Robert Louis Stevenson’s 1886 tale of The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde has been read and retold for nearly 140 years. The saga of the kind and respectable Dr. Henry Jekyll and his duality with the murderously evil Edward Hyde was adapted in 1990 as a musical that found its way to Broadway in 1997.
And this month, that version of the story has found its way to Hilton Head Island, where Main Stage Community Theatre will bring the dynamic characters to life with Jekyll & Hyde, The Musical at the Seahawk Cultural Center Sept. 12-22.
The multiple messages brought by characters in the story offer insights into similar struggles faced by today’s world of humanity.
“Some see the story of Jekyll and Hyde as a cautionary tale,” said Bryce Cofield, director of the MSCT offering.
“I think that’s what makes it so relatable,” said Daniel Cort, who appears in the show as both Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. “If we’re honest with ourselves, we all have a light and dark side – and of course, what mind-altering substances typically do is they bring the dark, the shadow side, to the surface. Hyde is not a monster; he’s just a darker version of the same man.”
Cofield, who was born and raised on Hilton Head Island and now lives in Jacksonville, Florida, is directing for the second time with MSCT. At Hilton Head Island High School, Cofield was a stand-out performer in both the Seahawk Theatre Guild and the Out of the Blue Show Choir. He also appeared in a number of productions with Main Street Youth Theatre, the precursor to Main Stage.
Cofield is familiar with Jekyll & Hyde, having served as assistant production manager for Alhambra Theatre in its production of the musical.
Cofield’s directing debut was in 2015, for MSCT’s The Addam’s Family, which featured Cort and his wife, Debbie Cort. “To be able to reprise Jekyll and Lucy together on stage, with Bryce again at the helm, is like a super fun reunion,” Daniel Cort said.
“Bryce is wildly creative and a phenomenal director,” said Cinda Seamon, president of the board of directors for MSCT. “We are excited to have him back with us.”
Actors returning to the MSCT stage include Kourtnie Dwornikoski (Emma), who played Maria in Sound of Music; Paddy Myers (Bishop of Basingstoke), who also was in Sound of Music; Scott Milne (Poole), who appeared in Our Town and Oliver; and John Chao (Sir Archibald Proops), who played Capt. Georg von Trapp in Sound of Music, Matthew Bell (Simon Stride and Spider) who appeared in Oliver, and Noah Housey (Bisset) who has appeared in numerous MSCT productions.
The large cast of 25 includes MCST newcomers Tommy Ballard, who plays Sir Danvers Carew, Seth Harvey, who plays General Glossop, and Monica Franklin, who plays Lady Beaconsfield.
In addition to the cast, a 10-piece orchestra of musicians, recruited by music director Josh Wall, will be on the stage as well, along with several dancers from Bluffton School of Dance, choreographed by director Dawn Rosa Miller. Melinda Bray is assistant music director.
The cast of The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde listed left to right: Tommy Ballard, Kourtnie Dwornikoski, Daniel Cort, Debbie Cort, and Kyle Price.
While the general presumption of the theme of the story is good vs. evil, there are also themes of mental illness and addiction. An early scene depicts Jekyll in an insane asylum, worrying that an underlying evil has caused his father to become ill, so Jekyll begins his quest to find a cure.
Through his experiments, Jekyll produces a formula that he believes will separate the good from evil. Meeting resistance from the aristocracy, Jekyll makes the fateful decision to use himself as the subject of his experiment; thus beginning his descent into darkness.
For one of the actors, the story is personal.
“This is my story,” said Cort. He has played the characters before, but this time both the script and the characters hold a much deeper meaning than in the past.
“His father has gone mad and, fearing what he can’t control, Jekyll’s obsession begins,” Cort said.
The story takes a drastic turn when Jekyll begins to become the very thing he has committed to eradicate.
“My parallel story is having a father who struggled with mental illness and alcoholism. In my obsession to try to save him, I too became an alcoholic,” he said. “My father was a man that was a charismatic and highly respected professor, yet his hubris and pride drove him down a dark path.”
Cort said his own recovery journey has informed the way he now perceives and portrays his characters.
“I’m not acting up there. I just go back to those places of despair and loneliness,” he said. “The lie of mind-altering substances is the illusion that we feel powerful because we are stripped of our inhibitions. In reality, it is slowly diminishing and destroying us.”
“That’s what I’m hoping people take out of the show – it’s OK to not be OK,” Cofield said. “Just get the help you need before it’s too late. This whole story is a cautionary tale, watching somebody’s fear and ego destroy them.”
Cort added, “And it doesn’t have to end that way. There is hope.”
To support that hope, for this production, Main Stage has partnered with the local chapter of the National Association on Mental Illness (NAMI), the nation’s largest grassroots mental health organization. The local chapter will host an information booth at all performances.
“Jekyll & Hyde” performances are Sept. 12-22 at 7 p.m. Thursday-Saturday, and 2 p.m. Sunday at Seahawk Cultural Center, 70 Wilborn Road on Hilton Head Island. Tickets are $30 adult, $15 student and are available at mainstagecommunitytheatre.org.
If you have concerns about your mental health, connect with counselors at NAMI at (843) 686-3100 or namilowcountry.org.
