<html><body><div style="color:#000; background-color:#fff; font-family:HelveticaNeue, Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial, Lucida Grande, sans-serif;font-size:16px"><div class="" align="center" style="text-align:center" id="yui_3_16_0_1_1441653598355_3505"><b id="yui_3_16_0_1_1441653598355_3507" class="">Momentous Mayhem<o:p id="yui_3_16_0_1_1441653598355_3509" class=""></o:p></b></div><div class="" align="center" style="text-align:center" id="yui_3_16_0_1_1441653598355_3511">By Tom Wachunas<o:p id="yui_3_16_0_1_1441653598355_3513" class=""></o:p></div><div class="" align="center" style="text-align:center" id="yui_3_16_0_1_1441653598355_3515"><o:p id="yui_3_16_0_1_1441653598355_3517" class=""> </o:p></div><div class="" id="yui_3_16_0_1_1441653598355_3519"> <b id="yui_3_16_0_1_1441653598355_3521" class=""><i id="yui_3_16_0_1_1441653598355_3523" class="">“…This
is the moment! Damn all the odds! This day, or never, I’ll sit forever with the
gods!...” </i></b>–lyrics by Leslie
Bricusse, for the musical <i id="yui_3_16_0_1_1441653598355_3525" class="">Jekyll & Hyde<o:p id="yui_3_16_0_1_1441653598355_3527" class=""></o:p></i></div><div class="" id="yui_3_16_0_1_1441653598355_3529"><i id="yui_3_16_0_1_1441653598355_3531" class=""> </i></div><div class="" id="yui_3_16_0_1_1441653598355_3533"> It’s not
unreasonable to think that the very idea of making Robert Louis Stevenson’s
1886 novella, <i id="yui_3_16_0_1_1441653598355_3535" class="">The Strange Case of Dr.
Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, </i>into a musical theatre work would seem destined from
the start to be little more than a predictable exercise in cheesy melodrama. On
its surface anyway, the 1997 musical (book and lyrics by Leslie Bricusse, music
by Frank Wildhorn) lives up to that potential. <o:p id="yui_3_16_0_1_1441653598355_3537" class=""></o:p></div><div class="" id="yui_3_16_0_1_1441653598355_3539"> The task of
transcending the musical adaptation’s rhetorical histrionics to offer something
of truly artful substance rests squarely with the director and cast. I’m
thrilled to report that in this Players Guild production, director/
choreographer Michael Lawrence Akers and his cast have accomplished the task in
memorably grand fashion. <o:p id="yui_3_16_0_1_1441653598355_3541" class=""></o:p></div><div class="" id="yui_3_16_0_1_1441653598355_3539"><br></div><div class="" id="yui_3_16_0_1_1441653598355_3543"> Set in 1888 London,
the iconic tale of Dr. Henry Jekyll and his diabolical alter-ego, Edward Hyde -
and Jekyll’s noble but futile mission to eradicate human evil – unfolds, or
rather explodes, on the Guild’s downstairs arena stage. It’s the physical
intimacy of that environment which very effectively foments an already turgid
narrative and magnifies the astonishing expressivity of the cast. <o:p id="yui_3_16_0_1_1441653598355_3545" class=""></o:p></div><div class="" id="yui_3_16_0_1_1441653598355_3543"><br></div><div class="" id="yui_3_16_0_1_1441653598355_3547"> In his dual role of
Jekyll and Hyde, Joe Haladey delivers an utterly electrifying and uncanny
rendering of impassioned light hopelessly fused with horrific darkness. As Jekyll,
his tenor vocalizations are heart-piercing in their tender or plaintive
sincerity, particularly in moments with his betrothed, Emma. In that role,
Amanda Medley shines with her crystalline soprano. The sweetness of her
character’s faith in her beloved Jekyll slowly fades to credible perplexity and
hurt as he increasingly gives himself over to his doomed experiment.</div><div class="" id="yui_3_16_0_1_1441653598355_3547"> <o:p id="yui_3_16_0_1_1441653598355_3549" class=""></o:p></div><div class="" id="yui_3_16_0_1_1441653598355_3551"> Haladey’s Edward
Hyde, as you might expect, is another matter altogether. From the gnarled face,
the fly-away tangled hair (as Jekyll, his hair is tied back in a ponytail), and
