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The new Jekyll & Hyde 2012 Concept Recording was recently released to give audiences a preview of the upcoming U.S. national tour and broadway revival.  There are a TON of recordings of this show out there, and I’ve listened to many of them.  Here’s what I thought of this new release:

1. For those expecting a completely re-imagined version of the show, don’t get your hopes up.  The new, rock arrangements are definitely hit-or-miss and often feel very ‘put on.’  There are no new songs on the album per se, but some fan favorites from the original concept recording(s) have been added back in (specifically “I Need To Know”, “Bring On The Men”, “Girls of the Night”).  

2. So how are the leads?  Constantine Maroulis is, again, very hit-or-miss (mostly miss on this album).  There is almost NO differentiation in his voice between the two characters he’s supposed to be playing (Jekyll & Hyde).  Also, most of his songs are overly-‘fussy’, and his pop/rock music background adds almost nothing to this musical.  Deborah Cox fares a bit better as Lucy- perhaps because most of the character’s songs are pop ballads which Deborah pulls off quite well.  Teal Wicks sounds A LOT like Christiane Noll (with a little more ‘bite’ to her voice at times), but she also doesn’t have much to sing on this album (Emma’s song “I Need To Know” will not be included in this production despite appearing on the 2006 Resurrection Album).

Overall Thoughts: This new recording really isn’t worth the $12+ that’s being charged for it.  The changes to the show’s music aren’t substantial enough to draw in new audience members, yet they’re just enough to piss off Jekyll & Hyde traditionalists who prefer the more gothic-sound over the modern rock arrangements (I generally put myself in that category).  I’ll try to catch the upcoming national tour and post my thoughts on the production here, but this ‘concept recording’ did very little for me.