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Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde Edward Hyde (bass-baritone)
Gabriel John Utterson (bass)
Henry Jekyll (tenor)
Poole, the Butler (tenor)
Hastie Lanyon (baritone)
Richard Enfield (tenor)
The Maid (soprano)
Father/Wedding Soloist (bass)
Inspector Newcoman (tenor)
Lily Belle Lorraine (mezzo soprano)
Church Soloist (soprano)
Four Waiters (two tenors, baritone and bass)
Little Girl (soprano)
Mother (mezzo soprano)
Scottish Doctor (tenor)
Sir Danvers Carrew (tenor)
Four Neighbor Ladies (two sopranos and two altos)
Violin 1 (four players)
Violin 2 (four players)
Viola (three players)
Violoncello (three players)
Percussion (two players)
Interior Piano (one player)
Piano (one player)
Organ (optional)
SATB Chorus: 21 singers, at least
London, England, in the mid-nineteenth century
WWW address: http://mustec.bgsu.edu/~wallace
E-mail address: wallace@bgnet.bgsu.edu
Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde is available through contacting Wallace De Pue.
Although Henry Jekyll has acquired great wealth, fame and respect through his practice of medicine, his compulsion to explore forbidden regions of knowledge has estranged him from some of his most distinguished colleagues. Still, he has continued to experiment until he has developed a potion that he believes will unlock the door to man's second personality. It is his contention that each person is not one being, but two! Because Dr. Jekyll is a man of compassion and honor, the final experiment can only be tried on himself. After drinking the potion, his evil self, Mr. Hyde, appears. He bears no resemblance to Dr. Jekyll.
Mr. Hyde pledges to taste every form of evil, and begins by assaulting and trampling a child. He is caught in the act and forced to implicate Dr. Jekyll. The incident comes to the attention of Gabriel John Utterson, Dr. Jekyll's best friend and legal counselor. Mr. Utterson is certain that Dr. Jekyll is in danger, so he begins to investigate Mr. Hyde. There is a confrontation between the two men, and their meeting puts Mr. Utterson in a state of complete confusion. He cannot believe that his friend, Dr. Jekyll, has made a legal will leaving everything to Mr. Hyde.
Dr. Jekyll is so appalled at Mr. Hyde's escapade involving the child that the doctor is determined to abstain from drinking the potion again. In an effort to reacquaint himself with his friends, he invites them to a party where he serves as host. He feels the presence of Mr. Hyde trying to overcome him, and separates himself from his guests just before the change takes place.
By chance, Mr. Hyde encounters a member of Parliament on a dark street and commits murder. When the police investigate, they find a broken walking stick beside the old gentleman. It was a clue. The police ask for Mr. Utterson's services to identify the body. Mr. Utterson recognizes the broken cane as one he had given to Dr. Jekyll as a gift. The police tell him that a chamber maid witnessed the murder from her window, and they describe Mr. Hyde. Mr. Utterson pays Dr. Jekyll a visit, believing the he can learn the whereabouts of the culprit. Dr. Jekyll presents a letter that declares Mr. Hyde never intends to reappear. It is signed by Mr. Hyde. Dr. Jekyll thinks Mr. Hyde would not dare overcome him and face execution as a murderer, so he invites all of his friends to the wedding of one of his patients. He acts as host at the wedding reception. After the reception, he is terror-stricken when, without taking the potion, he senses Mr. Hyde reappearing. After Mr. Hyde has assumed Dr. Jekyll's identity, he realizes he has been tricked. Dr. Jekyll does not mean to return to his true identity! At first, Mr. Hyde implores Dr. Jekyll to come forth and save him from being hunted and executed. Finally, he realizes there is a way to force Dr. Jekyll to come forth. He promises Dr. Jekyll that his last appearance as Mr. Hyde will be one to remember.
Mr. Hyde appears in a low-class pub in the slum district. He is entertained by a prostitute named Lily Belle Lorraine. Mr. Hyde becomes the essence of crude charm as he pursues Lily with the encouragement of all the people in the pub. Although Lily is repulsed by Mr. Hyde's appearance, she takes him to her private room just to save face. The people in the pub are overcome with fear when they hear her terrified screams as she is being murdered. Although there is a manhunt for Mr. Hyde, the police are unable to find him.
Mr. Utterson receives a summons to Dr. Jekyll's house from Mr. Poole, the butler. When Mr. Utterson arrives, he finds the servants huddled together in fright. Mr. Poole explains that he believes Mr. Hyde is locked in Dr. Jekyll's laboratory. No one can explain how Mr. Hyde entered. The voice of Mr. Hyde can be heard moaning and crying from within the laboratory. Mr. Utterson decides to knock down the door. Mr. Poole strikes the door with an ax as the voice within the laboratory pleads to be left alone. As the door falls, Mr. Hyde swallows a vial of deadly poison. The servants believe that Dr. Jekyll has been murdered and that he is hidden somewhere on the estate. A complete search of the premises is made, but to no avail.
Mr. Poole concludes that Dr. Jekyll must be hidden in the laboratory where the body of Mr. Hyde was found. Mr. Poole goes into the room, by himself, to investigate. The servants are horror-stricken when they hear Mr. Poole's cry from within the laboratory. As he appears at the doorway, Mr. Poole pleads for everyone to leave and not witness what he has seen. He tries, in vain, to quell the curiosity of those present, and the opera ends as everyone goes into the laboratory to see what has so frightened Mr. Poole.
Click here for a newspaper review of this opera.