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Jekyll & Hyde - The Musical

Jekyll & Hyde - The Musical

List Price: $19.95
Your Price: $15.96
Product Info Reviews

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Rating: 2 stars
Summary: Pity the rest of the cast
Review: The cast (except for David Hasselhoff) was superb. And the filming of the musical is the best I've seen for a live production. Especially memorable were the songs, "In His Eyes", "A New Life", and "When This All Began". But Mr. Hasselhoff, for all of his 'star quality' was a profound disappointment. "This is the Moment" should be a show-stopper, but his performance in this great musical scene was mediocre at best--really it was embarrassingly bad. Mr. Hassellhoff proved that he can neither sing nor act on the stage. What is it about producers of Broadway shows that induces them to cast 'stars' who can't sing? Also, I found the screening edition warning (Property of Goodtimes...), repeatedly displayed on the video, to be ridiculous. It truly damaged the video presentation. All in all, this video was a true disappointment.

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: Polar opposites?
Review: Perhaps it's fitting that for the musical "Jekyll & Hyde", which concerns itself with the duality of man, that the quality of the production is at times superb, and at times atrocious.

This is, without a doubt, the most well-filmed Broadway stage musical I have ever seen. It also contains some of the poorest performance as well. Unfortunately, "10 high-definition cameras" cannot make up for the fact that David Hasselhoff is lousy in the title role. His singing is weak, his acting is weaker. This is the man who was responsible for closing the show's New York run; what more need be said?

It's too bad the producers of this DVD didn't choose to film the cast which toured the US two years ago. Not only did that cast feature the superb Chuck Wagner as the title characters, but it was far more well staged. It also included songs that had previously been cut from the Broadway incarnation; "I Need to Know", "Bring on the Men", and others.

As this DVD stands, it is all too obviously a last-ditch moneymaking scheme by the producers of the show, which closed shortly after this was filmed. Good production values, good supporting cast; but 85% of the time, the stage is occupied by Hasselhoff. Which means that 85% of the time, I'm thinking about turning the volume down and listening to either Anthony Warlow or Bob Cuccioli instead.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: David is not the Star
Review: The movie is good, but they could have picked a better lead then David Hasselhoff. His singing is annoying and his acting is dull and boring. HIs co-stars outshine him by far. Coleen Sexton is my favorite performer in this show. True her voice isn't as good as Linda Eders but it is still strong and powerful and her acting is amazing. The rest of the cast is great but she really stood out to me. So get this if you want a good movie, but don't expect much from David because in my opinion he stinks.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: GREAT PRODUCTION with a horrible star
Review: Whoever cast David Hasselhoff in the lead role(s) of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde is single-handedly responsible for the death of this show on Broadway. That said, let's set about analyzing the VHS/DVD immortalization of this spectacular show.

The best thing about this production is the supporting roles. Both Coleen Sexton and Andrea Rivette (as Jekyll/Hyde's love interests Lucy and Emma, respectively) dazzle in their parts, no small feat considering that their material is in maddeningly short supply. It is therefore to Ms. Sexton's credit that within five songs and as many short scenes, she creates a fully realized character and does so with amazing aplomb (think a curious cross between Eliza Dolittle and Christina Aguileria). Ms. Rivette, too, does wonderful work with her material, which is even more scant than Ms. Sexton's, and her beautiful soprano voice is worthy of much praise.

The ensemble is simply stunning as well; the chorus members are able to fill the stage with menace and foreboding using only body language, yet they never upstage or overshadow the foreground action. George Merrit, Barry Ingham, Martin Van Treuren and Corinne Melancon, all hold-overs from the original 1997 Broadway cast, are all extraordinary, all clearly at ease with their material, but never give the impression that they are bored with it.

Hasselhoff is in way over his head here. I understand that he hasn't done musical theatre before. It shows. His voice is thin and weak; the vocal range required for this role simply escapes him. When he does sing, he whips through songs at such a blinding pace that one gets the impression that he is racing the orchestra to the end of the show. There are times when the orchestra literally skipped measures and beats just to catch up with him. That's bad singing, folks, and there is no excuse for that in this situation, with a show so totally built around a single role. Admittedly, I'm no fan of Hasselhoff otherwise, but my heart sank when, during the trailer, he smirked into the camera and said "It's no day at the beach," an obvious reference to his Baywatch fame. Is this what this wonderfully devious musical has come to?

All in all, this DVD is worth the price of admission, if only to see the wonderful performances of everyone except the lead as well as the truly amazing sets, costumes and lights, which are all very reminiscent of that OTHER creepy Gothic thriller musical-Sweeney Todd. Buy it today!

