History Trivia / JekyllAndHyde

* StuntCasting: The show took to hiring a lot of well-know musicians and/or actors in the title roles.

** The 1994 Complete Works Gothic Musical Thriller Album had Anthony Warlow as Jekyll and Hyde, but he was unable to play the part on the start of the First National Tour. Robert Cuccioli succeeded him, and continued the role to Broadway. Warlow is slated to return in a 2016 revival that sticks closer to the original conception.

* ActingForTwo: Traditionally, the same actor plays Jekyll and Hyde. Justified since Hyde is supposed to be a second personality. The role of Spider/Simon Stride is also often doubled with another role, usually one of the Board of Governors, whilst his associate Guinevere/Nellie is frequently the same actress who plays Lady Beaconsfield.

* ExecutiveMeddling: The '97 Broadway show made Lucy a singer instead of a prostitute and cut, trimmed, and replaced many of the songs from previous iterations, most notably giving Lucy "Good 'n' Evil" and adding ''four'' reprises of "Facade." Many of these changes were walked back in later productions to hew closer to the original intent of the show.

* ExecutiveMeddling: The '97 Broadway show made Lucy a singer instead of a prostitute and cut, trimmed, and replaced many of the songs from previous iterations, most notably giving Lucy 'Good 'n' Evil" and adding ''four'' reprises of "Facade." Many of these changes were walked back in later productions to hew closer to the original intent of the show.

* FollowTheLeader: It probably wasn't written as an answer to Creator/AndrewLloydWebber's ''Theatre/ThePhantomOfTheOpera'' but that show's popularity, combined with its unavailability to theater companies, undoubtedly helped this horror-romance musical get the attention it did and as many productions as it has. It's the show equivalent of PoorMansSubstitute.

** Simon Stride had a bigger part in the concept albums; he vowed revenge on Jekyll for stealing Lisa, was revealed as the benefactor of the Dregs, got his own song explaining his philosophy, then sabotaged Jekyll's chemicals before being killed at the wedding as Hyde reveals his crimes.

** Originally Utterson met Hyde ''after'' Lucy's murder, with Jekyll entreating him to find the letter he'd given her so the police wouldn't find it.

* CutSong: The show is notorious for it, though it isn't surprising given its numerous revisions. "I Need To Know", the reprise to "Once Upon A Dream", and several of Lucy's numbers often get the cut depending on which production you follow.
** Several of the cut songs from the concept album have been reinstated in international productions, the US tour, and various Boadway revivals, and the versions available for school and community theatre productions include many of them as well.

* FollowTheLeader: It probably wasn't written as an answer to Creator/AndrewLloydWebber's ''ThePhantomOfTheOpera'' but that show's popularity, combined with its unavailability to theater companies, undoubtedly helped this horror-romance musical get the attention it did and as many productions as it has. It's the show equivalent of PoorMansSubstitute.
** The music style and romantic triangle also had a noticeable resemblance to ''Theatre/LesMiserables''.

** The 1994 Complete Works Gothic Musical Thriller Album had Anthony Warlow as Jekyll and Hyde, but was unable to play the part on the start of the First National Tour. Robert Cuccioli succeeded him, and continued the role to Broadway. Warlow is slated to return in a 2016 revival that sticks closer to the original conception.

* TruerToTheText: Later Broadway revivals hew closer to the show's original vision, which was darker and edgier than the 1997 version.

* ActingForTwo: In all of its incarnations, the same actor plays Jekyll and Hyde. Justified since Hyde is supposed to be a second personality. The role of Spider is also often doubled with another role, usually one of the Board of Governors, whilst his associate Guinevere/Nellie is frequently the same actress who plays Lady Beaconsfield.

** In high school productions, however, the role is often split. Singing two parts at once is difficult, after all.

** "We Still Have Time" has not appeared ''anywhere'' beyond the original 1987 concept album, and 'Midnight!" never appeared beyond the 1986 demo version.
* FollowTheLeader: It probably wasn't written as an answer to AndrewLloydWebber's ''ThePhantomOfTheOpera'' but that show's popularity, combined with its unavailability to theater companies, undoubtedly helped this horror-romance musical get the attention it did and as many productions as it has. It's the show equivalent of PoorMansSubstitute.

* CutSong: The tumultuous history of the musical production bears some mentioning if only for the sheer amount of {{Cut Song}}s it generated. The first iteration of the show was played in Houston in 1990 and an album of that show was released featuring Colm Wilkinson and Linda Eder as the leads. It was popular enough that some of the songs became breakout hits ("This Is The Moment", for example, was played on the American broadcast of the 1992 Winter Olympics) and that people with more money than sense jumped on the show and [[ExecutiveMeddling pulled it in "14 different directions"]], eventually miring the production in legal tangles and a shaky attempt in a national tour. The writers decided to produce a new concept album in 1994 of the fully rewritten show which at least structurally resembled what would be the final form of the musical. It went through more rounds of cuts and rewrites before it finally premiered on Broadway in 1997. It ran for over 1500 shows, making it the longest running show at the Plymoth Theatre where it played, but still managed to lose money. It also had lackluster reviews but largely carried through on the backs of its extremely devoted fanbase, called "Jekkies".
* StuntCasting: As cited above, the show took to hiring a lot of well-know musicians and/or actors in the title role (s).
* WhatCouldHaveBeen: The 1994 Complete Works Gothic Musical Thriller Album had Anthony Warlow as Jekyll and Hyde, but was unable to play the part on the start of the First National Tour. Robert Cuccioli succeeded him, and continued the role to Broadway. Warlow later had a desire to reprise the role, but upon seeing the chances the musical had taken during the tour, opted out in a case of TheyChangedItNowItSucks.
** Oh boy, since the show was conceived in 1986 there have been so many changes. Originally, Hyde was something of a JackTheRipoff, the killings all being of streetwalkers, and the show's villain was the unfortunately named William Scheisse (quite literally "Bill Shit", who later became Simon Stride) who had the song "Good and Evil" to explain the duality of man to his streetwalkers. Later, this character was split into two, one of whom became The Spider.

* HeyItsThatGuy: Sir Danvers in the Broadway DVD is [[Disney/TheGreatMouseDetective Basil of Baker Street]]. And then there's Creator/DavidHasselhoff ...

** Oh boy, since the show was conceived in 1986 there have been so many changes. Originally, Hyde was something of a JackTheRipoff , the killings all being of streetwalkers, and the show's villain was the unfortunately named William Scheisse (quite literally "Bill Shit", who later became Simon Stride) who had the song "Good and Evil" to explain the duality of man to his streetwalkers. Later, this character was split into two, one of whom became The Spider.

* ActingForTwo: In all of its incarnations, the same actor plays Jekyll and Hyde. Justified since Hyde is supposed to be a second personality. The role of Spider is also often doubled with another role, usually one of the Board of Governors.

* WhatCouldHaveBeen: The 1994 Complete Works Gothic Musical Thriller Album had Anthony Warlow as Jekyll and Hyde, but was unable to play the part on the start of the First National Tour. Robert Cuccioli succeeded him, and continued the role to Broadway. Warlow later had a desire to reprise the role, but upon seeing the chances the musical had taken during the tour, opted out in a case of TheyChangedItNowItSucks.

* HeyItsThatGuy: Sir Danvers in the Broadway DVD is [[TheGreatMouseDetective Basil of Baker Street]]. And then there's DavidHasselhoff ...