Jekyll & Hyde

Jekyll & Hyde … a musical performed by St Ambrose Players, at St Ambrose Halls 4 All, Moss Lane, Leyland on Friday, 10th May, 2024

Based on Robert Louis Stevenson’s classic gothic novella and featuring a thrilling score of pop rock hits from Multi-Grammy and Tony-Nominated Frank Wildhorn and double-Oscar and Grammy-Winning Leslie Bricusse, Jekyll & Hyde has mesmerized audiences throughout the world, featuring songs such as “Lost in the Darkness”, “Someone like You” and “This is the Moment”. This is an evocative tale of two men – one, a doctor, a passionate and romantic; the other, a terrifying madman – and two women – one, beautiful and trusting; the other, beautiful and trusting only in herself – both women in love with the same man and both unaware of his dark secret. A devoted man of science, Dr. Henry Jekyll is driven to find a chemical breakthrough that can solve mankind's most challenging medical and moral dilemma. Rebuffed by the powers that be, he decides to make himself the subject of his own experimental treatments, accidentally unleashing his inner demons along with the man that the world would come to know as Mr. Hyde. Be immersed in the myth and mystery of London’s fog-bound streets where love, betrayal and murder lurk at every chilling twist and turn.

St Ambrose ‘Halls 4 All’… was full to the rafters and the ‘buzz of anticipation’ was tangible. I noted as I entered fellow actors from many local societies here to support the show!  Social-Media had been awash pre show and that hype had continued after ‘opening night’ with wonderful and enthusiastic comments.  So, I took my seat, sat back and waited in eager anticipation to see it all for myself… I was not to be disappointed!

Production Team… Steven Barnes (Director) and Ryan Scott (Assistant Director) were the one chosen to guide us through the ‘fog filled’ streets of London.  They’d gathered a cast of twenty-four… some familiar faces stalwarts from St Ambrose and some new faces, all of who blended together to form a really balanced, well-rehearsed cast who as soon as those curtains parted were only too willing to give us their all!  Joe Martin (Musical Director) was the one chosen to guide us through this demanding score and provided the accompaniment for some iconic numbers including ‘Some One Like You’ and ‘This is the Moment’.  Jennie Barnes (Choreographer) did a great job with some simple yet effective movement and dance.  Loved the routine for ‘Façade’ and the opening to Act 2 with
the newspapers… creative and played, ever so well, to the different levels of ability… well done folks… great job!  

