Jekyll & Hyde - The Musical (1997 Original Broadway Cast)
The one thing you can say aboutFrank Wildhornis that he doesn't give up. LikeThe Scarlet Pimpernel,Jekyll & Hyde, based on R. L. Stevenson'sclassic depictionof a split personality run amok, went through several rewrites and casts--each show is a work-in-neverending-progress for Wildhorn. This recording immortalizes the show's classic Broadway cast: Robert Cuccioli as Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, Linda Eder as Lucy, and Christiane Noll as Emma. Appropriately for the show, Wildhorn's score is both tempestuously romantic and unabashedly ominous. While Cuccioli handles both parts with elan, Wildhorn saved his best songs for Lucy and Emma, confirming that he really is the contemporary master of the power ballad.--Elisabeth Vincentelli