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Sensational Musical lacks Talent of Orig Bway Cast
Review: I saw Jekyll and Hyde when it first opened on Bway in 1996 and instantly fell in love with it. The beautiful songs, the gothic romance story and the killer performances from Robert Cuccioli, Linda Eder, and Christine Noll. All had the most exquisite voices I have ever heard, and each song was sung with such strength and emotion. The videotaped version is very high quality and has done a tremendous job at bringing the stage version to the small screen. The songs still are brilliant including Take Me As I Am, Someone Like You, This is the Moment, A New Life, and the stunning duet In His Eyes. Andrea Rivette as Emma is very good. Acting is good and she has a lovely voice, but she brings nothing new to the role that Christine Noll created. She seems bored. Colleen Sexton as Lucy the whore is certainly sexy and has quite a marvelous voice, but the songs Someone like You and A New Life were written for Linda Eder(the best female vocalist ever!) and she does not come even close to her. Her acting is very strong but here voice is not mature enough to hit the high notes and she sometimes comes across as screaming(however, her rendition of A New Life is simply marvelous). In His Eyes by Lucy and Emma is and has remained the highlight song of the show. Both actresses sing this song with alot of energy and emotion and it sent chills up my back. David Hasslehoff is bad. His acting is boring and his singing is flat and forced. He is definetly not trained properly. I'm sure David would have been better in a different role but Jekyll and Hyde is too diffucult a role for a newcomer to handle and he tries and tries but faild, although I do give him props for tackling such a hard role to play. I can't understand why Frank Wildhorn would allow them to tape this without the original cast especially his wife Linda Eder who should have been called to do the taping. All that aside....Jekyll and Hyde is still a thrill to watch and I will continue to watch it over and over again. I'm not saying the cast(except David H) is bad, they are all amazing but they lack the excitment and power that the Orig Bway cast had. I do highly recommend this to anyone who had not seen the Orig Bway Cast, you will be amazed.

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: No day at the beach!
Review: Yeeesh. It's a good show, and the Lucy and Lisa are almost worth the effort it takes to sit through Hastlehoff's terrible performance. So, I'm not sure if it is a good thing that the Dolby 5.1 Soundtrack is very well mixed and impressive. I hate the fact that this DVD is not divided into tracks because it makes it harder to skip the Hastlehoff numbers. He is out of his element here... he makes no effort to create character for Henry Jekyll and his Mr. Hyde characterization stops at his hair and Spooooky voice. He is uncomfortable in his body, and this is the most labored performance I have seen since the Gary Condit interview with Connie Chung. If you've got the money, it is worth it just to get a sense of what this show could be with someone like Colm Wilkinson or Anthony Warlow in the part. And where is Sweeney Todd when we really need it on DVD, huh Steve?

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Great Supporting Cast... but lacks a LEAD
Review: David Hasselholff is one of my favortie actors. I loved his work with Knight Rider and Baywatch. For years, he's been a pop-icon overseas and has always dreamed of being a Broadway performer. However, his voice is not very pleasing on one's ears from a musical perspective. Though his voice is large, it lacks the finesse and range of the lead in this musical. However, the supporting cast is superb!!! They make the DVD worth purchasing. The sound quality is also VERY good. For thos who are accustomed to hearing ANTHONY WARLOW or ROBERT CUCCIOLI as the leads, you'll be dissapointed with Hasselholff... but if you're a big fan of Jekyll and Hyde (as I am), I highly reccomend this DVD.

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: An incredible waste of a marvelous cast!
Review: The cast in this performance is remarkable, especially the women! David Hasselhoff does carry his role convincingly, and has a wonderful voice. The material is just terrible, however, and I don't even know how it lasted for the number of runs it did on Broadway. It took a lot of patience on my part to even finish the show. It didn't move me one bit. I just happen to collect musicals, and I thought that I had to have this. I don't regret owning it, though, but I definitely wouldn't recommend your buying it. It's a good example of a bad Broadway musical, and that's what it really is.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: A Tape I'm Going to Wear Out!!!
Review: I first saw Jekyll & Hyde, when Pay-Per-View ran it.... I was utterly breathtaken, and on the edge of my seat. Then of course I started to kick myself for not taping it. Well I bought the tape two days ago, and I've not stopped watching it since.The muscial score is superb, all the actors were very talented. Many of them carrying two roles, just like David Hasselhoff who was exellent as BOTH Dr. Henry Jekyll and Edward Hyde. Sometimes I seriously thought that I was looking at two different actors for the two characters.The best song in the whole thing was while Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde fought. Each trying for control. I can't help but sing along... okay I sing along to the whole thing.I would recomend this tape to anyone who likes broadway musicals, or just David Hasselhoff fans. Everything about this VHS makes it a MUST OWN!

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Hasselhoff isn't the star...
Review: While David Hasselhoff may be the marquis value of this item, the true star he is not. The supporting players outshine him with wonderful performances, and astonishing vocals. Andrea Rivette is my personal favorite in this production, followed by the amazingly capable George Merritt who play Emma Carew, Jekyll's fiancée, and best friend, respectively.
While Jekyll & Hyde has never been one of my favorite Broadway productions, the producers of the DVD have done a beautiful job transferring a stage show to a very limiting television screen. While there are some campy shots that are just laughable, for the most part, they have captured wonderful angles, and crystal sound quality. Even those who hated the original stage production might enjoy this version.


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