Certainly Sergio Candido delivers a magnificent portrayal of the title character(s), literature's ultimate split personality, and his vocalizing is worthy of an ovation — particularly during the "Confrontation" number near the climax as both characters clash. This is a challenging role for which professional talent is demanded, and Candido's performance throbs with, alternately, intellectual and animalistic passion.
But this singular triumph is offset by an overzealous orchestra (playing in the balcony but still drowning out much of the singing and spoken dialogue), a setting composed of two columns and a few black curtains, a sound system gone rogue and unsettling backstage noise.
Stevenson created "Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde" in 1886 and it's been reborn many times on stage and screen ever since with bloody violence rivaling that of "Sweeney Todd." The central character, a doctor researching man's capacity for good and evil, is rejected for funding by his hospital's board of governors — so he experiments on himself and, as his lethal alter ego Edward Hyde, proceeds to gleefully dispatch each of the dissenting board members.
Candido has elicited several splendid performances from his supporting cast. Abby Bolin gives a heartfelt account of Jekyll's sweet, concerned fiancee, Bradley Miller is a staunch ally as her father and one of the doctor's few true friends, and John Utterson is solid as Jekyll's lawyer and confidante, while Vanessa Cedeno excels as the sultry streetwalker who sees the human side of the vicious Hyde.
