The Kennedy Center Welcomes JEKYLL & HYDE, Now thru 11/25

The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts presents Jekyll & Hyde tonight, November 20–25, 2012 in the Kennedy Center Opera House. After four years on Broadway and multiple world-wide tours, this dark and dangerous love story returns in a new production that includes all the classic songs "This is the Moment," "A New Life," and "Someone Like You."

Conceived for the stage by Tony and Grammy Award nominee Frank Wildhorn and Steve Cuden, the four-time Tony nominated musical Jekyll & Hyde features a book & lyrics by two-time Oscar winner, Emmy winner and four-time Tony Award nominee Leslie Bricusse, music by Frank Wildhorn, and is directed and choreographed by Tony Award nominee Jeff Calhoun. Starring in the dual title role of Dr. Henry Jekyll and Edward Hyde, American Idol star and Tony Award nominee Constantine Maroulis injects new life into the classic tale of good and evil, along with Grammy nominated R&B artist Deborah Cox. The show, currently on a 25-week national tour, will return to Broadway at the Richard Rodgers Theatre in April 2013. The press opening night will be on Tuesday, November 20 at 7:30 p.m.

The musical is based on the acclaimed novella The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson, about a London doctor who accidentally unleashes his evil alternate personality in his quest to cure his father's mental illness.

The cast includes Constantine Maroulis (Rock of Ages, American Idol, RENT) in the dual title role of Dr. Henry Jekyll and Edward Hyde, Deborah Cox (Aida) as Lucy, Teal Wicks (Wicked) as Emma Carew, Laird Mackintosh (Mary Poppins) as John Utterson, and Richard White (Most Happy Fella) as Sir Danvers Carew; as well as David Benoit, Stephen Mitchell Brown, Jerry Christakos, Dana Costello, Wendy Fox, Brian Gallagher, Sean Jenness, Mel Johnson Jr., James Judy, Ashley Loren, Courtney Markowitz, Aaron Ramey, Emmy Raver-Lampman, Rob Richardson, Blair Ross, Doug Storm, Haley Swindal, and Jason Wooten.

The creative team includes scenic and costume design by Tobin Ost, lighting design by Jeff Croiter, sound design by Ken Travis, and projection design by Daniel Brodie.

Jekyll & Hyde was first introduced as a concept album in 1990 featuring Colm Wilkinson and Linda Eder, and shortly thereafter had its world premiere at the Alley Theatre in Houston starring Chuck Wagner as Jekyll/Hyde and Linda Eder as Lucy. Following a 30-city National Tour, the Broadway production opened at The Plymouth Theatre on April 28, 1997 and earned four Tony Award nominations. Directed by Robin Phillips and choreographed by Joey Pizzi, the production starred Robert Cuccioli, who earned a Tony nomination as well as Joseph Jefferson, Outer Critics Circle and Drama Desk Awards for his portrayal of Jekyll/ Hyde, Linda Eder, who won the Theatre World Award for her Broadway debut, as Lucy, and Christianne Noll as Emma Carew. After 1,543 performances, and featuring such replacements as Sebastian Bach and David Hasselhoff in the title role, the production played its final performance on January 7, 2001. 

The show's popularity catapulted well beyond the Great White Way and, within the subsequent decade of its world premiere, Jekyll & Hyde became an international sensation with multiple tours in the U.K. and North America, and over a dozen recordings from Germany, Spain, Austria, Hungary, Sweden, the Czech Republic, Japan, and South Korea, among others.

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