Alive - Jekyll And Hyde 1987 Demo

The song Alive from the 1987 Demo of the musical Jekyll And Hyde by Frank Wildhorn.

Category:

Music

Tags:

• Wildhorn
• Frank Wildhorn
• Jekyll
• Hyde
• Jekyll And Hyde
• Musical
• Linda Eder
• Chuck Wagner
• 1987
• Demo
• 1987 Demo

[LordRezo]

I was wondering if perhaps I could also have a look at this script? :) As an avid fan of J+H from Poland, I always wanted to read and know more about the pre=Broadway show, which is, in my opinion, more fascinating and well strung :)

[ThePitchFinder]

@holyguyver Excuse me I'm an avid fan of this show and this conversation has just been fascinating, is there anyway you could send me that Completeists script?

[ryantherebel]

Could I have a link to the script as well? You've got me curious as well. 

[Brucetherubbershark]

I read the script (and sent you a reply e-mail telling you what I thought about it). In short, I liked it (some of the added songs are great) and it clarified a lot of things (character motivations, plot points etc.), but it's way too big of a show to be taken to a production level.

[holyguyver]

@Brucetherubbershark Well I did last week try to send you a link to my Completeists' script of the show which has every song, lyric, dialogue line, scene, & subplot from every version of the show ever, merged into one coherent script.

[Brucetherubbershark]

@holyguyver Wow. This sounds significantly more interesting then the script we've got. The script we've got is disjointed and confusing. Now I think that's because there's a lot of stuff that is either underdeveloped or unfinished.

[holyguyver]

@Brucetherubbershark Utterson is Jekyll's best friend, but no one knew of Stride's evil side, true he was a jealous ex boyfriend, but he wasn't known to be as evil as what he actually is, & so when he suggested Utterson take Jekyll to The Dregs to get his mind off of the rejection Utterson thought about it, & decided a little distraction & fun might help Jekyll to forget about his formula & refocus his life on the upcoming married, besides a Batchelor party is in order.

[holyguyver]

@Brucetherubbershark Yes the Board Of Governors were still bad because they were stuck in tradition & hated anything new or unknown, unwilling to take chances, Stride simply enforced that feeling within them.

[Brucetherubbershark]

@holyguyver I'm playing The Spider in a community theatre production and I could never figure out what his place in the show was. Now things make a little more sense. Well, in case you can't tell by this point, I'm quite fascinated by all this. So if Stride had convinced the Board of Governors to reject Dr. Jekyll's proposal, were the Board members still bad guys, or misunderstood by Hyde, or what? And I thought Utterson was Henry's best friend. How did he end up getting influenced by Simon?

[holyguyver]

@Brucetherubbershark The Spider didn't, The Spider was created after it was decided to remove Stride as the owner. So technically The Spider is what Stride's darker side evolved into. Similar to how in the Broadway version Nellie's darker side evolved into Gwenny.

[Brucetherubbershark]

@holyguyver Wow. That's very insightful. So if Simon was the owner of the nightclub/brothel, then how does The Spider fit into this early version?

[holyguyver]

@Brucetherubbershark caused Jekyll & Lisa's relationship strain. Then after Lucy gets Jekyll's letter from Utterson, but before Hyde comes & kills her, Stride takes the letter from her, & then before the wedding Stride puts the letter in Lisa's dressing room, thus hoping she will read it finding out that Jekyll, as Hyde, cheated on her, thus ending the wedding, but then of course durring the wedding Jekyll turns into Hyde & you know the end. So that is the Stride subplot.

[holyguyver]

@Brucetherubbershark he secretly spoke with the board of governors, convincing them that Jekyll was crazy, & during the meeting he egged them on in their rejection of Jekyll. Then he in the guise of a friend convinced Utterson to take Jekyll to The Dregs in hopes he could get Jekyll to cheat on Lisa thus ruining the relationship. Though Jekyll did not cheat, the effects of both the rejection & the meeting with Lucy lead Jekyll to decide to test the formula on himself. That of course (continued)

[holyguyver]

@Brucetherubbershark Yes, Simon Stride's earlier subplot was that he was Lisa's ex whom was overly possessive & controlling when they dated when she was 17, so she broke up with him & met Jekyll at a Spring ball. Ever since then Simon Stride has been jealous of Jekyll, & at this point the engagement party was before the board of governors meeting, so what happened was at the end of the engagement party Simon tried to convince her to call of the engagement, & when she refused he (continued)

[Brucetherubbershark]

@holyguyver That's very interesting. Too bad that subplot was cut because Simon sort of "disappears" from the story after the engagement party scene. Obviously the show has changed considerably since this intial demo.

[holyguyver]

@Brucetherubbershark The "man in black" is Simon Stride; Lisa's ex boyfriend who has a facade of being a moralist though he is secretly the owner of The Dregs brothel.

[Brucetherubbershark]

Who's the "man in black"?

[dustbiter445]

This is the best version of Alive. The pace is phenominal. It feels as sinister as Anthony Warlow's version but has ten times the adrenaline. Frank Wildhorn you must release these 1987 recordings!