Displaying items by tag: Nick Sula

Kokandy Productions’ Jekyll & Hyde, now presented by Broadway In Chicago at the Broadway Playhouse, arrives with the momentum of a bona fide Chicago phenomenon. After its run at Chopin Theatre was extended again and again - an almost unheard of feat for an intimate, homegrown musical - the show has now been picked up for a full commercial engagement, marking a major leap for the company and a testament to the production’s electric word of mouth. It is worth noting just how rare this is: Broadway In Chicago almost never transfers storefront productions, making this pickup one of the most significant Chicago theatre success stories in recent memory. Conceived for the stage by Steve Cuden and Frank Wildhorn, this staging proves how a storefront success can scale beautifully without losing its bite.

This reimagined take on The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, drawn from Robert Louis Stevenson’s classic story, uses Leslie Bricusse’s book and lyrics to follow Dr. Jekyll, a brilliant yet splintering scientist whose compassion fuels his most dangerous ideas. He turns to self‑improvement experiments - attempting to isolate and remove the darker impulses that plague human behavior. Only after the town council votes down his proposal to move forward does Jekyll test his theories on himself, unleashing a violent alter ego - Mr. Hyde - that refuses to stay contained and seeks revenge on those who dismissed his ideas as reckless.

While Jekyll’s experiments drive the plot, the production grounds his unraveling in two sharply drawn relationships: his earnest, hopeful romance with Emma and his complicated, magnetic connection with Lucy. Emma represents the future he’s desperate to protect, while Lucy embodies the vulnerability and desire he can’t fully control. Together, they give the story its emotional spine, showing how Jekyll’s transformation fractures not just his identity, but the lives of the women who care for him.

Kokandy dives into the duality with sharp humor, vivid theatricality, and a pulsing score that turns the transformation into both a spectacle and a psychological spiral. As Jekyll’s world cracks - friends endangered, morality blurred, identity slipping - the production keeps the tension taut, balancing gothic thrills with a surprisingly human core.

(center) David Moreland and the cast of Kokandy Productions’ production of Jekyll & Hyde.

What makes this staging stand out is its inventiveness: clever staging, bold physicality, and a cast that commits fully to the grotesque and the gorgeous – and, wow, can they sing. It’s no surprise audiences kept returning at Chopin, pushing the run far past its original closing date. That groundswell of audience demand is precisely what caught Broadway In Chicago’s attention - a level of traction strong enough to propel a storefront musical into a full commercial engagement. Seeing it now elevated to the Broadway Playhouse feels like the rare occasion when Chicago’s storefront originality gets the larger platform it deserves. In fact, upon entering, guests are handed stickers to mark how many times they’ve seen the show. Whether it’s their first visit or their seventh - the highest number I spotted - theatergoers wear it proudly, a small but telling sign of the cult‑like enthusiasm surrounding this production.

Directed by Producing Artistic Director Derek Van Barham, this production thrives on a razor‑sharp sense of style and drive. Van Barham shapes Jekyll & Hyde with the confidence of someone who knows exactly how to blend horror and heart into one seamless theatrical rhythm. A kinetic drive and deft wit run through the score thanks to Nick Sula’s music direction, ensuring crisp transitions and character‑focused vocal work. With a rare 15‑piece live orchestra on stage, the production’s musical power hits with a fullness and immediacy that elevates every passage. Brenda Didier’s choreography is the secret weapon — precise, playful, and radiating personality, it turns the show’s physicality into storytelling and amplifies the divide at the center of Jekyll’s collapse.

Kokandy’s ensemble fires on all cylinders, creating a production that feels both wickedly fun and sharply realized. David Moreland anchors the show with a riveting, shape‑shifting performance as Dr. Henry Jekyll and Mr. Edward Hyde, his vocal work and physical transformations giving the story its ferocious pulse. Moreland delivers a performance of remarkable physical and emotional intensity, one that stands out among the strongest I’ve seen. With visceral depth and vocal heat, Ava Lane Stovall shapes Lucy Harris into a woman suspended between danger and desire, her performance threading vulnerability through every moment of volatility. She makes Lucy’s internal tug of war feel immediate, giving the role a current that’s both seductive and unsettling. Meanwhile, Emily McCormick’s Emma Carew delivers a beautifully grounded counterbalance, her warm, expressive songs reinforcing the production’s moral center and offering the steadiness Jekyll’s world so desperately lacks.

(center) Ava Lane Stovall with (left to right) Quinn Kelch and Ismael Garcia and (below) Quinn Simmons in Kokandy Productions’ production of Jekyll & Hyde.

As Simon Stride and Spider, Quinn Kech moves effortlessly between clipped propriety and feral swagger, pairing sharp character work with vocals that cut cleanly through the score. A steady moral throughline comes through in Kevin Webb’s Gabriel John Utterson, his warm baritone and grounded presence giving the story its emotional ballast. Nathan Calaranan brings a dignified, resonant authority to Sir Danvers Carew, shaping each turn with clarity and restraint. Around them, the ensemble meets the material with full‑throated commitment - singing with power, acting with specificity, and charging every scene with the kind of collective intensity that makes this production feel larger than its footprint. Led by Jeff Award winners Moreland, Stovall, and McCormick, the ensemble’s collective impact makes this Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde feel vividly, thrillingly alive. The extended applause throughout the night were frequent and fully deserved.

The reimagined score is one of the production’s greatest triumphs, built on Frank Wildhorn’s music, yet reshaped into something leaner, sharper, and far more theatrical. Kim Scharnberg’s orchestrations give the music its dark, muscular edge, while Jason Howland’s arrangements sharpen its modern undercurrent. The orchestrations feel slyly contemporary and richly atmospheric, giving the story a sonic identity that matches Kokandy’s confident staging. Sula ensures every number lands with intention, whether it’s a brooding solo that tightens like a vice or an explosive ensemble sequence that floods the stage with adrenaline. And the vocal performances? They’re extraordinary – out of this world, presented with a clarity and force that elevate every musical moment.

