The musical ‘Jekyll & Hyde’ will open at Music Box Playhouse in Swoyersville on March 14 and continue with weekend performances through March 30.
Courtesy of Music Box Playhouse
The cast rehearses a dance number to accompany the song ‘Alive!’ inthe musical ‘Jekyll & Hyde.’
Courtesy of Music Box Playhouse
Ask Brad Vile whether it’s more enjoyable to play Dr. Jekyll or Mr. Hyde, and the actor from West Pittston answers with a devilish grin.
“Hyde is more fun,” he said before a recent rehearsal at Music Box Playhouse in Swoyersville. “He’s just unbridled. It’s complete hedonism. It’s all about his self-satisfaction, and he does not care.”
If you attend any of the performances of the musical “Jekyll & Hyde,” set for March 14 through March 30 at Music Box, you’ll see that once Hyde starts killing people who have annoyed him, he sees no need to stop.
“When Hyde starts his murder spree, there’s stabbing, there’s bludgeoning, there’s choking with pearls, a bit of everything,” said director Mike Wawrzynek, who would have relished appearing as Jekyll/Hyde himself, if not for a recent back injury that would have interfered with the movement and choreography he wanted the show to have.
“A lot of people are familiar with the live recorded version with David Hasselhoff,” Wawrzynek said. “I wanted something more movement-based … kinetic … tumultuous, to match the inner turmoil.”
Helping him reach that goal has been choreographer Kelly Graham, whose wildly energetic dance number for the song “Alive!” can be viewed on the Music Box Facebook page.
“I was so lucky to get to work with Kelly,” Wawrzynek said. “I love to work with the production team. They’re all visionaries, looking at an old musical with new eyes.”
Part of the freshness of this production is a brooding color scheme that might make you think of the rainy, windswept moors of “Wuthering Heights.”
As costumer Eyanna Wawrzynek, who is married to the director, explained, “you’ll see a lot of blues and purples and grays” that will match the atmosphere, along with thunder and lightning special effects.
Eyanna Wawrzynek also has the role of Lucy, a character who loves both the respectable Dr. Jekyll and the brutal Mr. Hyde.
“She wants affection,” Eyanna Wawrzynek said. “She’s looking for love in all the wrong places. Dr. Jekyll is gentle, but still, he’s going to marry someone else, so he’s not for her. Mr. Hyde is gruff and abusive. So neither is good for her.”
And, let’s not forget, in this musical based on the work of Robert L0uis Stevenson, Jekyll and Hyde are two sides of the same person, symbolizing a war that likely goes on inside most people.
“A lot of times it feels like Hyde is doing things just to punish Jekyll,” Mike Wawrzynek said, comparing Jekyll’s situation, when Hyde is manifested, to being paralyzed and trapped inside the violent creature. “It’s like he can see through the eyes, but he can’t do anything.”
Comparing the show to a soap opera, Eyanna Wawrzynek said “it has something for everyone — romance, murder. It’s the only musical like this, that covers so much.”
And since it’s a musical, you’ll find a score of power ballads from multi-Grammy- and Tony-nominated Frank Wildhorn and double-Oscar- and Grammy-winning Leslie Bricusse.
“The music is the star of the show,” Vile said. “With iconic songs and soaring orchestration, it really is the star.”
To whet your appetite, here are a few lines from the lyrics:
“There’s a beast at the door, and he’s wild and free. But we don’t let him in, cause we don’t want to see, what is lurking right behind the facade.”
Performances are March 14-30 with show times at 8 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays and 3 p.m. Sundays. Doors open 2 hours before curtain and a meal is served 90 minutes before curtain. For tickets, call 570-283-2195 or visit musicbox.ticketleap.com
