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Wednesday, July 24, 2002

By Christopher Rawson, Post-Gazette Drama Critic

What evil lurks in the hearts of men.

	Kevin Gray stars as Henry Jekyll in "Jekyll & Hyde," which opened at the Benedum Center last night. (Matt Polk photo) Jekyll & Hyde WHERE: Pittsburgh CLO at Benedum Center, Downtown WHEN: 8 p.m. through Friday; 2 and 8 p.m. Saturday; 2 and 7:30 p.m. Sunday TICKETS: $12-$44; 412-456-6666

That's not a question, just a fact -- one beloved of fiction, at least. We don't need the Shadow (or Shakespeare or Mary Shelley) to tell us there's a lot of murk in there and we encounter it at our peril.

Robert Louis Stevenson certainly knew, and in "The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde" (1886) he created one of the great pop myths of personal duality. Converted to a musical by Frank Wildhorn (score) and Leslie Bricusse (book and lyrics) and further edited for the stage by director Robert Cuccioli, "Jekyll & Hyde" opened at the Benedum last night to put the murky, gothic heart in a largely sunny CLO season.

It's a worthy successor to the previous "Guys and Dolls" -- psychological thriller, where the blood runs red, following wiseguy romance, where the criminality is all in fun. Although "Jekyll & Hyde" is hardly a great musical, it's good fun, too, with some heart-stopping moments set to a flood of pop-operatic musical melodrama.

The show starts with simplistic hokum about serving humanity by separating the evil side of man from the good. But we indulge Dr. Jekyll, because his savior complex derives from the plight of his insane father and he is sympathetically bedeviled by the selfish malevolence of official late Victorian society.

Ultimately, the story turns into the personal trauma of a man torn between his two natures, which, in the powerful simplicity of gothic horror, we might as well call evil and good.

The CLO result is compelling largely because of Cuccioli's crisp storytelling and the powerfully creepy Hyde created by Kevin Gray. They keep the focus on Jekyll's and Hyde's growing psychological torment, allowing us to laugh or shudder at the horror as we choose.

	Gray portrays the evil Edward Hyde in the Pittsburgh CLO's production of "Jekyll and Hyde." (Matt Polk, photo)

Wildhorn supplies several fine songs, from love anthems ("Take Me As I Am") to various degrees of longing ("Once Upon a Dream," "In His Eyes," "A New Life") to evil exulting ("Alive") to tragic despair (throughout). In the ensemble numbers, the lyrics are sometimes funny enough that I wish I could distinguish more of them.

But in melodrama, atmosphere is often more important than words -- witness the power of James Noone's spare but moody sets and some fiery pyrotechnics.

I can't enough praise Cuccioli's and choreographer Tony Stevens' staging, which is lightly fluid, pushing forward but taking time when needed. You could call it cinematic, but I just call it good stage direction.

Gray affects the central transformations with thrilling economy. His Hyde is more compelling than his Jekyll -- the devil always gets the best roles.

Cuccioli's editing results in more balance between good angel Emma and fallen angel Lucy than in Wildhorn's earlier versions. Kate Suber's Emma and Michelle Dawson's Lucy each shine with their own light, and their voices soar.

Solid support come from Dennis Parlato as Jekyll's friend, Steve Pudenz as Emma's father and Jeff Howell as Poole.

All in all, the CLO shows it can let down its hair and take an entertainingly lurid trip to the London of Jack the Ripper, who's the real inspiration for these dark doings -- evil indeed.