Search - Frank Wildhorn, Leslie Bricusse, Anthony Warlow :: Jekyll & Hyde - The Gothic Musical Thriller (1994 Concept Cast)

Far better than the Broadway version

Scout | VA USA | 05/31/2004

(5 out of 5 stars)

"My introduction to Frank Wildhorn's Jekyll & Hyde was the Broadway cast recording. It was impressive enough with so many terrific songs to motivate me to see the stage play on Broadway. That was something of a disappointment, as the plot seemed a bit incongruous and poorly conceived. Finally hearing the concept recording that resulted in the original Houston play explained a lot. Plainly the producers had to condense and truncate in order to get financing to get the play to Broadway, making numerous compromises along the way. The original concept recording contains enough to indicate that the earlier version of the play was much better organized and well explained, and much closer to Stevenson's story as well.An additional pleasant surprise was the heightened richness in Wildhorn's original concept recording. Many of the songs have more subtlety and imagination in the orchestrations, and some have extra verses, as well as several songs entirely absent from the Broadway production. The pacing is much better, slowing down some of the songs, and in comparison revealing the Broadway version as rushed to fit it into a time frame. Only the tale end of In His Eyes seems to have been improved for Broadway.My conclusion is that the original version of the stage play must be superior to the Broadway effort. I will keep my eyes open to find it being performed somewhere so that I can finally see it as Wildhorn and company intended it to be.While I liked the Broadway cast recording a great deal, this version is even better. I heartily recommend it to all aficionados of Jekyll & Hyde."

Warlow is Power!!!!!

RJStuart | Australia | 09/12/2000

(5 out of 5 stars)

"'Jekyll & Hyde' is, in my opinion, Frank Wildhorn's best work to date. But you wouldn't know it if you listened to the 1997 Original Broadway Cast Recording. The first 'Jekyll & Hyde' recording I ever owned was the Second Concept Cast (1994) starring Anthony Warlow. The composer, Wildhorn, and the lyricist, Leslie Bricusse, wrote an absolutely powerful score in this album; it was perfect. Then they messed with perfection and created the repetitive, and even monotonous, Broadway Cast score. If the creators of "Jekyll & Hyde" wanted to entertain and appeal to the audience, then the score on the Second Concept Cast recording should have been used! Based on the novel by Robert Louis Stevenson, 'Jekyll & Hyde' follows the story of a doctor's, Henry Jekyll, struggle to create a world without evil, but when using himself as an experiment he transforms into the epitomy of evil itself, Edward Hyde, and embarks on a creating chaos within London, whilst Jekyll does all he can to stop the villain. Wildhorn's music assists in creating a sombre, mysterious atmosphere, which fascinates the dark side of humanity. The dual role of Jekyll and Hyde is a difficult one to play well. Anthony Warlow's, who I have been a fan of for years, portrayal of the eccentric Doctor Jekyll and the villainous Mr Hyde is distinct and brilliantly realistic. Warlow's voice is just so powerful no one can compare. Colm Wilkinson's, who I am also a big fan of, portrayal of Jekyll and Hyde in the First Concept Cast (1990) was good, but not outstanding or even powerful. Robert Cuccioli's voice is not powerful or emotive, at all, and I was very disappointed with his performance on the Original Broadway Cast, simply because his voice is not good. Warlow stands out over all of them. In his solo performances as Jekyll, the listeners are subject to his beautiful high baritone voice which provides some strength of character for the character especially in; "I Need To Know", "Streak of Madness", "The World Has Gone Insane", "No One Must Ever Know", "Once Upon A Dream" and the brilliant "This is the Moment", Warlow coerces the listeners to pity his character, and thus appeals to their emotions and senses. The song "This is the Moment" is truly awe-inspiring! As Hyde, Warlow's voice becomes deeper and husky, which serves to terrify the audience, as well as create significant distinctions between the characters of Jekyll and Hyde. The solo song, "Alive" sung by Hyde, is truly horrific, yet powerful simultaneously. Warlow performs splendidly and I can't see anyone else in the lead roles. Two outstanding performances in which both Jekyll and Hyde are involved are the "Transformation" and "Confrontation". Warlow's transformation is very realistic and, consequently, listeners feel anguish for Jekyll as he suffers during the transformation. But it is the "Confrontation" that I believe is one of the most powerful songs of the musical. In this duet between Jekyll and Hyde, the listeners are subject to sudden transformations between Jekyll and Hyde as Jekyll tries to escape the evil presence of Hyde, and Hyde attempts to prevent him from escaping: "I'll live inside you forever! With Satan, himself, by my side, I know that now and forever, They'll never be able to seperate Jekyll from Hyde!" Linda Eder plays the character of Lucy; a prostitute who Hyde is infatuated with (so much so that he ends up slitting her throat). Linda Eder gives a stellar performance, as she has done in all three of the "Jekyll & Hyde" recordings. Eder is another cast member with a powerful voice. Her portrayal of Lucy is very well done. Her solo performances; "Someone Like You", as well as her duets with Lisa (Jekyll's love interest; played by Carolee Carmello) and Hyde are very emotive; "In His Eyes", and "It's A Dangerous Game". Carolee Carmello performs the character of Lisa well enough, but Christiane Noll in the Original Broadway Cast portrays the character better, in my opinion. Although Carmello's duets of "Letting Go", "In His Eyes", "Take Me As I Am", and her solo performance of "Once Upon A Dream", are beautiful. The Full Company numbers; "Facade", "Murder, Murder!" and "Board of Governors" are all very powerful, especially the latter. This is the "Jekyll & Hyde" recording to buy. Anthony Warlow's performance in the lead roles are absolutely astounding. The amount of passion he puts into the works of Wildhorn and Bricusse is intense, and his voice and the emotion he conveys to listeners is just so powerful. Warlow is Power!!!!!"

This recording WILL "live on forever"!!

J. N. Osborne | USA | 03/23/2000

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I have to admit-- getting ahold of this recording was no easy task, and at first I had to settle for the Broadway recording to tide me over till this one came. Mind you, the Broadway recording is good in its own right-- but this one is simply... phenomenal! It's been said before, I know, but Anthony Warlow's performance on this recording is AMAZING! If anyone has created the dual role of Jekyll & Hyde, it's him... just listen to "Transformation" or "Confrontation" to hear the stark contrast! Admittedly, one or two songs are skip-worthy... but what amazes me is that they're songs that were KEPT in the broadway version, while some of the best ones ("The World Has Gone Insane" and "I Need to Know".. both give me chills..) were cut. Linda Eder sounds as good on this recording as on the Broadway one, and Carolee Carmello's performance is solid as well-- she has some particularly good acting in the final number on disc two, despite the lack of much singing in that one. If I were to rave about all my favorite songs and what I like about them, this review would probably be several pages long-- so I'll simply say that there's not a fault to be found on this CD set.. Admittedly, Anthony Warlow's performance is what truly carries this album, but that's to be expected, given his amazing talent. I intend to invest in some of his solo CDs ASAP now... but this one will be sitting in my CD player for a long, long time to come!"