The set evokes the grit and pressure of 1880s London without ever changing, a circular playing space with elevated risers that let the cast surround the action and heighten every moment of tension. Scenic designer Sotirios Livaditis, U.S.A., builds a world that’s intentionally fixed yet remarkably flexible, giving the ensemble multiple levels and angles to push the story forward. G. “Max” Maxin IV’s lighting and Matt Reich’s sound design sharpen that sense of immersion, shaping mood, focus, and dramatic impact from scene to scene. This talented design team gives us a unified environment that feels alive in its stillness - a single space that transforms through performance rather than mechanics.

Jekyll & Hyde comes highly recommended, not only for its inventive reworking but for the sheer theatrical command Kokandy brings to the Broadway Playhouse stage. Presented by Broadway In Chicago, the production (already extended) runs through November 8, 2026 at the Broadway Playhouse at Water Tower Place, with a runtime of 2 hours and 35 minutes including an intermission. It’s a bold, stylish, and wildly entertaining take on a classic tale - one that proves Kokandy’s storefront artistry can thrive beautifully on a commercial stage. I walked away from this production genuinely amazed, struck by how fully Kokandy has transformed a familiar title into something fresh, fearless, and alive. It’s a milestone not just for Kokandy, but for Chicago theatre itself - a reminder that the city’s most daring work can rise all the way to the downtown marquee.

https://www.broadwayinchicago.com/shows/jekyll-hyde/

I’ll admit it: I knew little about “Into the Woods” before seeing the new production at Chicago’s Chopin Theatre. I’m not particularly fond of the composer, Stephen Sondheim. I’d bailed early watching the 2014 film with Meryl Streep. So I challenged myself to find out why it is so popular. And now I know: it’s really good.

At a venue like Chopin Theatre, in the intimate downstairs theater, you’ll have a chance to appreciate the dark humor of the book by James Lapine, and music and lyrics by Sondheim. No doubt you will come away as I did, experiencing the power mined from a most creative mash-up of four familiar fairy tales, and very much liking its dark, funny humor. 

Lapine and Sondheim tap four classic fairy tales—Rapunzel, Little Red Riding Hood, Jack and the Beanstalk, and Cinderella—building a cast of characters that for the first time meet each other. And we discover on stage they have a lot in common. 

Among the cast are two princes, Shea Hopkins as Cinderella’s Prince and Jonathan Allsop as Rapunzel’s Prince, who bond in their shared quests. Princessy figures Cinderella (Madison Kauffman) and Rapunzel (Ismael Garcia) share the spotlight. And then there are the younger innocent players, Little Red (aka Riding Hood, Anna Selbert) and Jack (Kevin Parra) of Beanstalk fame. Both get into trouble for not following their mothers’ orders.

And of course we see those mean-spirited characters, The Witch (Stephanie Stockstill) who entrapped Rapunzel in that stairless tower and Cinderella’s Stepmother (Emily Goldberg)—though these two don’t really connect. 

Bits of the classic stories are recounted, but “Into the Woods” faces us squarely with the shadowy parts. Yes Rapunzel let down her long hair for that prince and they fell in love. But there is more in Grimm’s Fairy Tales (I reread them all after seeing the show): The Witch cuts off Rapunzel’s hair, banishes her to wander a wasteland, and tricks the Prince into climbing up. He falls into a thornbush and pierces his eyes. Another element I hadn’t recalled until my rereading of Rapunzel: a couple aiming to have a child are the origins of the long-haired beauty’s predicament. (This couple seems to be drawn from the original tale, in which the husband surrenders Rapunzel to compensate The Witch for his theft from her garden.) In the play, that husband becomes The Baker (Kevin Webb) who with The Baker's Wife (Sonia Goldberg) goes on a quest in order to have a child. 

Sondheim and Lapine take these stories into uncharted territory in Act 2 as the characters suffer retributions unleashed for their selfish acts. As originally told, after Jack sells a cow for those magic beans, he climbs into the Giant’s lair and robs him, then kills the Giant as he pursues him down the beanstalk. The play adds a riff to that tale: the Giant’s widow (Honey West) chases Jack and wreaks havoc in the kingdom in her pursuit of justice. 

The stories are woven together into a cohesive whole guided by Narrator, played so remarkably well by August Forman, who doubles as Mysterious Man. It is the strength of Forman’s performance that makes the many moving parts fit together; they are onstage continuously and tirelessly. It’s truly remarkable to behold. 

Kokandy Productions’ show, directed and tightly choreographed by Derek Van Barham, meets the demands of this funny and inventive book by Lapine, with music and lyrics by Sondheim. Entrances and action are timed with exacting precision. 

A pair of grand pianos are center stage, with keyboardists Ariana Miles and Evelyn Ryan replacing full orchestration, and fully integrated to the action around them. Kudos to these two for their exemplary artistry. 

What’s not to like in “Into the Woods”? Just one thing: that Wolf? His ears are way too round and small. 

At its 1986 Broadway debut, “Into the Woods” was seen by many as an allegory for the havoc wreaked by the early AIDS crisis. It’s easy to see why during Act 2. Sondheim has demurred from that interpretation, and now nearly 50 years later, there is nothing explicitly alluding to AIDS. Our contemporary climate crisis fits aptly into interpretations of the play now. And that is a tribute to the work’s timeless character, and longstanding appeal.

“Into the Woods” runs through December 22, 2024 at The Chopin Theatre in Chicago.