Jekyll & Hyde New Tour

[RippedMan]

Posted: 5/14/14 at 11:40pm

So according to an audition notice, there is a Non-Union tour of Jekyll & Hyde going out in the fall. I'm assuming this will be the same version that was on Broadway last year? Considering it was pretty small-scale to being with, I would imagine they won't have to change much?

[CATSNYrevival]

Posted: 5/14/14 at 11:43pm

I hope it's not that version. It was terrible.

[ACL2006]

Posted: 5/14/14 at 11:54pm

do we really need this??

[g.d.e.l.g.i.]

Posted: 5/15/14 at 12:45am

Keep the production design except for the "injection machine" and projections in "Confrontation," slightly tweak the FCLO script and score and then use that (see below), and this could be a fairly interesting tour.

If I ran the store...

Act One
Prologue / I Need To Know . . . . . . . . . Jekyll
Façade . . . . . . . . . Ensemble
Jekyll's Plea . . . . . . . . . Jekyll & Board of Governors
Stride's Apology . . . . . . . . . Stride
Pursue The Truth / Façade (reprise) . . . . . . . . . Jekyll, Utterson, Ensemble
Emma's Reasons . . . . . . . . . Emma, Stride
I Must Go On . . . . . . . . . Jekyll, Emma
Take Me As I Am . . . . . . . . . Jekyll, Emma
Stride's Confession . . . . . . . . . Stride
Bring On The Men . . . . . . . . . Lucy & Red Rat Girls
Lucy Meets Jekyll . . . . . . . . . Lucy, Jekyll
The Girls Of The Night . . . . . . . . . Nellie, Lucy, Girls
Now There Is No Choice . . . . . . . . . Jekyll
This Is The Moment . . . . . . . . . Jekyll
Transformation . . . . . . . . . Jekyll/Hyde
Alive . . . . . . . . . Hyde
If You Only Knew . . . . . . . . . Emma
Sympathy, Tenderness . . . . . . . . . Lucy
Someone Like You . . . . . . . . . Lucy
Alive (reprise) . . . . . . . . . Hyde

Act Two
Murder, Murder . . . . . . . . . Ensemble
Once Upon A Dream . . . . . . . . . Emma
No One Knows Who I Am . . . . . . . . . Lucy
It's A Dangerous Game . . . . . . . . . Lucy, Hyde
Reflections (Jekyll's Soliloquy) . . . . . . . . . Jekyll
In His Eyes . . . . . . . . . Emma, Lucy
The Way Back . . . . . . . . . Jekyll
A New Life . . . . . . . . . Lucy
Sympathy, Tenderness (reprise) . . . . . . . . . Hyde
The World Has Gone Insane . . . . . . . . . Jekyll
Confrontation . . . . . . . . . Jekyll/Hyde
Façade (reprise) . . . . . . . . . Stride, Wedding Guests
Letting Go . . . . . . . . . Sir Danvers, Emma
The Wedding . . . . . . . . . Jekyll, Emma, Ensemble
Epilogue: Once Upon A Dream (reprise) . . . . . . . . . Emma, Jekyll & Lucy

[Mr Roxy]

Posted: 5/15/14 at 12:47am

We liked the original production but hated the recent revival.

[CATSNYrevival]

Posted: 5/15/14 at 12:51am

The original Broadway staging was perfect. (Minus Good 'N' Evil but you can't have everything.)

[beltingbaritone]

Posted: 5/15/14 at 12:55am

I love Jekyll & Hyde based on my first exposure to the show with the Anthony Warlow concept album. If I understand correctly, this is what they based the original pre-Broadway tour off of score-wise. From what I'm told, the original pre-Broadway tour had serious potential for the makings of a good show. But with every new incarnation, they just seem to be making it worse and worse. I really wish Wildhorn would ditch the heavy rock orchestrations, and go back to his beginnings with this show.

[musikman]

Posted: 5/15/14 at 1:04am

I can't say exactly what it will look like, but I can tell you that it will NOT be the same production that played on Broadway. The tour is going out from October till about March. Non-Union, and playing mostly mid-sized markets.

[Mister Matt]

Posted: 5/15/14 at 9:21am

The original Broadway staging was perfect.

The original pre-Broadway staging was perfect.

Everything about the original Broadway staging was silly and embarrassing. When I got over the shock of how badly they ruined it, I couldn't stop laughing. The London vacation slides, the downstage fire with the upstage "burning" man rolling around on the floor, the umbrella dance, the spandex devil boys, the bloodless death of Lucy and kicking her body onto the stage apron (then carting her off in a wheelbarrow), the fly-away This is the Moment set changes...I mean, there is a DVD that preserves exactly how imperfectly AWFUL the staging was (not to mention Hasselhoff's performance).

If I understand correctly, this is what they based the original pre-Broadway tour off of score-wise. From what I'm told, the original pre-Broadway tour had serious potential for the makings of a good show. But with every new incarnation, they just seem to be making it worse and worse.

I saw all the incarnations as the show traveled to Broadway and everything you said is true. The show peaked with the first pre-Broadway tour and it was almost identical to the Anthony Warlow CD (minus The World Has Gone Insane). It received strong reviews, very positive word of mouth, and the buzz was national. Then they couldn't leave well enough alone and it deteriorated from there into the mess that landed on Broadway, which killed the reputation the show had built. It could have been the next Phantom of the Opera, but egos got in the way.

