Jekyll and Hyde stalk EUSOG

Edinburgh University Savoy Opera Group bring the Leslie Bricusse popular musical Jekyll & Hyde to the stage

With only the support of his fiancée and closest friend, Jekyll sets in motion a course that will alter the three of them permanently.

A chance encounter leaves the doctor enchanted, and with a newfound ferocity he pours himself into his work.

But one man’s fantasy is another man’s reality, and Jekyll soon finds himself transformed into an unrecognisable identity controlled by sex, murder, insanity and passion.

Enter, Mr Hyde.

Edinburgh University Savoy Opera Group bring Leslie Bricusse’s popular musical to the stage of the Church Hill Theatre this week.

Based on the 1886 novella Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde, by Robert Louis Stevenson, the original tale focuses on London lawyer Gabriel John Utterson, who investigates strange occurrences between his old friend, Dr Henry Jekyll and the evil Edward Hyde.

Bricusse’s musical, which was originally conceived for the stage by Frank Wildhorn and Steve Cuden, features music by Wildhorn, book by Bricusse and lyrics by all three.

Jekyll 7 Hyde: The musical premiered in Houston, Texas, in 1990, transferring to Broadway in 1997, where it was revived in 2013.

The production’s show stopping number, This Is The Moment, sung by Jekyll before he takes his potion for the first time, has become a karaoke favourite in recent years and even been sung by David Hasselhoff.

The lyrics will no doubt seem particularly apt to members of the Edinburgh University Savoy Opera Group cast who, from tomorrow at the Church Hill will indeed, to misquote Jekyll, find that ‘this is the moment, this is the hour, when they can open up tomorrow like a flower’ and see ‘everything they planned, fulfil their grand design and see all my stars align.’

Jekyll & Hyde, Church Hill Theatre, Morningside Road, tomorrow-Friday, 7.30pm, £13, www.eusog.org