Trivia / Jekyll & Hyde

• Acting for Two:
  • 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.
  • On Broadway, virtually everyone except the main cast (Jekyll, Emma, Lucy, Danvers, Utterson, Stride and the Bishop) plays multiple roles. Some play several.
• Cut Song: Oodles of them, though it isn't surprising given its numerous revisions. Several of the cut songs from the concept album have been reinstated in international productions, the US tour, and various Broadway revivals, and the versions available for school and community theatre productions include many of them as well.
  • "I Need To Know", Jekyll's reprise of "Once Upon A Dream", and several of Lucy's numbers often get the cut depending on which production you follow.
  • Simon Stride's solo, "Good and Evil," is either cut completely or given to Lucy.
  • "If He Only Knew" was cut, resurfaced as "If You Only Knew" on the 2006 resurrection album, then disappeared again.
  • Several love ballads for Jekyll and Lisa, including "Til Forever," "Waiting There Tonight," "Find My Way Again," and "The First Time" appeared on demos and nowhere else.
  • "We Still Have Time" has not appeared anywhere beyond the original 1987 concept album, and "Midnight!" never appeared beyond the 1986 demo version.
  • The UK Tour included a reprise of "In His Eyes" after "Confrontation" not found anywhere else.
  • "We Belong to the Night," where Hyde and Lucy have sex, was cut and replaced with "Dangerous Game."
  • "Stride's Sabotage", where Stride sabotaged Jekyll's chemicals with intent to poison or kill, was cut early on and never resurfaced.
  • "You Have To Go," sung between Jekyll and Lisa as he orders her out, was cut and replaced with dialogue.
• Executive Meddling: The '97 Broadway show made Lucy a singer instead of a prostitute, decomposited several characters into separate people, 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.
• Filmed Stage Production: The show was filmed on Broadway in 2000 with David Hasselhoff playing the title role, released on DVD in 2001 under the title Jekyll & Hyde: Direct from Broadway.
• Follow the Leader:
  • It probably wasn't written as an answer to Andrew Lloyd Webber's The Phantom of the Opera 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 Poor Man's Substitute.
  • The music style and romantic triangle also have a noticeable resemblance to Les Misérables.
  • This was parodied by Forbidden Broadway, which described the musical as "not quite as good (as Les Misérables or The Phantom of the Opera) but just as long and dimly lit" and calls its music "perfect for people who find Andrew Lloyd Webber's music too challenging!"
• Stunt Casting: The show took to hiring a lot of well-know musicians and/or actors in the title roles, most notably David Hasselhoff.
• What Could Have Been:
  • 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, sabotaged Jekyll's chemicals, and planted Jekyll's letter to Lucy for Lisa to find before being killed at the wedding as Hyde revealed his crimes.
  • 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 was slated to return in a 2016 revival that sticks closer to the original conception.
  • 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. Simon stole the letter before he got there and planted it for Lisa to find after the wedding.
  • Originally, Hyde was something of a Jack the Ripoff, the killings all being of streetwalkers, and the show's other 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.

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