Cover photo by Valory Schoenecker for Murphy News Service
By Valory Schoenecker/Murphy News Service
On the eve of a frigid Minnesota snowstorm, students from around the Twin Cities gathered in a Wayzata-based practice space to rehearse their performance of one of Blue Water Theatre Company’s darkest and most intense musicals yet — “Jekyll & Hyde.”
Blue Water Executive and Artistic Director Charlie Leonard said theatre troupe normally is a place students go to escape the confines of high school drama and the everyday stresses in life. He said theatre usually allows students to enter the realm of a world unexplored, a world where they can let loose.
But Blue Water’s latest production of “Jekyll & Hyde,” opening Thursday, Feb. 19, is far from liberating.
“I can see the anxiety in each student as they walk through the doors before rehearsal. This play is very emotionally draining,” Leonard said.
“Jekyll & Hyde” is based off the 1886 novel, Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, written by Robert Louis Stevenson. The story explores the harsh battle between good and evil where the main character suffers from a split personality disorder causing him to damage his closest relationships.
When Wayzata senior C. Luke Soucy found out he was going to play Jekyll and Hyde he said he was terrified, not only because of the ominous role but also because it is the most vocally demanding character he has ever played.
“We don’t treat our kids as kids. This musical will be great for them as performers and as people,” Leonard said.
Soucy has performed in nine Blue Water plays and has co-directed one. He also performs for Wayzata High School’s theatre department, acting in seven shows and co-directing one.
“There’s no denying that it’s dark. But it is also riveting and intense, in a good way,” Soucy said.
Blue Water’s first-ever production of “Jekyll & Hyde” will star 28 students from eight Twin City-area school districts, including Wayzata, Orono, Minnetonka, Hopkins, Benilde-St. Margaret’s, Edina, Washburn and Armstrong. Students in the cast are from grades 8-12, but Blue Water allows students grades 6-12 to audition for each play.
Devon McNamara, a junior at Orono High School, said students who perform for the Blue Water Theatre Co. are like family to her. She said it is fun to hang out with people from different high schools because there are barriers associated with going to school with the same kids for 12 years. She sees Blue Water as a paradise in an otherwise cliquey world. McNamara will star as Emma Carew, Dr. Henry Jekyll’s fiance.
Sarah Taft, a senior at Wayzata High School, said the music in “Jekyll and Hyde” is absolutely beautiful. Despite a somber and arguably hopeless story, Leonard said there are brilliant musical moments in this play that are quite complex.
Taft said rehearsing for this musical has been an experience. She said it’s a way to sympathize with the world because there are bits and pieces of human emotions in every character. From depression, suicide, hopelessness and internal struggle, this stuff does exist, contrary to the fictional story.
“Lucy is the most tragic character I’ve ever played,” Taft said. “She is a prostitute and her life is basically one big ball of stuff to overcome.”
Leonard said he can only direct classical musicals so many times, eventually students get bored. They need artistic and personal challenges, he said, and that’s exactly what “Jekyll & Hyde” gives them.
Reporter Valory Schoenecker is studying journalism at the University of Minnesota.
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If you go:
Blue Water Theatre Co. presents “Jekyll & Hyde”
When: Feb. 19, 20, 21 at 7 p.m.
Feb. 22 at 2 p.m.
Where: New Century Theater, Minneapolis
Tickets: $16 for adults, $11 for students/senior. Purchase tickets online: https://www.vendini.com/ticket-software.html?t=tix&w=968e08e4391c06fd14cede5dd2d62c17