"'Cause We Don't Want To See What Is Lurking Right Behind The Façade!"

Welcome to show week at my school! This week—this Thursday, Friday, and Saturday to be exact— the drama department will put on the smash musical Jekyll & Hyde.

(I know there's a different poster but this version is what my school advertised with so I'm using it!)

Created in 1990 and put on Broadway in 1997, this musical is based off of the novel The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson—since its the premiere, the show has been put on a national tour (U.S.) four times, the most recent in 2012. The music is by Frank Wildhorn; the lyrics are by Frank Wildhorn, Steve Cuden, and Leslie Bricusse; the book is also written by Leslie Bricusse. 

In the 1997 Tony Awards, the show was nominated in four categories: Best Book of a Musical (Lesie Bircusse), Best Actor in a Musical (Robert Cuccioli—Henry Jekyll/Edward Hyde), Best Costume Design (Ann Curtis) and Best Lighting Design (Beverly Emmons). Alas, none of the nominees took anything home. 

(Here's a snapshot of the show—the guy on the left is Jekyll right as he's turning into Hyde, and the guy on the right is a techie stuck behind the laboratory!) 

Because I have a better understanding of this show now than I did a few days ago, I have two favorite songs to post about (one is my favorite but wouldn't be understood unless you know the show, and the other is more known and catchy). 

Here's "Murder, Murder" from the final (1997) Broadway performance with David  Hasselhoff as Jekyll/Hyde—this is the more known and catchy song.

If you dare, here is "Façade (Reprise #2)"—this is the song with Spider (the pimp) primarily singing. I like the whispering behind it, it sounds so cool! Just so we're clear, I didn't think I'd ever have a favorite song from this show, but stranger things have happened. 

I hate show week.

While show week is (somewhat) fun and does pay off in the end, it's just a constant pain in the butt the days before the show is actually performed, for people.

So, I have been working on Day Twenty-Nine, but, as most people should know, I'll spend more time at school (the theater, to be exact) than at home. I honestly only have time to eat, shower, do homework, and sleep. (I'm sacrificing sleep for you guys, this shows how much I care!)

So, I'll leave a quick theatre post I was originally gonna save for a later post, but it's an emergency.

Anyway, I don't know how many of you saw the 2012 Tony Awards, but it is the biggest theatre night for all of Broadway. Happens once a year, around mid-June, and announces everything theatre-related, from Best Costume Design to Best Broadway Musical (which, by the way, this year's was Once, one of my best theatre friends was freaking out about it). This clip, is the beginning of the show, with a little entertainment from the host, Neil Patrick Harris.

God, I love that man. So, this "song" is called "What if life were more like theatre?" (I have definitely asked that before) and I love it, it's simply great. (You might recognize a familiar face in the viewing.......)

Oh, by the way, the song that is ending at the beginning of the video is "Hello!" from the musical Book of Mormon.