The Ann Arbor Civic Theatre will be opening its 2002-2003 season with a performance of the Tony Award-nominated musical “Jekyll and Hyde.” The show opens tomorrow and will be running all weekend right on central campus at the Lydia Mendelssohn Theatre behind the Michigan League.
- Paul Wong
“Jekyll and Hyde” is based on the 1886 novella, “The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde,” written by Robert Louis Stevenson. In the musical version, the story takes place at the turn of the century in London. Dr. Henry Jekyll is a brilliant scientist distraught over the death of his father. In this state of mind, Dr. Jekyll believes that he has discovered the existence of two states within every human psyche, one good and one evil, which are constantly in contention for control.
Appearing before the board of Governors at St. Jude Hospital where he works, Jekyll presents them with his theory and asks for a subject on which to test his formula. The Governors, however, turn him down and scorn his hypothesis. In desperation, Jekyll tests the formula on himself, but his experiment backfires, and Jekyll gives life to his alter ego Edward Hyde. Hyde is an evil and murderous being, who lets loose a reign of terror on unsuspecting London, fighting Jekyll for sole procession of the body.
There is also a subplot in “Jekyll and Hyde” that revolves around the shadowy difference between love and lust. There are two female figures in the play that seem to illustrate the two halves of Jekyll. Emma Carrew is Jekyll’s fianc