I’ll be honest with you my loyal readers- sometimes I don’t feel like seeing a show I have booked. Especially with this new job I can end the day exhausted and wanting to just crash but I have tickets to a show I scheduled weeks ago for that very night. 9 times out of 10 I get out there and use my ticket and I’m always glad I did. Even if the show isn’t great I rarely regret making the effort to support local theatre. Such was my experience yesterday at Draper Historic Theatre’s produciton of Jekyll and Hyde: The Musical. I was tired after a long nearly 8 hour shift and wondered if I should just eat the ticket. Well, I went and I’m so glad I did because it was an amazing experience!

Despite being in my hometown I had only been to DHT one other time and it was years ago to see a production of A Christmas Carol. They have a reputation of doing a lot of parody theatre which isn’t my favorite so I hadn’t given it much thought. Now after seeing what they did with Jekyll and Hyde they are on my radar and I will be seeing more shows there.

This was also my first time seeing Jekyll and Hyde on stage. I’m a big Linda Eder fan so I had heard the songs many times but never actually seen it. I know it doesn’t have the best reputation as far as its book (and I can see why. It takes forever to introduce Hyde) but the spectacle and theatricality of the songs and story provide a lot of great opportunities for actors to really go for it in their performance. It was a ton of fun.

For a small stage (sold out crowd which I love to see) director Melissa Van Dam uses the areas they have well even bringing the actors out into the aisles, which I love in theatre. There’s one point where Jekyll was practically singing to me all covered with blood and it was a blast! I also thought the costumes by Katrina Smith and Rachel Edlund were strong for the entire cast and how they created a distinct identity for both Jekyll and Hyde was brilliant.

All that said, the real standout of this production is the unbelievable performance by Tanner Tate who I don’t think I’ve seen before. It is shocking to see such a gorgeous belting voice in a humble little theatre in Draper. Especially as he is increasingly torn between Jekyll and Hyde his performance grows and becomes so manic and intense it’s honestly better than this material or venue deserve. I don’t give hyperbole lightly but I was blown away by him. Whether it is the power ballad of “This is the Moment” or the sexy “Dangerous Game” Tate and his beautiful voice and tremendous acting are outstanding and worth making the trip to Draper if you can (He’s in the MWF cast, and I feel bad for the TTHS guy because there’s no way he’s as good as Tate.)

The girls are also good particularly Rachel Olsen who plays Lucy but Tate was just on another level. I hope he keeps performing and I will see anything he is cast in the future.

As far as critiques there were some microphone issues but mostly the backtrack wasn’t the best. I wish they could have had a better one but when the singing is great I can forgive a weak backtrack.

Jekyll and Hyde: The Musical is playing at Draper Historic Theatre until May 27th and you can purchase tickets here.