The Stage Door presents “Jekyll & Hyde”

By Kerry Perry

Thirteen years ago this fall, the musical “Jekyll & Hyde” opened to southern Utah audiences as part of Dixie College’s theater program. This musical was double cast with Ryan Norton and Skyler Scott in the title role. The show and cast were later invited to the Kennedy Center American College Theatre Festival to compete, with Scott taking away a Best Actor award. “Jekyll & Hyde” was under the direction of Varlo Davenport at the time.

Fast forward to this fall, when “Jekyll & Hyde” will yet again grace a St. George stage with returning director Davenport and a few of the original cast, Taylor Williams and Aaron Meadows. Dixie High School drama teacher Josh Scott will also be reunited with Davenport as he takes on the role of artistic director as well as set and lighting designer for the show.

“In 2004, when I first directed this show for Dixie State University, the theatrical offerings in the area were a lot more limited than they are now,” Davenport said. “Tuacahn, St. George Musical Theater, and the local high schools were largely producing well known conventional titles, but no one was really looking at newer material. Despite the popularity and success of that 2004 production and several others that followed, there was significant resistance on campus to contemporary material and an insistence that those kinds of shows were not what St. George wanted to see. So I have been very heartened to watch the success of The Stage Door as they have gone out of their way to produce contemporary musicals, ‘Miss Saigon,’ ‘The Addams Family,’ ‘The Producers,’ and others and along the way prove beyond a doubt that there is an audience with a desire for new works, and a willingness to embrace the unconventional. In doing so, The Stage Door is providing sorely needed artistic leadership in the community. So, despite some serious time constraints, when I was approached with the opportunity to direct this production, I had to accept. I wanted to do what I could to help this company succeed.”

For us, it was a no-brainer to ask Varlo to direct the show. We remember it from the first go around, and it was fabulous.

“Jekyll & Hyde” is the epic struggle between good and evil and is based on the classic story by Robert Louis Stevenson. It’s an evocative tale of two men — one a doctor, passionate and romantic; the other a terrifying madman — and two women — one beautiful and trusting, the other beautiful but trusting only herself. Both women are in love with the same man, and both are unaware of his dark secret.

A devoted man of science, Dr. Henry Jekyll is driven to find a chemical breakthrough that can solve some of mankind’s most challenging medical dilemmas. Rebuffed by the powers that be, he decides to make himself the subject of his own experimental treatments, accidentally unleashing his inner demons along with the man that the world would come to know as Mr. Hyde. The musical adaptation has a thrilling score of pop/rock hits from Grammy and Tony nominee Frank Wildhorn and Oscar and Grammy winner Leslie Bricusse. “Jekyll & Hyde” has mesmerized audiences the world over.

The Stage Door will present “Jekyll & Hyde” at The Electric Theater at 68 E Tabernacle St. in St. George. The show opened Oct. 5 and runs Thursdays through Saturdays at 7:30 p.m. with a 2 p.m. matinee Oct. 7, 14, and 21. Tickets can be purchased now at thestagedoortheater.com and are also available at Showtix. Phone orders are accepted at (435) 656-4407.

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