Beverly Emmons 's lighting, which consistently provides the most ominous element of the production, floods a sterile white pool onto the darkened stage. Soon, the chipper accompaniment and quick pace of the music overcome the gloom. We are whisked through the hospital board's rejection of the doctor's proposal to extract the evil in a person through a chemical, and his engagement to the daughter of one of the hospital's governors. The transformations of Jekyll into Hyde hold little more fright or thrill than seeing someone inject himself in the arm with a large hypodermic needle. Hyde's serial murders become stage gimmicks, with an exaggerated squishing sound of a stabbing and an amplified crunching noise of a breaking neck.
Danger is dispelled by audience giggles.
The theatrical potential of transforming from an honorable citizen to an uninhibited animal is great. Then again, his starting material was weak. Wildhorn's music for Jekyll's decision to experiment on himself is downright perky. Wagner sings this bright piece in near darkness, on a street. Then a wall flips up, blinding the audience with a row of harsh lights as it swings into place the gold-framed mirror on the opposite side.