Marti Pellow's show of two halves in Jekyll and Hyde the musical (From Bradford Telegraph and Argus)
Get involved: send your pictures, video, news and views by texting TANEWS to 80360, or email
Marti Pellow's show of two halves in Jekyll and Hyde the musical
11:38pm Monday 11th April 2011 in Reviews By Hannah Baker
Marti Pellow and Sabrina Carter who star in Jekyll and Hyde
Jekyll and Hyde The Musical The Alhambra
Just as Doctor Jekyll is unable to reconcile the good and evil sides of his personality, I’m unable to make up my mind about this musical.
Opening last night at Bradford’s Alhambra as part of a UK-wide tour, Jekyll and Hyde sees former Wet Wet Wet front man Marti Pellow play the obsessive scientist of Robert Louis Stevenson’s classic gothic novella whose determination to experiment with the human mind sees him transformed into a sadistic mad man.
After a relatively slow start, the pace of the production picked up in the second half as Hyde wreaked havoc across Victorian London, killing many of those who had scorned his ideas for scientific research. While the murders were almost comic to begin with, the show became increasingly sinister as it neared its end.
Pellow brilliantly portrayed the duality of Dr Jekyll’s mind with his performance building to an intense climax as the doctor tried to banish his alter ego as he argued with Hyde in a mirror.
There were also strong performances from Sarah Earnshaw, who starred as Dr Jekyll’s fiancee Emma Carew, and Sabrina Carter, who played the object of Hyde’s affections, a prostitute called Lucy.
I’m a big fan of musicals but somehow none of the songs seemed to have the potential to stand alone from the show and become memorable in their own right, as those in timeless productions like Cats and the Phantom of the Opera have done.
The most remarkable aspect of the show was its set, which seamlessly saw the stage transformed from the streets of London to Dr Jekyll’s laboratory and from a seedy brothel to the inside of a Victorian mansion.
It was good to see the Alhambra so packed and the show received a rapturous reception with several members of the audience rising to their feet at the end in a standing ovation.
Runs until Saturday.
