The Broadway musical Jekyll & Hyde has proven to be a whole new challenge for Denton High School students who, this time last year, played enchanted objects in Disney's Beauty and the Beast.
Seniors Emily Pound and Nathan Schafer said they've had to reach for raw emotions rather than bring cartoon images to life.
Pound, who plays the coveted role of Lucy Harris, has a whole palette of feeling to explore. Lucy is a sweet-natured girl whose misfortune has thrown her into London's foul East End, where she works as a prostitute at the Red Rat brothel.
"It's hard, because she's actually a really good person," Pound said. "You don't know what led her to this place. But she's like everyone else. She wants love. She wants marriage and a family, but she'll never get those things because she's a prostitute. There's no easy way out for her."
Pound said she studied video of professional performances, but ended up looking to her own life to color in Lucy's emotional life.
"For me, I have to look at real-life experiences," she said.
Lucy falls for Edward Hyde, a Londoner and the primal, predatory side of Dr. Henry Jekyll.
"It's that bad-boy thing all girls are drawn to," Pound said, explaining why sweet, noble Lucy falls for a dangerous man.
Schafer, a senior who recently landed the fourth chair in the All-State choir's tenor section, said he's relying on imitation to make his character, lawyer John Utterson, believable.
"He's Jekyll's best friend as well as his lawyer, so he has to walk this fine line between being a best friend and being a professional who is true to his profession," he said. "He knows his friend is going down a path he can't follow."
As far as reaching into Utterson's heart, Schafer said "if you can read it on someone's face, that's where you'll find it."
Senior Jaya McReynolds and junior William Tarte have juicy roles. McReynolds is Gwinny, the loud, forceful madam of the Red Rat. It's frequented by men of all social standing. Tarte is Spider, the dangerous proprietor of the business. Gwinny keeps the girls in line, while Spider schmoozes the gents.
"If you come to the Rat, prepared to be shouted at, and maybe get hit," McReynolds said. "Gwinny wants people to know she's in charge."
"Same with Spider," Tarte said. "He does some yelling and hitting, too. If you come to the Red Rat, you'll have a good time. It's adult entertainment. It's where the upper-class men go to unwind, and we're really quiet about it."
McReynolds said the Rat is meant to be clean, but the seedy reality of the place is soaked into the rafters and floorboards.
"Yep," she said. "It's clean on the inside, but it smells like sweat and regret."
The setting is a subtle metaphor for the double standards that Lucy and Emma Carew, played by Chelsea King, are yoked with. Men do as they will, and the ladies keep up the appearance of propriety for them.
Junior Javan Stalls plays the title roles - the tempermental Jekyll and the beastly Hyde. He's had to develop characters that are physically and vocally distinguished.
"Jekyll always has his hair pulled back, he's lighter in the voice," Stalls said. "He's just well spoken and smart. He gets angry easily, though. Hyde is harsh, mangy, mean and more sarcastic. The voice is more raspy and deeper."
Emma's voice and carriage are angelic and ladylike throughout the musical. King, a soprano and prospective class valedictorian, said Emma has to be consistent; her future and her fiance's reputation depend on it.
"As the show progresses, Emma realizes that Jekyll is going through something really hard, and she has to maintain her family's name and honor," King said. "She has to make things right for Jekyll when he does things that make their friends question him."
Thomas Stratton, director of the high school's state-recognized theater department, said the musical is one of his favorites. When choir director Mark Baker and assistant choir director Patti Freeman agreed the program had the voices needed, he wanted the students to take a chance on it.
"The music is very adult. The show is very adult, and by that I mean that the music is hard, the characters are tough to develop," Stratton said. "I wanted to stretch them.
"You look at these kids and they don't know what they're capable of. My job is to find out what they're capable of, and bring them out. And I've pushed them pretty hard. I've pushed and I've pushed to the point that I'm surprised none of them have quit."
LUCINDA BREEDING can be reached at 940-566-6877. Her e-mail address is cbreeding@dentonrc.com.
IF YOU GO
What: staging of the Broadway musical Jekyll & Hyde
Who: Denton High School's theater arts, band and orchestra departments
When: 7 p.m. Thursday through Saturday and Jan. 25-27, 2 p.m. Sunday
Where: Denton High School auditorium, 1007 Fulton St.
Details: Tickets cost $5 for students and $10 for adults, and will be sold at the door. Seating is general admission.