[Elfuhbuh]

Posted: 5/15/14 at 9:58am

Good thing it's not a tour of the new Broadway version. That one already went on tour before it hit Broadway, and the clips I saw of that whole fiasco in general were not pretty. If this new production doesn't go for the "rock" style again, I'll be sure to try and catch it.

[mjohnson2]

Posted: 5/15/14 at 10:01am

NO!
Ugh. Why do people keep producing the god awful Frank Wildhorn musicals!? They never make any money and are all terrible!

[JoseLee_]

Posted: 5/15/14 at 11:24am

Some people just have it out for Frank Wildhorn and some people hate him just because it seems like every other theatre person hates him. If you don't like him and his work then don't ****ing waste your money buying a ticket. Simple as that. I loved the pre-broadway revival tour. It was my first time seeing a production of the show. I'm not as old enough as you complainers to have seen the original.

[RippedMan]

Posted: 5/15/14 at 11:27am

IMO, They need those big chorus numbers. Without that then the whole show is just a bland ballad after bland ballad.

[RippedMan]

Posted: 5/20/14 at 6:44pm

Anyone have any idea where it's playing? Can't find an itinerary.

[philly03]

Posted: 5/20/14 at 6:54pm

Original Jekyll had three US national tours (pre-Broadway, National, post-Broadway non-union)... It's a pretty popular road title - tho the last tour did not post the numbers expected.

Another director will get his hands on this and it will always have the potential to be good. Calhoun's trashy staging made the original Broadway version seem better than it was - tho it is dissed frequently (choreography aside). The "flying" sets had to happen because the backstage area was small for a "mega" musical like this -- was the direction in those scenes weak, sure?

Deborah Cox and Constantine Maroulis really put on a vocal pyrotechnic show. Great voices, hopefully they will give a big break to some non-union folks.

[philly03]

Posted: 5/20/14 at 7:04pm

Here is the new 30 second TV spot. This will be playing "smaller" (?) cities than the last one. It will be playing Erie, for example.

That staging is from the last non-union tour in 2002-ish (feat Guy LeMonnier).
30 second CD spot

[James885]

Posted: 5/20/14 at 7:22pm

Another director will get his hands on this and it will always have the potential to be good.

Agreed. Years ago, Robert Cuccioli directed a production up in Providence that was supposedly very good. I never saw it, but a friend of mine did she very much enjoyed it.

I agree that Calhoun's staging in the last revival was flawed, although there were moments that I liked. Mostly, I just really didn't care for the rock orchestrations.

I would be interested in catching this latest tour if it ends up coming near me.

Updated On: 5/20/14 at 07:22 PM

[bwayphreak234]

Posted: 5/20/14 at 7:39pm

I loved the last production. I'm curious about this new tour. Are there any cities yet?

[CATSNYrevival]

Posted: 5/20/14 at 7:43pm

If those are the actual scenery and costumes that they're using in that 30 sec clip I like it already.

[philly03]

Posted: 5/20/14 at 7:50pm

^^Those are the same sets/costumes as the second/third tours.

People always say "bring back the concept album orchestrations" -- People would complain they are too 80s (they are!).

I love the original Broadway orchestrations. The revival had a few better orchestrations ("Alive," "In His Eyes," "I Need to Know" stick out to me), some not. I'm sure it killed Kim to have to re-orchestrate (AGAIN) this show -- the revival's orchestrations were based on Billy Stein's and Jason Howland's work on the recording.

Should be a standard tour - I am forgetting who produced the non-equity tour, I'll have to go find some old programs. Perhaps Trioka -- which means it could very well be the same tour that ran in the early 00s.

[CATSNYrevival]

Posted: 5/20/14 at 9:13pm

I also prefer the original Broadway orchestration. It's the only one that made "Dangerous Game" sound less 80s.

Updated On: 5/21/14 at 09:13 PM

[James885]

Posted: 5/20/14 at 10:07pm

Philly, I agree with you about the revival's orchestrations for "Alive". Not only that, I vastly preferred "Alive" in the revival over the original Broadway production's truncated version of the song. I hated how Hyde basically only sang one verse and how we never saw his first encounter with Lucy.

The concept album's orchestrations are definitely 80's-ish, especially "The World Has Gone Insane", "Dangerous Game", and "The Girls of The Night", although it doesn't really bother me too much.

[philly03]

Posted: 5/20/14 at 11:01pm

The whole idea for the original Broadway production was mass-appeal, family friendly, etc. And surprisingly, its what probably kept the show running all those years in the first place. I like Calhoun's work generally, but the Jekyll revival just made the show seem pretty trashy in my opinion, particularly "Dangerous Game."

I think its interesting that Robin Phillips (the original B'way director) split up "Alive" (upstage you did see an encounter with Hyde/Lucy, but not as in your face/lyrics) but managed to keep a lot of the unnecessary, repetitive recitative songs ("Now There is No Choice," etc), and Calhoun did the opposite - no balance really found between the two.

Unfortunately, I don't see any "great" theatrical director taking a stab at this piece.

I still don't understand how, in the US full stagings, "Girls of the Night" only made it in one production. Love that song!

[beltingbaritone]

Posted: 5/21/14 at 1:14am

Personally, I prefer the 80s sounding orchestrations because, to my ear at least, they sort of resemble a Broadway score. There was far too many electric guitar in the most recent revival for my taste.

[bwayphreak234]

Posted: 5/21/14 at 1:22am

Say what you will be about the revival, but Kim Scharnberg's orchestrations were absolutely incredible.