glaring eyes, to the gravel seemingly embedded in his lower-register voice, the
transformation is wholly startling. And nowhere is his classically articulated
struggle between good and evil more riveting than in the appropriately titled
song, “The Confrontation,” late in Act II. Haladey is a frightening, agile
embodiment of split personality. <o:p id="yui_3_16_0_1_1441653598355_3553" class=""></o:p></div><div class="" id="yui_3_16_0_1_1441653598355_3551"><br></div><div class="" id="yui_3_16_0_1_1441653598355_3555"> The alluring, silken muscularity of Heidi
Swinford’s singing voice is well-suited to playing the role of Lucy - a sultry,
hapless prostitute. Along with her companions draped in Victorian-era lingerie
(all the period costumes designed by George McCarty II are stunning), she
struts about a tavern with campy sensuality in “Bring On the Men.” Careful what
you wish for, Lucy.<o:p id="yui_3_16_0_1_1441653598355_3557" class=""></o:p></div><div class="" id="yui_3_16_0_1_1441653598355_3555"><br></div><div class="" id="yui_3_16_0_1_1441653598355_3503"> Not long after she meets Jekyll, and being
deeply moved by his goodness, the dichotomous tensions of the story become ever
more taut when Hyde seeks out Lucy’s “services,”
only to subject her to his numbing, carnal cruelties. Those are choreographed
with enough vicious authenticity in their duet, “Dangerous Game,” to raise an
audible grimace from the audience. Later in the proceedings, Swinford and
Medley join for one of the show’s most intensely poignant songs, “In His Eyes,”
wherein Lucy and Emma, each unbeknown to the other, voice their affections for
Jekyll with impressive bravura. As with
all the songs here, the singing is crisply enunciated in perfect balance with
the beautiful sonority of the off-stage live orchestra under the direction of
Steve Parsons.</div><div class="" id="yui_3_16_0_1_1441653598355_3503"> <o:p id="yui_3_16_0_1_1441653598355_3560" class=""></o:p></div><div class="" id="yui_3_16_0_1_1441653598355_3562"> Following each
instance when Hyde executes his bloody sentence on a prominent citizen, the panicked
townsfolk scurry on to the stage, holding up their newspapers’ front pages
about the latest homicide, frantically waving them like so many surrender
flags. The lavish ensemble number, “Murder, Murder,” becomes a desperate
societal chant, thunderous in its polyphonic harmonies.<o:p id="yui_3_16_0_1_1441653598355_3564" class=""></o:p></div><div class="" id="yui_3_16_0_1_1441653598355_3562"><br></div><div class="" id="yui_3_16_0_1_1441653598355_3566"> A haunting allegory of our depraved times?
Great theatre such as this can make it hard to tell the difference between art
and life. <o:p id="yui_3_16_0_1_1441653598355_3568" class=""></o:p></div><div class="" id="yui_3_16_0_1_1441653598355_3570"> <o:p id="yui_3_16_0_1_1441653598355_3572" class=""></o:p></div><div class="" id="yui_3_16_0_1_1441653598355_3574"> <i id="yui_3_16_0_1_1441653598355_3576" class="">Jekyll & Hyde – The Musical, </i>at
Players Guild Theatre’s W.G. Fry Theatre, 1001 Market Avenue N, Canton, Ohio.
THROUGH SEPTEMBER 20 / Fridays and Saturdays at 8:00 PM, Sundays at 2:00 PM /
Single Tickets $26, 17 and younger $19, Seniors $23 / BOX OFFICE (330)453-7617
/ <a href="http://www.playersguildtheatre.com/" id="yui_3_16_0_1_1441653598355_3578" class="">www.playersguildtheatre.com</a> <o:p id="yui_3_16_0_1_1441653598355_3580" class=""></o:p></div><div id="yui_3_16_0_1_1441653598355_3455">
</div><div class="" dir="ltr" id="yui_3_16_0_1_1441653598355_3582"> For other
commentaries by Tom Wachunas on the performing and visual arts in the greater
Canton area, please visit his blog, ARTWACH, at <a href="http://www.artwach.blogspot.com/" id="yui_3_16_0_1_1441653598355_3584" class="">www.artwach.blogspot.com</a> <o:p id="yui_3_16_0_1_1441653598355_3586" class=""></o:p></div></div></body></html>