“Jekyll & Hyde – The Musical” by Beeston Musical theatre Group
The Duchess Theatre, Long Eaton.

The epic struggle between good and evil oozes to life on stage in this epic musical phenomenon. Based on the classic story by Robert Louis Stevenson and featuring a thrilling score from multi-Grammy- and Tony-nominated Frank Wildhorn and double-Oscar- and Grammy-winning Leslie Bricusse.

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 and trusting only herself– both women in love with the same man and both 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.

"Jekyll & Hyde" is often overshadowed by shows like "Phantom Of The Opera" but after seeing this production, it is very much on par, if not better.

That's the easy bit; now let's see how concise I can get this next bit! I was going to start off with "OMG" but I think "OMFG" is more accurate.

Jekyll and Hyde are played by George Mercer, and anyone having seen George perform before, like myself will know that he has the perfectly pitched voice for this very challenging vocal piece of theatre. He has the drama in his delivery and the subtle facial movements are just as eerie as the full blown contortions of the transformation from Jekyll to the evil Mr Hyde.

He simply lowers his voice to an eerie growl when in Hyde persona and his eyes take on an almost manic appearance. When Hyde enters the stage, a seemingly colder atmosphere takes over.

Lily Taylor-Ward, again perfectly cast as Lucy, the lady of the night Jekyll falls for. This role though is a role that has stretched Lily and I know that she has not played anything like this in her past theatrical roles. I can, hand on heart, state that I have never seen Lily act the way she did tonight!

Like many of the roles in this superb musical, it asks a lot from the actor and they push the performer to stretch themselves, and that is exactly what the three main roles request of the talented cast.

Her voice is perfectly matched for George and her rendition of "Someone Like You" sends the hairs on your body into overdrive. Chillingly beautiful, as is the duet "In His Eyes" which Lily sings with Claire.

Playing Emma, Jekyll's fiancee, is Claire Rybicki. Once again a perfect casting and her gorgeous clear vocals ring out. There's a lot of passion in Claire's performance especially in the final scenes of this piece of theatre.

Spider, the woman in charge of the bordello where Lucy works is played by Abby Riddell.Not the nicest of characters but what a performance and another very distinctive vocal style.

This musical is a bit of a change from the last few musicals as in the past we've seen BMTG perform comedy. This week though we get to see many regulars acting very differently and they show a completely different side of their talents.

Rob Charles, Chris Bryan - who also did an amazing job of the fight choreography, David Hurt, David Artiss, John Hand and Andy Bulmer, I'm so used to seeing them in comedy roles proved that they could pull out very credible serious performances

There are also a lot of new faces in this show who slotted in perfectly into this musically very complex work.John Henson, Andy Wallace and Garreth Frank, it was a pleasure to have time for an all too brief chat after the show. Welcome to the BMTG family.

The female ensemble section were also packed with many BMTG favourites. Cheryl Camm, Mariko Jones, Katie Bird, Lucy Castle, Carrie-Anne Corner, Jane Cottee, Claire Farrand-Preston, Sandy C Lane, Mina Machin - who did an amazing job with the incredible costumes in the show, Rachel Maddison, Cheryl Mills, Jackie Rawling, Hollie Smith and Laura Smith all helped to create a wonderful stage presence and a wonderful choral feel to many of the musical numbers.

With such a large cast/ensemble, the choreography needs to be tight as well as exciting and Jodie Cresdee succeeded in smashing this part of the production right out of the ball park.

Musically directed by Sam Griffiths and Andrea Chapman so we know the music is going to be of the highest quality, and it was. No fear of drowning these amazing singers with the power they all have, just a wonderfully mixed sound - thanks to Harry Greatorex - who was also responsible for the sound effects which had the audience wincing vocally.

An incredible lighting design which added so much to the tension and atmosphere of the show, designed and engineered by Dave Martin and Matthew Cook. Stunning!

Directed by Beth Yearsley, this show is so incredibly fast moving and has such a large cast and ensemble, Beth showed that she does not shy away from a challenge, and that challenge paid off big time.

The set design was also very clever. Simple stage within a stage which meant that we were forced to focus on a smaller area and concentrate on the actors and their performance, making the intensity of the show uppermost. A very clinical approach which was apt for a doctor and his laboratory setting.

If I didn't know this wonderful group of talented people, and this was the first time that I had seen one of BMTG's shows, you'd think that this was a professional touring show the quality is so high.

The vocals from everyone were out of this world, my hair follicles had a proper workout throughout this show. The acting was passionate, the music, lights, sound, orchestra, stage management, choreography were of a level that I have often seen on big touring shows, which puts BMTG on a par with the big gun professionals.

I had many superlatives going through my mind to describe everything about this practically perfect musical and production, but I relented from using them as you know I don't like to go too over the top.

“Jekyll & Hyde” is at The Duchess Theatre until Saturday 26 May 2018 with a special Charity Night on Thursday 24 May 2018.

Photos by Martin Holtom