The production, directed by longtime Artistic Director David Arisco, will be staged at the Dr. Lawrence and Barbara Stein Center for the Performing Arts, 280 Miracle Mile. Preview performances are Oct. 7 and 8, with the official opening Oct. 9.
A gothic story with Broadway history
Based on Robert Louis Stevenson’s novella Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde, the musical follows a scientist convinced that good and evil can be separated within the human personality. When the medical establishment rejects his research, Dr. Henry Jekyll tests the formula on himself and unleashes Edward Hyde, a violent alter ego he can no longer control.
At the center of the production is the challenge of having one performer inhabit both men.
Composer Frank Wildhorn and lyricist and book writer Leslie Bricusse developed the show beginning in the late 1980s, with an early production at Houston’s Alley Theatre in 1990. It reached Broadway’s Plymouth Theatre in 1997 and ran until January 2001, logging 1,543 performances and becoming the longest-running production in that theater’s history.
The production also marked Wildhorn’s Broadway debut. Its best-known song, “This Is the Moment,” went on to a life well beyond the show; Wildhorn has said it has been recorded by more than 1,000 artists.
Arisco said the score and Stevenson’s central conflict continue to give the musical its appeal.
“At its core, this is a story about the duality of human nature — the light and darkness that exist within all of us,” Arisco said. “It gives us an incredible opportunity to explore what drives us as human beings and what happens when those opposing forces collide. It’s also the musical that first brought Frank Wildhorn to Broadway, and that score remains just as powerful and exciting today.”
Losada returns
E.L. Losada takes on the dual role of Jekyll and Hyde, an assignment he knows well. Losada previously played the roles at Broward Stage Door, where the performance earned him a Carbonell Award.
He returns to Actors’ Playhouse after starring as Cervantes and Don Quixote in last season’s Man of La Mancha, which earned him another Carbonell nomination. Losada also won a Carbonell for Bat Boy and was named Best Actor by Miami New Times for Romeo & Juliet.
Joining Losada are Emily van Vliet Perea as Lucy Harris and Anette Barrios-Torres as Emma Carew.
Barrios-Torres, a Miami native now based in New York, makes her Actors’ Playhouse debut after starring as Eliza Doolittle in the national tour of Lincoln Center Theater’s My Fair Lady. The Cuban-American performer became the first Latina actress to play Eliza in that production.
The principal company also includes Don Seward, Barry Tarallo, Stephen G. Anthony, Jeremy Sevelovitz, Paul Louis, Ryan Townsend, Lovell Rose, Henry Gainza, Joline Mujica and Sofia Porcel.
Familiar names behind the production
Gainza is serving as associate director and choreographer while also appearing as the Bishop of Basingstoke. He filled the same creative roles on last season’s Man of La Mancha. His credits also include the original Broadway company of On Your Feet! and Lincoln Center’s I Am Harvey Milk.
The production begins Arisco’s 39th season as artistic director of Actors’ Playhouse. He has been with the company since 1988 and has directed more than 180 productions, including Carbonell-winning stagings of In the Heights, Les Misérables and West Side Story.
Evening performances run Wednesday through Saturday at 8 p.m., with Sunday matinees at 3 p.m. and an additional weekday matinee Oct. 14 at 2 p.m. Tickets range from $40 to $100. Seniors receive 10% off weekday performances, and $15 student rush tickets are available 15 minutes before curtain with identification.
