On March 13th
I was subjected to the most Horrifying of experiences on stage. The new version
of Jekyll and Hyde starting Deborah Cox and Teal Wicks was destroyed by the
untalented and completely misdirected Constantine Maroulis. I have a rule of
thumb, anytime they put a stars name about the title of a show or movie the
producers now they have a pile of crap on their hands. In this case the
producers were capitalizing on the Constantine’s American Idol audience. In a
hopes to capture more of an audience producers were banking on Deborah Cox’s
ability to draw in the gay audience.
Let’s
start off my telling you what I liked about the show. Deborah Cox and Teal
Wicks were amazing. Both ladies were perfectly cast within their roles. The
sets, costumes and staging were well thought out and executed well. The use of
projection throughout the show for backdrops and visual effects added to the
show. I did not even mind the changes to the music, lyrics, and order of the songs. Truly a wonderful
production could have existed with a few changes.
Whoever,
thought to use Constantine was truly trying to capitalize on his American Idol
15 minutes of fame, and his Rock of Ages
experience. However, if Tom Cruise can star in the movie it isn’t like it takes
much talent. Constantine’s version of a spineless Henry Jekyll was disturbing.
How is the audience to believe that a man clutching a box for the first 15
minutes of the musical has the ability to use himself as a test subject. He whines
more than he asserts himself. It is truly disturbing how bad his acting
abilities are. When one hopes that Jekyll/Hyde would die before the end of act
one there is something wrong. In the original version of Jekyll and Hyde the confrontation
song one of the most difficult to perform. With the use of projectors and a
prerecorded Hyde this turned from a
vocal master piece to a visual marvel. While I wasn’t sure I was going to like
it at first It did turn out well if it wasn’t for the over synthesized voice.
However, I can understand why they over synthesize his voice as it was that
bad. One thing of the staging and sets that bothered me was the reduction to
the laboratory set. It was a chair with a few bubbling beakers with watcher and
lights. Nothing that would even suggest that it was more than a show piece. The
fact that tubes continued to fall out of his injection points means that it was
not even a well thought out set piece.
My
review in a nut shell… If you can go see it do,
if for no other reason than the ladies wonderful performances. However,
do not pay full prices. I am sure that this will have discounted tickets until
it closes shortly after arriving on Broadway. I would say wait till you can rent it at the dollar box,
but hopefully they will not put this horrid production on DVD/Blu-ray, they
already have it on CD and that is truly pitiful. However, if you would care to
see a better Jekyll/Hyde performer, just Netflix the David Hasselhoff’s DVD. This
version is more entertaining than
Constantine’s version, with two wonderfully talented ladies in the lead roles.
I
know I am opinionated, but seriously he needs to quit.
Wow i enjoyed your honest review of the show i hate when people review movie or shows and give fluff pices instead of the truth . So please continue to write these reviews and i will continue to read them and be a fan ps. Hope u do fashion and tv shows too
ReplyDeleteI am going next week. I was concerned with the fact that Constantine was starring, but now I know to go into realizing that it will be as good a performance as Uma Thurman as Rebecca Duvall as Marilyn Monroe in "Bombshell" on Smash on NBC or Sean Hayes as Terrance Falls as Vicomte Sebastien de Valmont in "Dangerous Liaisons" on Smash on NBC. (I have never used that many prepositions in one sentence). The nice thing is that on Smash everyone realizes how awful the "star" is.
ReplyDeleteKnowing that I can go into it with low expectations helps. So thank you for helping me have low expectations.
Donn, Please let us know what you think. I loved the show. I thought Constantine was spectacular.
ReplyDeleteIt is great to be opinionated but opinions differ. I really enjoyed this show and thought Constantine was great. The whole cast was first rate.
ReplyDeleteI would like to understand why you thought he was great in the role. I personally felt that he made Henry Jekyll seem like a spineless coward. The way that he played the role made it hard for me to believe that he would have never used himself as a test subject. An example of this was the fact that he clutched a parcel for the first two songs. He seemed to be more whiny then assertive. I also did not like how his voice was for the role. Then again, I do not like Michael Crawford’s version of the Phantom because it is whiny. I also felt that there was no chemistry between either of the leading ladies and him. So would anyone like to example elements of why they like him in the role? What made them enjoy this production so much? What elements do you think won you over?
ReplyDelete