Momentous Mayhem By Tom Wachunas “…Thisis the moment! Damn all the odds! This day, or never, I’ll sit forever with thegods!...” –lyrics by LeslieBricusse, for the musical Jekyll & Hyde It’s notunreasonable to think that the very idea of making Robert Louis Stevenson’s1886 novella, The Strange Case of Dr.Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, into a musical theatre work would seem destined fromthe start to be little more than a predictable exercise in cheesy melodrama. Onits surface anyway, the 1997 musical (book and lyrics by Leslie Bricusse, musicby Frank Wildhorn) lives up to that potential. The task oftranscending the musical adaptation’s rhetorical histrionics to offer somethingof truly artful substance rests squarely with the director and cast. I’mthrilled to report that in this Players Guild production, director/choreographer Michael Lawrence Akers and his cast have accomplished the task inmemorably grand fashion. 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, orrather explodes, on the Guild’s downstairs arena stage. It’s the physicalintimacy of that environment which very effectively foments an already turgidnarrative and magnifies the astonishing expressivity of the cast. In his dual role ofJekyll and Hyde, Joe Haladey delivers an utterly electrifying and uncannyrendering of impassioned light hopelessly fused with horrific darkness. As Jekyll,his tenor vocalizations are heart-piercing in their tender or plaintivesincerity, particularly in moments with his betrothed, Emma. In that role,Amanda Medley shines with her crystalline soprano. The sweetness of hercharacter’s faith in her beloved Jekyll slowly fades to credible perplexity andhurt as he increasingly gives himself over to his doomed experiment. Haladey’s EdwardHyde, 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), andglaring eyes, to the gravel seemingly embedded in his lower-register voice, thetransformation is wholly startling. And nowhere is his classically articulatedstruggle between good and evil more riveting than in the appropriately titledsong, “The Confrontation,” late in Act II. Haladey is a frightening, agileembodiment of split personality. The alluring, silken muscularity of HeidiSwinford’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), shestruts about a tavern with campy sensuality in “Bring On the Men.” Careful whatyou wish for, Lucy. Not long after she meets Jekyll, and beingdeeply moved by his goodness, the dichotomous tensions of the story become evermore taut when Hyde seeks out Lucy’s “services,”only to subject her to his numbing, carnal cruelties. Those are choreographedwith enough vicious authenticity in their duet, “Dangerous Game,” to raise anaudible grimace from the audience. Later in the proceedings, Swinford andMedley 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 forJekyll with impressive bravura. As withall the songs here, the singing is crisply enunciated in perfect balance withthe beautiful sonority of the off-stage live orchestra under the direction ofSteve Parsons. Following eachinstance when Hyde executes his bloody sentence on a prominent citizen, the panickedtownsfolk scurry on to the stage, holding up their newspapers’ front pagesabout the latest homicide, frantically waving them like so many surrenderflags. The lavish ensemble number, “Murder, Murder,” becomes a desperatesocietal chant, thunderous in its polyphonic harmonies. A haunting allegory of our depraved times?Great theatre such as this can make it hard to tell the difference between artand life. Jekyll & Hyde – The Musical, atPlayers 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/ www.playersguildtheatre.com For othercommentaries by Tom Wachunas on the performing and visual arts in the greaterCanton area, please visit his blog, ARTWACH, at www.artwach.blogspot.com