Jekyll and Hyde 25th Anniversary Concert, Hamer Hall, Arts Centre Melbourne, Friday October 25th 2019
"Jekyll and Hyde" was presented by Concertworks at the Hamer Hall, Arts Centre Melbourne and we attended the Australian professional premiere on Friday October 25th 2019.
For those new to my blog I write about the holistic experience of attending the theatre. I buy my own tickets. So if you want a re-telling of the story please refer to the links for further information or for further insights. Note, that I may provide different links for repeated main words or phrases. I write for my memories of what I have seen, and is more of a stream of consciousness.
"Jekyll and Hyde" was presented by Concertworks at the Hamer Hall, Arts Centre Melbourne for the Australian professional premiere. Finally we got to see Anthony Warlow and the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra in the 25th Anniversary concert of the release of the iconic “Definitive Album” - “The Complete Work Jekyll and Hyde” with Music by Frank Wildhorn and, the Book and Lyrics by Leslie Bricusse.
The atmosphere at Hamer Hall was electric before the show. I have not felt this much atmosphere at a Melbourne show for years. The last two shows that I saw that had this much pre-show buzz were “The Prom” and “Beetlejuice” on Broadway in August 2019.
Long queues of people waited patiently to purchase the souvenir programme for this professional Australian Premiere event. The programme sadly did not include the song list. Nor did it discuss the history of some of the changes made from the concept album, to the Broadway runs. Check out Wikipedia for some notes on the changes that have been made along the way.
Anthony Warlow was superb but cracked a few notes during “This Is The Moment”. My heart swelled as the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra played the underscore and introduction to the song. I had tears rolling down my face during this song. To finally hear him sing this in the context of the show live was worth every cent. The ovation and cheering at the end was long and well deserved.
Jemma Rix as Lucy was sensational and did a terrific job of the role. I was saddened that one of my favourite songs has been deleted since the original recording ‘No One Knows Who I Am”.
Lisa played by Amanda Lea LaVergue with pinched notes and forced “you” words. She sang better in Act Two.
The first ensemble number in Act One had an awful sound quality with thumping and scratchy noises. This was not up to scratch for a $130 ticket in C Reserve.
The lighting was very clunky and very haphazard in its approach. Sometimes the lighting created terrific atmospheres and then seemed incongruent for the next scene as the mottled lighting for a ball scene continued. The church wedding lighting was appropriate. The final duet between himself as both Jekyll and Hyde had lighting that nearly worked. It was more hit and miss and seemed like a technical dress rehearsal. Tomorrow night in Melbourne should be smoother - I hope!
The Melbourne Symphony Orchestra led by Vanessa Scammell was brilliant playing the Frank Wildhorn score.
Director, Chris Parker used semi staging in this concert production with a desk, chaise lounge, stairs and a raised walkway. Five chairs and a speaker’s podium were also used. Minimal props were used effectively.
A single Victorian light hovered overhead on stage left near the staircase.
The ensemble singing was terrific though the microphones let down the quality of sound reproduction. In Act Two the sound quality for the ensemble was a lot better, but could still be improved.
There were some terrific performances by Martin Crewes as John Utterson and Peter Coleman-Wright as Sir Danvers Carew in particular.
The duo in Act Two between Lucy and Lisa left me numb as I know how rich this song should sound emotionally. Lucy was better than Lisa in capturing the emotion. I felt it lacked the emotional connection as I have cried many times listening to the recordings.
The deadly tease by Mr Hyde with the conductor, Vanessa Scammel, drew lots of laughs from the audience that added some light relief from the tension.
If you thought it was Anthony Warlow who would star in this production, then his quote on page ten of the souvenir programme reveals what we were in store for: “I said I’d love for Jemma to play that role. I think she deserves to at least have a go at it.”
Wow - Jemma Rix was amazing as Lucy. Even better than in “Wicked”. She also received lots of cheers and applause.
Some of the minor characters provided adequate and superficial performances though were vocally secure.
I hope someone offers Anthony Warlow mega-dollars to film his performance with Jemma Rix as Lucy, Martin Crewes as John Utterson and Peter Coleman-Wright as Sir Danvers Carew.
Jekyll and Hyde obtained an 8.5/10.
Note: We are so fortunate to have seen Anthony Warlow play Sweeney Todd and Dr Jekyll/Mr Hyde this year. An interesting note is both roles of Sweeney Todd and Dr Jekyll have a major love interest character named Lucy who gets killed by the titular roles.
It should have been a 10/10 but the lighting and sound microphones let it down.
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