The Cast …  casting was great with no obvious weak links.  We had some great individual performances, but I felt the success of this show was due to ‘everyone’ pulling together, supporting each other and giving us their all and when that happens, there’s very little else you can ask!  But, after saying that, I do have a ‘showstealer’… MY Showstealer and this wasn’t the easiest of choices, there were two others who came very close! So, along with my showstealer, I’d like to give three ‘shout outs’ to three people who did a great job and pushed my showstealer all the way!  MY ‘showstealer’ is Kimberley Barker for her outstanding performance as ‘Lucy Harris’. This isn’t the easiest role to play, but get it right and it’s an ‘awesome part’ and Kimberley ‘nailed it’!  ‘Lucy’ is a prostitute working at ‘The Red Rat Pub’ who meets and has a relationship with both Jekyll and Hyde.  Kimberley just oozed class, confidence and made this part very much her own. Great characterisation, wonderful stage presence and a wonderful singing voice… loved her vocals in ‘Someone Like You’ … ‘It’s a New Life’ and her duet with ‘Emma’ … ‘In His Eyes’ was a highlight from Act 2 for me.  Be very proud Kimberley!  Close on Kimberleys heels for ‘showstealer’ were Paul Regan and Amy Christmas who took on the roles of ‘Jekyll and Hyde’ and ‘Emma Carew’ Jekyll’s fiancée respectively. This was Paul’s first major lead in a musical and what a challenge he'd taken on!  Again, not an easy role to play, in fact, I would suggest, it’s probably one of the hardest. The challenge is always to differentiate between Jekyll and Hyde and create two believable characters. I thought Paul did a great job with this role, loved his dying scene… but without sounding critical, I did feel he was more comfortable with his ‘Jekyll’ than his ‘Hyde’, but after saying that, there was a significant difference with both characterisations which he should be congratulated on. If I may, and it feels like I’m having a go at Paul, but let me assure you that’s as far from the truth as possible… but one thing that I felt could have assisted Paul with his ‘Hyde’ character was either the removal of ‘the hat’ or at least raising of its brim and allowing us to see his eyes!  In many reviews, especially to youth and school/college performers, where I’m asked to give constructive advice, one of the first pieces of advice I usually give is about the ‘EYES’. They say ‘The Eyes are the Window to the Soul’ and I’m a true believer in that statement. When you look into someone’s eyes you can tell what they are thinking, how they are feeling, so hide them or if you can’t see them (under a hat) or they’re closed… you lose so much information, so much emotion, so much passion … so the ‘Eyes always have it’… make sure we can see them!  Amy Christmas took on the role of Jekyll’s fiancée ‘Emma Carew’ … another that just oozed confidence and belief!  Great stage presence, great character created, worked ever so well with all cast members another blessed with a wonderful singing voice and her duet, as previously stated … ‘In His Eyes’ was a ’highlight’. Amy worked ever so well with her ‘father’ for this production … Frank Duxbury who played ‘Sir Danvers Carew’ is my final ‘shout out’!  Frank created this totally believable character, authoritative, loving father … Frank had a real presence on stage, an instant rapport with Emma and provided us with another great character!  The remaining cast members included: Adam G Smith playing ‘Gabriel John Utterson’; Kieron Smith played ‘Simon Strode’, Kathryn Green played ‘Lady Beaconsfield’; Will Perrin played ‘Bishop of Basingstoke’, Jonatham Holmes played ‘Lord Savage’; Robin Brown played ‘Sir Archibald Proops’, Nicola Preston played ‘Nellie’, Jack Vardy played ‘Spider’ (Understudy for Jekyll); Mac McCormack played ‘Poole’; Tony Stevens played ‘Bisset’… The Ensemble included Beth Moss; Anna Beaumont; Jamie South; Megan Torkington; Jessica Clarke; Lesley Duxbury; Lydia Elsden; Alison Griffiths-Barnes; Kathryn Townson and Mandy Stanton.

Staging/Set/Tech … simple staging was used throughout, loved the ‘inhouse’ painted ‘St Pauls Cathedral’ backdrop, really impressively painted/looked fabulous!  In charge of everything backstage was Debbie Sheehan (Stage Manager) with Graham Forrest, Paul Gregson, Martin Dempsey and Gordon Manley (Set/Design/Building) and Paul Gregson (Set Painting) … well done folks. Lighting/Sound … was in the safe/capable hands of Stephen Porter and Kerry Chippendale … lighting was simple yet effective.  Sound… St Ambrose Halls 4 All … isn’t the easiest place to get the sound levels/balance just right… and although it was better, it still had a few issues!  When you have a fabulous score, iconic songs with amazing lyrics, amazing singers, quality band, you just want everything to gel and be perfect, unfortunately that wasn’t the case. The balance between band/singers wasn’t all it should have been, at times the band was too loud overpowering the singers… we then got a bit of feedback (which I’m told is due to the ‘personal mikes’ being ‘pushed’ above the levels they should so the singer can be heard) … it was a shame really because even with the problems we had some fabulous vocals from some fabulous singers, singing some iconic songs.  I know for a fact that St Ambrose are working continually to try and address these problems… I’m sure their continued efforts will improve things!

The Band … was led by Joe Martin (Musical Director), Malcolm Maclean on Keys 2, Keith Sagar on Horn, Jacqui Bennett on Flute, Jill Jackson on Violin, Brent Forbes on Bass and Geoff Brain on Percussion.
 
Costumes/Props … as always here at St Ambrose the wardrobe and the props are always first rate as was the case again.  

If the reactions and the applause that greeted the finale and during the performance from the societies loyal supporters were anything to go by… then this was another successful production for St Ambrose. Well done to one and all be ever so proud. Thanks again for inviting my wife and I to your production… it’s always a pleasure to come to St Ambrose, already looking forward to playing a game of ‘Trivial Pursuits’ with you all in August!

Stay safe, keep well…
‘Stronger Together’.

Jim Briscoe
NODA NW
District 6 Rep

 

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