“It Takes Two” ****
By Elyse Orecchio (guest reviewer)
From time to time Theatre's Leiter Side will be posting reviews of Off-Off Broadway shows my schedule prevents me from seeing. If you are interested in reviewing Off-Off Broadway, please contact me so we can discuss. I hope you find the expanded coverage useful. Sam Leiter
Part parody and part earnest adaptation, Dr. Jekyll and Mr.
Hyde at the SoHo Playhouse feels like Mel Brooks and Lin-Manuel Miranda got
stoned, wrote a sketch for SNL in which Kate McKinnon played all the parts, and
it was so good they made a full-length production of it and won critical acclaim.
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| Burt Grinstead. Photo: Cooper Bates. |
I had a good time even before the show began. The theatre was
filled with smoke (even downstairs at the bar!) and sounds of wind howling and
crows echoed. When the announcement came on telling us to silence our phones
because the execution was about to start, I figured this was the sort of
production that was going to either be really brilliant or really terrible;
somewhere in the middle wasn’t likely. Unlike the show, I’m not going for
suspense—it was well executed (yuk yuk).
In case you only know Jekyll and Hyde as a campy theme-restaurant,
it’s the story of a scientist, Dr. Jekyll, whose brother is murdered for being
a psycho serial killer, which sparks the doc to conduct research on the good
and evil parts of the brain. (In the 19th century it was widely believed that
the left side was responsible for the ability to be rational and civil, while
the right side related to being impulsive and primal. If I sound smart, it’s
only because I crammed by consulting this most literary
source.)
When Jekyll is denied a grant to conduct this research that his
peers feel should be left to God, he takes his experiment into his own hands
and transforms into Edward Hyde, the base embodiment of his inner immorality
who’s really good at killing and getting laid. Thus begins the battle of good
vs. evil. And also lots of “Hyde/hide” puns.
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| Bert Grinstead, Anna Stromberg. Photo: Cooper Bates. |
Grinstead and Stromberg’s performances seem as vocally taxing as
they are exhilarating, and I desperately hope they are drowning themselves in
Throat Coat between shows. Grinstead is convincing in the dual role, playing a
sweet, adorkable Jekyll and a creepy, menacing Hyde. He gives everything he’s
got to both characters, hurling himself across the stage, crawling and leaping
and growling to the point where he’s drenched in sweat by the end of the show.
Every second of the quick-paced production is occupied with
action, as Stromberg works feverishly and hilariously to portray every other
person in the play. As director and costume designer, she creates fully
distinct characters using simple wardrobe items—the maid dons an apron,
Jekyll’s heartthrob Sarah has a petticoat, the lawyer sports a cap, the
professor wears a monocle, the socialite rocks a fascinator, and so on.
My favorite is her Dr. Lanyon, the scholar who refuses Jekyll his
research grant because it’s too ungodly. I laughed steadily throughout the
show, but I lost it when Stromberg emerged as Lanyon with a big fat paunch,
represented by a sort of pillow that hangs from her neck over her belly and is wrapped
in a tuxedo!
Stromberg’s quick-change skills are impressive as she flawlessly
flits about from character to character, adopting with ease their particular
speech pattern, accent, vocal inflection, and costume. There is, of course, one
obligatory Mrs. Doubtfire moment in which Stromberg accidentally-on-purpose
screws up and wears the maid’s apron while portraying Utterson, the lawyer.
As the characters rapidly rotate, so do Grinstead’s super savvy
set pieces, black Tetris-like blocks that connect in various ways to create
bookshelves, stairs, a flower garden, a fireplace, and more. I was floored at
how many possible configurations these blocks formed, and I couldn’t wait to
see what they would become next. Adam
Earle and Matt Richter’s fun lighting provides motifs for various characters,
such as romantic pink hues for Sarah’s appearances and maniacal green tones for
Hyde.
This is the sort of production that lives or dies on its script.
If the dialogue had stunk, it would have been excruciating. The writing is
clever, unpretentious, and provides an all-around good time. It didn’t surprise
me to learn that Grinstead and Stromberg are married. The production is the
clear result of a collaboration between two people who can really riff off each
other. I’m sure they giggled their way through writing and rehearsals. And
perhaps took turns going on vocal rest.
SoHo Playhouse
15 Vandam St, NYC
Through May 25
OTHER VIEWPOINTS:
Elyse Orecchio studied musical theatre at Emerson College, acting at CUNY
Brooklyn College, and English Linguistics & Rhetoric at CUNY Hunter
College. She has worked in nonprofit communications for more than a decade. She
lives in Sunnyside, Queens, with her husband Joe, kids Theo and Melody, and
three cats. eorecchio@gmail.com @elyseorecchio
