Review: JEKYLL AND HYDE at Stirling Community Theatre

Reviewed by Ewart Shaw, Sunday 10th November 2024.

Robert Louis Stevenson’s horror story of science gone wrong gets a first-class production up at Stirling. Jekyll and Hyde provides a huge challenge to whoever takes on the title roles. Daniel Hamilton is outstanding as both the elegant and driven Doctor and the violent sociopath Mr Hyde, switching from one to the other in the blink of a terrified eye. Powerfully sung and acted they are unforgettable.

Frank Wildhorn, the composer, and Lesley Bricusse, the librettist, have impeccable music theatre credentials and have created a show steeped in Broadway tradition. Sometimes Bricusse’s rhyming couplets have you predicting how a line will end. Wildhorn’s capable music gives the cast ensembles, love ballads, a quartet, and a duet for two women singing of their love for the same men. This is my moment has become anthemic, and the raunchy brothel number, Bring on the men, has acquired a life of its own.

Ben Stefanoff has directed a clear vision of the story, sweeping from polite assemblies to sordid backstreets with speed, aided by a discreet stage crew. Kristin Stefanoff, with a superb pit band, is alert to every emotion. Choreography is another Stefanoffs contribution, that of Mark Stefanoff, with Emily-Jo Davidson, their adopted sister in art. The planning meetings must have been fantastic.

The two women in the lives of the main characters are created as opposites, one the virgin respectable daughter of the upper class, and the other, the phrase no better than she should be comes to mind. Wildhorn and Bricusse exploit this dichotomy. Emma Carew gives Emily Morris a fine opportunity for elegance and concern. She has a clear and engaging soprano voice with an impressive upper register. Lucy Harris is a gift for Sarah Hamilton, vocally voluptuous, a passionate presence on stage, and Hyde’s most tragic victim. Nick Equid is John Utterson, Jekyll’s best friend, with an impressive vocal presence, anchoring the quartet, as the voice of reasoned concern. The ensemble has great musical and dramatic ability, bumped off one by one by Mr Hyde. With great presence, Lachlan Steiger stands out as the enigmatic Spider and the aristocratic Simon Stride.

Stirling is not so far away on the freeway. You can get there by bus. I did.

As a side note, it’s not the first time Hamilton has played two roles in the one show. He was Fred Graham, and a very sexy Petruchio, in Kiss Me Kate.

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