CLO finds the right balance in 'Jekyll & Hyde'
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Kevin Gray does double duty as the title characters in Pittsburgh CLO's "Jekyll & Hyde," at the Benedum through June 26.
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The atmospheric thriller "Jekyll & Hyde" re-emerges from the dark shadows of the Pittsburgh CLO seasons' past to once again explore man's struggle with the duality of good and evil within, and to deliver a few powerhouse solos by talented performers.
The Dr. Henry Jekyll we first meet is obsessed with casting out the demons that drive men mad -- good men, like his father. Possessed by his quest, he's not quite the good doctor who had come to be beloved by his loyal friend Utterson and his fiance Emma, but not yet the man he's going to be.
Even the best of motives can go awry. "Use your gifts wisely," his future father-in-law Sir Danvers warns him early on.
Where: Pittsburgh CLO at the Benedum Center, Downtown.
When: Through June 26. 8 p.m. Tuesday-Friday; 2 and 8 p.m. Saturday; and 2 p.m. Sunday, with a 7:30 p.m. performance June 19.
Tickets: $26.75-$50.75; pittsburghclo.org or 412-456-6666.
Good advice, unheeded. Kevin Gray's Jekyll is a man on a mission, arrogant in his certainty and angered by hypocritical hospital board members who would keep him from experimenting on a human subject. They speak of ethics and morals that they fail to practice, which pushes Jekyll to take drastic measures.
Mr. Gray reprises the dual role he performed at CLO in 2002, directed again by Robert Cuccioli, Broadway's original "J&H" star. It's a brutally demanding role, and Mr. Gray wrestles bravely from beginning to end with Frank Wildhorn's swelling, soaring score. The hair trick -- ponytail, good Henry Jekyll; hair loose, bad Edward Hyde -- gets old fast, but Mr. Gray shows great range from the doctor's struggle to hold on to his deteriorating humanity to the creepy, gravel-voiced menace of Mr. Hyde.
There's a lot of melodrama and just the occasional chuckle in the book by Leslie Bricusse, adapted from Robert Louis Stevenson's 19th-century classic, "The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde." The musical was conceived by Mr. Wildhorn with Pittsburgher Steve Cuden and further tinkered with by Mr. Cuccioli from several scripts.
It's quite an undertaking for the lead, and in this production Mr. Gray is aided enormously by the women who love Dr. Jekyll but fall victim emotionally and physically to his darker side.
First Published June 16, 2011 12:00 am
