Jekyll and Hyde

This post will probably cement my place in Hell. See, I feel that I shouldn't knock high school theatre, particularly high school theatre presented at the nation's premiere arts camp, but Jekyll and Hyde was not the most amazing thing I've ever seen. I think that most of the blame can be placed on the musical itself - the cast did the best they could with what they were given, which was super repetitive and very dramatic. Worse than that, though, was the sound, also not the kids' fault. The mics were just way too loud, and I was about 23 rows from the stage. The singers were good, but they were so loud it was painful... but when a soloist was singing over the whole chorus, you couldn't hear the soloist. Bad.

I hate to say it, but the worst part of the show for me was the Jekyll/Hyde difference. The kid who played J/H had long hair - which is fine. It worked. But his "Jekyll" hair was in a ponytail, and his "Hyde" hair was down. So it was good guy ponytail, bad guy hair down. There were times when he would undergo a "transformation" on stage by pulling his hair out of the ponytail. Also, when he was Hyde, he wore a cloak. No cloak as Jekyll. I don't blame the kid - he was very, very very good. I don't blame the director, either - he's brilliant. I just think it's the nature of the show - how else can you show an instantaneous transformation? But it was comical. "Oh, no, he's wearing a cloak and his hair's down! Run for your lives!"

Jekyll and Hyde - C+