. Jekyll decides the only way to prove his theory is to experiment on himself. Before he does, he celebrates his upcoming nuputals at a East-End Bar, the Red Rat, where he befriends one of the “ladies”, Lucy Harris. Of course, we all know what happens once Jekyll experiments on himself: he becomes the evil Edward Hyde. As Hyde, he has regular trysts with Lucy, and starts murdering the board members one by one. As Jekyll, he realizes he must take the antidote and destroy Hyde, but this isn’t so easy. He also trys to warn Lucy to leave London. Neither attempt is successful, and the show ends with even more death. This is a dark and bloody show–the body count may even be higher than Sweeney Todd.
Cabrillo, who produced this version, is know for their regular schedule of popular musicals. Most of the time they do good work; occasionally they are spectacular, and less occasionally, just average. This show was spectacular. I think a lot of the credit for this excellent goes to Nick DeGruccio, the Ovation Award winning director of the show. His approach to staging this musical brought out the best in the talented performers, and elevated the potentially ponderous music to a something enjoyable. He should win another Ovation Award for this work, but alas the Ovation voters tend not to trudge out to Thousand Oaks.
The cast was also spectacular. Leading the performance in the dual role of Henry Jekyll and Edward Hyde was Robert Townsend (
The two female leads were also quite strong. The “girl of the night”, Lucy Harris, was played by Lulu Lloyd (
The remainder of the cast was also very strong, but as they tended not to have individual numbers they stood out less. The remainder of the cast consisted of Aaron Phillips (John Utterson, Jekyll’s lawyer); Douglas Crawford (
Were there weaknesses in the show? Yes, but I think these are not the fault of Cabrillo. The music was typical Wildhorn, which can be overly romantic and ponderous at times, and the lyrics by Leslie Bricusse were at times weak. The music is very romantic and lush, but is not one of your killer scores. I much prefer Wildhorn’s score for The Scarlet Pimpernel.
Turning to the technical credits: The musical director was Steven Applegate, who also conducted the excellent 17-member orchestra. Roger Castellano provided the musical staging. Lighting design was by Steven Young, with sound design by Jonathan Burke. Hair and wigs were by Karen Zanki, wardrobe supervision by Christin Gibson, and prop design by T. Theresa Scarano. The sets and costumes were from the Fullerton CLO. Production stage manger was the ever capable Lindsay Martens assisted by Abby Martin Stein. Pyrotechnics were by J.S. Marsh Special Effects Inc.. CMT is under the artistic direction of Lewis Wilkenfeld.
At this production, Cabrillo announced their 2008-2009 season, and the first production of the 2009-2010 season. The 2008-2009 season will be “The King and I” (October 17-26, 2008); “Breaking Up Is Hard To Do” [The Neal Sedaka Musical] (January 9-18, 2009); “42nd Street” (March 27-April 5 2009); and “Cats” (July 24-August 2 2009). The first production of the 2009-2010 season will be “Dreamgirls” in October 2009.
So what’s next on our theatre calendar? Tomorrow we have the 2nd half of our “Bloody Weekend”: “Sweeney Todd” at the Ahmanson @ 1pm. The following weekend (3/22) is “W;t” at REP East. On Sat 4/5 @ 8pm we have the premier of the new musical “Mask” at the Pasadena Playhouse. The following day we’re going to the Sunday matinee performance of “The Who’s Tommy” at Cal State Northridge. I still need to figure out productions for late April and early May — possibilities include “Pippin” at East West Players (5/8-6/8) and “The Immigrant” at Colony Theatre (4/2-5/4). On 5/31, we’re scheduled to see “A Chorus Line” @ 2pm at the Ahmanson, and “Of Mice and Men” @ 8pm at the Pasadena Playhouse. We’re likely to change those due to the performance of “Grease” at Nobel MS on 5/29, 5/30, and 5/31. That takes us to the end of 2Q08.
