On Stage Tomorrow - "Jekyll & Hyde"

The Herald-Dispatch has some great coverage of the upcoming musical Jekyll & Hyde, including an excellent photo gallery that you can see right here.

There's also an excellent story by my pal Dave Lavender, which you can read right here:

Everyone has a little Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde in them.

Just look at director Eddie Harbert's production schedule that teeter totters back and forth between the syrupy sweetness of shows such as White Christmas and Legally Blonde to shows that shall we say cut a little closer to the bone of the human condition like, Sweeney Todd and Jekyll and Hyde.

And this my friends, this time of the waning moon, darkening hours, dismal rain and a world boiling with trouble, is no time for Legally Blonde.

In the creaky auditorium of the old Huntington High School, ARTS pulls back the curtains on Jekyll and Hyde: The Musical.

The musical, which ran on Broadway from 1997 to 2001, runs at 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday, Oct. 14-15, and 2:30 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 16, at The Renaissance Center Auditorium, 900 8th St., Huntington.

Tickets are $15 for show only and $30 for dinner and a show. Dinner will be served Friday and Saturday only and will begin at 6:30 p.m. The show also runs Oct. 21-23 as well.

The musical stars Ryan Hardiman, Andrea Parkins, Brittany Adkins, Kennie Bass, Terry Salyer, Betty Craddock and many others.

It is directed by Eddie Harbert, who is directing his 40th local show. Choreography is by Coni Anthony, who is doing her 19th show with Harbert. Chris Bowling is the musical director. The assistant director is Marissa Miller and the director's assistant is Carol Scarberry.

Call 304-733-ARTS for tickets and information or go online at www.733arts.org.

"This is my year of death and dying and murder. I killed off 47 people in my last show," said Harbert with a laugh talking about his directing of Titanic: The Musical.

Harbert said this show, based on the Robert Louis Stevenson novella, "The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde," is rated PG-13, since there are eight murders on stage including six in the opening number of Act Two.

"It is physical, and it's gruesome, and it's violent because it is all very relevant to the story, especially the last murder," Harbert said.

Harbert said he would have not done the show without an ace as Jekyll and Hyde - Huntington's own Ryan Hardiman, the veteran stage rocker who's been in everything from Rocky Horror Picture Show and Beauty and the Beast to Hedwig and the Angry Inch.

"We got Ryan, and then Brittany Adkins has done the show playing Emma so we were lucky that they came into the show," Harbert said. "It's very dark and scary. This is my fourth time working with Ryan, and this is the first time I've been frightened by him. I think the audience is really going to like the music. It's haunting and it's the kind of story that sucks you in, especially this time of year. When you think of Halloween you think of top hats and cloaks and London. That is the set, a lot of dark and black, and the lighting is very moody.

Perhaps because of the sheer physicality of the show and the complexity of the music, this is the first time for the show to be produced in either Huntington and Charleston.

Hardiman, who played Jekyll and Hyde 10 years ago in Ashland, said he lunged at the chance to get to go further into the role of the conflicted Jekyll and Hyde with a couple of folks from that show - Chris Bowling, the music director played percussion in the orchestra then and Jen Naglee, was in ensembles as a Red Rat Girl for both shows.

"I think that in 10 years that hopefully I have grown as an actor, and attempting this role has made me open up to new depths in the roles, and I am looking at Hyde as less of a caricature and more of what a lot of us may be like if we didn't have any morals or consequences involved in our action," Hardiman said. "Even though Hyde is thought of as a classic monster. What Hyde really is, is the unbridled side of Jekyll unleashed without boundaries. I am trying to keep that in mind when I am playing the roles, and in doing that I have to give little hints of what Jekyll is tempted to do."

Hardiman said the role of Jekyll and Hyde is difficult because there is no costume change, no makeup addition, just one man on stage twisting and fighting a losing battle with the inner pressure of his demons.

"There is a lot of strenuous movement and constant action taking place - even when you are completely still Jekyll is very frustrated and internalizing that pressure and it comes through," he said. "You can feel it through the whole show. Vocally, it is extremely challenging because I have to convey Hyde vocally, and the score is extremely demanding and after you do the Hyde voice for a while it is hard to keep a good singing voice so I have had to go all out and build up my tolerance."

That battle hits a pinnacle in "The Confrontation," a song in which Hardiman shifts back and forth between the conflicting voices in his head.

"When Jekyll turns into Hyde it is out of control and that is one thing that is really hard for an actor to do is to let go of all their inhibitions and just be ugly on stage," Hardiman said. "You can't have any shame playing a role like this. The transformation takes place and you throw yourself into convulsions and there is no makeup involved, the hair comes down and he lets everything go."

While Jekyll and Hyde is the marquee role, Hardiman and Harbert said they were extremely lucky to be working with Adkins, who recently graduated from Liberty University and who will be doing a professional acting tour later this year, as well as veteran singer, Andrea Parkins, who folks will know in the region from the Celtic group, Blackbirds and Thrushes.

"Andrea and Brittany were both godsends to the production," Hardiman said. "Those roles are extremely hard to cast as well and they carry a lot of the show. The show is called 'Jekyll and Hyde' but the score and the story involves the two female leads as much as they involve Jekyll and Hyde."

Hardiman said he can't hardly wait to start the two weekend run of the play.

"It's hard to believe it's never been done in Charleston and Huntington," Hardiman said. "It's such a beautiful show and I am not sure if it's maybe because it is such a challenging show, and such a hard show to cast, maybe that has stood in the way of it being produced, but Eddie certainly has brought the right people together and has a great vision for the show. We're all excited to unleash it on Huntington."

If You Go:

WHAT: ARTS (Arts Resources for The Tri-State) presents Jekyll & Hyde: The Musical

WHERE: Renaissance Center Auditorium, 900 8th St., Huntington

WHEN: 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday and 2:30 p.m. Sunday, as well as Oct. 21-23

HOW MUCH: Tickets are $15 for show only and $30 for dinner and a show. Dinner will be served Friday and Saturday only and will begin at 6:30 p.m.

GET TICKETS: Call 304-733-ARTS for tickets and info or go online at www.733arts.org