Who even knew that there is a Broadway musical based on the 1886 novella The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson? Well, get ready because this Broadway hit is coming to the Sutter Theater Center for the Arts. The 1990 musical was originally conceived for the stage by Frank Wildhorn and Steve Cuden. It features music by Frank Wildhorn, a book by Leslie Bricusse and lyrics by all of them. After a world premiere run in Houston, Texas, the musical embarked on a national tour of the United States prior to its Broadway debut in 1997.
Presented through a special arrangement with Music Theatre International, “Jekyll & Hyde, the Musical” will be performed over three weekends beginning September 27 and 28 at 7pm with a matinee at 2pm on September 29. There will be 7pm performances on October 4, 5, 11, and 12 and two additional matinee performances on October 6 and 13. The production is a collaboration between Convergence Theatre Company and Yuba Sutter Arts & Culture. All performances will be held at its Sutter Theater Center for the Arts, 754 Plumas Street in Yuba City. Doors will open 30 minutes before each performance. All tickets are $20 and can be purchased at yubasutterarts.org.
The production is Co-Directed by Corinna Hayes and Tanda Phelps with Music Direction by Cassie Fifield. The all-star cast includes Ben Fifield as Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, Cassie Fifield as Lucy Harris – Hyde’s mistress, Mariah Larios as Emma Carew – Dr. Jekyll’s fiancé, Matt DeMeritt as Gabriel John Utterson – Jekyll’s lawyer and friend, Larry Hearn as Sir Danvers Carew – Emma’s father, Kyle Waterbury as Simon Stride – Jekyll’s rival for Emma’s affections, Betsy Johnson as Lady Beaconsfield, Aiden Fox Hayes as Poole and Lord Glossop, James Ball, The Bishop of Basingstoke, Grayson Hayes as Spider and Lord Savage, Miles Small as Sir Archibald Proops, Lydia Crist as Nellie, Caleb Schauer as Bisset and Asaiah Dangerfield as the priest.
Frank Wildhorn is also known for his musicals “Dracula, the Musical,” “The Count of Monte Cristo,” and “The Scarlet Pimpernel.” He is a composer of pop tunes including “Where Do Broken Hearts Go,” an international number one hit for Whitney Houston in 1988. Leslie Bricusse was best known for writing the music and lyrics for the films Doctor Dolittle, Goodbye, Mr. Chips, Scrooge, Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory, Tom and Jerry: The Movie and the James Bond film songs “Goldfinger” and “You Only Live Twice.”
The original story of The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde follows Gabriel John Utterson, a London-based legal practitioner who investigates a series of strange occurrences between his old friend, Dr. Henry Jekyll, and a murderous criminal named Edward Hyde. It is one of the most famous pieces of English literature, and is considered to be a defining book of the gothic horror genre. The novella has also had a sizeable impact on popular culture, with the phrase “Jekyll and Hyde” being used in vernacular to refer to people with an outwardly good but sometimes shockingly evil nature. The production will be a first for the Yuba-Sutter community so don’t miss it.