Murfreesboro's First Professional Theater Company to Debut With JEKYLL & HYDE In Concert

Jekyll & Hyde-the musical that established Frank Wildhorn as a major force in contemporary musical theater-will be given a concert mounting in early August as the first offering from Murfreesboro's Stones River Theatre Company, the city's first and only professional theatre company.

Directed by Logan Huber, SRTC's artistic director, with musical direction by Justin Holder, the show runs August 3 and 4 at 7 p.m. and August 5 at 2 p.m. at Middle Tennessee State University's Hinton Hall in the Wright Music Building.

"Jekyll & Hyde is a true musical theatre phenomenon," Huber says, explaining the show's selection as the debut production of his new theater company. "This show had attracted legions of loyal fans even before the show began its smash-hit Broadway run."

Huber describes the show as "an evocative tale of the epic battle between good and evil: Jekyll & Hyde is based on Robert Louis Stevenson's classic story about a brilliant doctor whose experiments with human personality create a murderous counterpart. Convinced the cure for his father's mental illness lies in the separation of Man's evil nature from his good, Dr. Henry Jekyll unwittingly unleashes his own dark side, wreaking havoc in the streets of late 19th century London as the savage, maniacal Edward Hyde." 

Stephen Michael Jones, a recent theater graduate of MTSU who made his Boiler Room Theatre debut in Xanadu, takes on the title roles, portraying Dr. Henry Jekyll and his darker, more sinister personality Edward Hyde.

Wildhorn's acclaimed score for Jekyll & Hyde includes "Someone Like You" and "This is the Moment." Huber says a live orchestra will perform the score under Holder's direction for the three performances in Hinton Hall

The cast also includes Katherine Sandoval Taylor, currently in rehearsals for The Light in the Piazza in Asheville, North Carolina, and who will portray Young Heidi in First Night's Follies In Concert later in August, will play Emma Carew in Jekyll and Hyde, with Jeana Campbell as Lucy Harris, John Carson Taylor as Gabriel John Utterson, Warren Langworthy (also cast in First Night's Follies In Concert) as Sir Danvers Carew, Christine Poythress as Lady Beaconsfield and Nellie and Kinsey Brewer as Simon Stride.

All tickets are $15 at the door, payable by cash and check only. For more information, write stonesrivertheatre@gmail.com.

Pictured: Logan Huber

Jeffrey Ellis is a Nashville-based writer, editor and critic, who's been covering the performing arts in Tennessee for more than 25 years. He is the recipient of the Tennessee Theatre Association's Distinguished Service Award for his coverage of theatre in the Volunteer State and was the founding editor/publisher of Stages, the Tennessee Onstage Monthly. He is a past fellow of the National Critics Institute at the Eugene O'Neill Theatre Center and is the founder/executive producer of The First Night Honors, held during Labor Day Weekend, which honor oustanding theater artists in Tennessee in recognition of their lifetime achievements and includes The First Night Star Awards and the Most Promising Actors. Midwinter's First Night, held the first Sunday in January after New Year's Day, honors outstanding productions and performances throughout the state. Further, Ellis directed the Nashville premiere of La Cage Aux Folles, The Last Night of Ballyhoo and An American Daughter, as well as award-winning productions of Damn Yankees, Company, Gypsy and The Rocky Horror Show, with Ellis honored by The Tennessean as best director of a musical for both Company and Rocky Horror.

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