Ok this is the low down, A while ago I saw Paul Nicholas's production of Jekyll and Hyde and the production was amazing, the only thing that let it down was Paul himself. Being the producer and the one putting the money in he casts himself as the lead when he is playing opposite people with much better voices that could suit his part.

Nicholas is a good producer and the production was excellent but I saw the premier in Wimbledon and I was not in the least impressed with his vocal ability.

Hi Aracind. I have to agree with you there. I saw the production on tour in the U.K. & Paul Nicholas was pretty poor. Aside from his poor vocal ability he seemed to old to play the part. However, he did give it a good stab & he did a reasonable job. The rest of the cast were fantastic. Both Louise Dearman & Shona Lindsey were outstanding & on the performance I saw recieved a standing ovation. The production was brilliant & ive waited years for it to come over to the U.K. but it was well worth it, I do thatnk Paul for that :D Regards Shaz

I have moved this topic to "Performers and contributors"

Yes, the UK Tour production was excellent, darker than the Broadway version. But unfortunatley Paul was dissapointing in the lead role, but oh well, I´m really looking forward in seeing those J&H future amature productions, I´m sure we´ll find amazing performers playing Jekyll-Hyde ;)

Paul was the Creative Producer. The producers of the tour was a company called UK Productions.

To be honest, I thought the production was not very good. I may have been building expectations since it was my first time seeing J&H but I was thoroughly disappointed. The cast (with the exception) of Paul Nicholas was the only thing I enjoyed. I did like the darker feel to the show but the direction, lack of seeing a live orchestra, the miming, Paul Nicholas' performance, the staging etc. I didn't enjoy.

I felt Paul did alright on the acting for the two roles. But for Jekyll/Hyde you need a good voice. Paul didn't have that, even though it was obvious (and from seeing/reading interviews with him) that he enjoyed himself and really put a lot into it. Here is a radio interview with Paul about J&H, aired before the tour began, that I managed to record - Download here.

Tom

I agree with Tom!

Bought the tickets in spring to see it. PN was very,very weak.
The girls were excellent. Especially Louise Dearman. The staging
looked very unprofessional and cheap. But hey I got to visit London.
I fell for the kind people in this city. Unfortunate this lovely city is living
in dark times. If only someone could succed to separete good from evil,
perhaps then we all could live in peace. My thoughts goes to all of you.

Hope to meet more kind faces in London in november.

Risto,Kokkola,Finland :rolleyes:

How on earth did he get the part? Because he was creative producer?

((My company have put their name down to have the rights to produce Jekyll and Hyde, looking forward to it))

I suspect that he did indeed give himself the part. I never heard that they ever auditioned the part(s) of Jekyll/Hyde for the tour.

Tom

His acting was better than his singing - he had no upper range at all which really let him down on the higher notes, or even holding one for that matter. His acting was better though, he played Hyde very well. I think what irked me out the whole thing is they didn't do Dangerous Game properly and it made me angry, I mean they swapped the last notes round <_< yes I'm petty, deal! :P

The rest of the cast were worth the ticket price by themselves!

I personally like the UK production over the Broadway one. It has a much grittier edge to it. Paul was a let down. He couldn't hit the notes, but I liked how he acted his Hyde scenes, and how he spoke his lines for him. His age also added something sinister to it all. The rest of the company more than made up for his vocal errors.

I prefered the staging here, the songs used, pretty much everything, bar Nicholas being unable to sing it.

"Dangerous Game" was an amazingly powerful scene here...and I just didn't get that same emotional impact after seeing the Broadway version. Lucy on Broadway felt more like an Eponine (Les Mis) and irritated me a lot of the time. Louise Dearman did not. She was outstanding.

In short, I never would be the huge fan I am now if it wasn't for the UK Production and Concept Album. The Broadway CD never impressed me, and I heard that long before seeing the show.

Tom, any chance of uploading that interview again? I'd love to hear it!

I must admit, that when I went to see the UK production after only being able to listen to the three soundtracks for the last eight months I was a little disapointed. The chourus were good, as were the girls, but as Jekyll/Hyde is such a staple role to the production, I just wanted to go back home and listen to my soundtracks!

Sure! Here is a radio interview with Paul about J&H, aired before the tour began, that I managed to record - Download here.

Tom

Thank you! Downloading it now! :)

I first thought poor guy everyone hates him,the I saw a clip of him on Transformation and thought He's worse than hasselhoff