History YMMV / JekyllAndHyde

*** [[ValuesDissonance Until you realize the Victorians didn't really care about the well being of mentally ill]] and so this likely wasn't part of their reasoning.

* {{Narm}}: "Confrontation" consists of Jekyll and Hyde in a heated argument. Since both are portrayed by the same actor, one half of the actor has hair and makeup to look like Hyde, and the other made up normally to look like Jekyll. When they switch parts of the song, the actor turns so that either his left or right side is exposed to the audience - complete with lighting cues. The concept is already flawed - but in the hands of a bad actor, it is absolutely hilarious.

** The LeitMotif of the show, ''Facade'', pops up multiple times, in which the Ensemble comment on the evils of human nature, with each reprise gaining a much more sinister connotation.

** The board members' unwillingness to sanction Jekyll's work is actually understandable. Although they're all portrayed as close-minded hypocrites, and if they had said yes he might have been able to better control the experiment, it's completely unethical to perform an experimental, possibly dangerous, treatment on an asylum patient, as he requested--such a subject, among other things, would be unable to provide informed consent.

** There's also the matter of the Bishop of Basingstoke's question to Jekyll when he finishes pitching his idea: "[[AndThenWhat And what if you're right, Jekyll, and you do manage to separate good from evil?]] '''[[SuddenlyShouting What happens to the evil!?]]'''". While he asks it in an extremely confrontational and over-the-top way and he's leagues away from being a wise or decent human being, it doesn't change the fact that, as anyone remotely familiar with the story will know, that question was an ''extremely important one''. The fact that Jekyll refused to even answer it and instead deflected it with emotional appeals should have been grounds for dismissal of the proposition right then and there.

* TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodCharacter: Lisa/Emma contributes little to the story aside from singing several love songs. Lucy does much the same, but they contribute to her characterization of abuse and feeling alone, while Emma just loves Henry and little else. In the concept albums Lisa admits as much, saying her world revolves around Henry and his dreams.

* {{Narm}}: The ending comes up so abruptly and melodramatically it can be hard to take seriously, let alone process what the heck just happened. The original ending was a bit more drawn-out, but ended on an extremely dramatic violin flourish.

* CrowningMusicOfAwesome: Both Jekyll and Hyde get a ton of them, with "This is the Moment", "Confrontation" (in which Jekyll and Hyde ''[[TalkingToThemself duet]]''), "I Need To Know", and "Alive" being the stand-outs.
** Lucy does get a handful of really good numbers as well, though since her original actress was [[CreatorsPet dating the writer]] it should be no surprise.
** Many of Jekyll's songs are just pure awesome.

* CreatorsPet: Lucy gets an unusual amount of songs despite being TheNotLoveInterest in most revisions of the show. The simplest explanation is that the character was written with Linda Eder in mind, who, in addition to having a truly superb voice, was dating writer/composer Frank Wildhorn at the time.

* CreatorsPet: Lucy gets an unusual amount of songs despite being TheNotLoveInterest in most revisions of the show. The simplest explanation is that the character was written with Linda Eder in mind, who was dating writer/composer Frank Wildhorn at the time.

* StrangledBYTheRedString: While we at least have a pretty good idea why Lucy loves Henry as he was the only one to treat her with any kindness, Emma and Henry are more generically in love and they rarely express any qualities or personality about why they do.

** There's also the matter of the Bishop of Basingstoke's question to Jekyll when he finishes pitching his idea: "And what if you're right, Jekyll, and you do manage to separate good from evil? '''What happens to the evil!?'''". While he asks it in an extremely confrontational and over-the-top way and he's leagues away from being a wise or decent human being, it doesn't change the fact that, as anyone remotely familiar with the story will know, that question was an ''extremely important one''. The fact that Jekyll refused to even answer it and instead deflected it with emotional appeals should have been grounds for dismissal of the proposition right then and there.

** There's also the matter of the Bishop of Basingstoke's question to Jekyll when he finishes pitching his idea: "And what if you're right, Jekyll, and you do manage to separate good from evil? '''What happens to the evil!?'''". While he asks it in an extremely confrontational and over-the-top way and he's leages away from being the wisest or most righteous person, it doesn't change the fact that, as anyone remotely familiar with the story will know, that question was an extremely important one. The fact that Jekyll refused to even answer it and instead deflected it with emotional appeals should have been grounds for dismissal of the proposition right then and there.

* StrawmanHasAPoint: The board members' unwillingness to sanction Jekyll's work is actually understandable. Although they're all portrayed as close-minded hypocrites, and if they had said yes he might have been able to better control the experiment, it's completely unethical to perform an experimental, possibly dangerous, treatment on an asylum patient, as he requested--such a subject, among other things, would be unable to provide informed consent.

* {{Narm}}: The ending comes up so abruptly and melodramatically it can be hard to take seriously, let alone process what the heck just happened.

* TheScrappy: Not many people like Emma. It's not hatred so much as the sentiment that she contributes very little to the story aside from singing several love songs. Lucy does much the same, but they contribute to her characterization of abuse and feeling alone, not to mention she and Hyde share some dramatic scenes.

* StrawmanHasAPoint: The board members' unwillingness to sanction Jekyll's work is actually understandable. Although they're all portrayed as close-minded hypocrites, and if they had said yes he might have been able to better control the experiment, it's completely unethical to perform an experimental, possibly dangerous, treatment on an asylum patient,as he requested--such a subject, among other things, would be unable to provide informed consent.

* WTHCastingAgency: Among the castings are theatre royalty [[Theatre/LesMiserables Colm Wilkinson]] and [[Theatre/ThePhantomOfTheOpera Steve Barton]], weird additions like Creator/DavidHasselhoff and [[Music/SkidRow Sebastian Bach]], and perhaps most infamously Takashi Kaga. And that's just for the character of Henry Jekyll/Edward Hyde.

** Takeshi Kaga was actually quite well-known for starring in musicals in Japan prior to his Series/IronChef days -- he had also played [[Theatre/LesMiserables Jean Valjean]] and [[JesusChristSuperstar Jesus]], among other roles.

** Takeshi Kaga was actually quite well-known for starring in musicals in Japan prior to his IronChef days -- he had also played [[Theatre/LesMiserables Jean Valjean]] and [[JesusChristSuperstar Jesus]], among other roles.

* SignatureScene: The most famous scene/songs in the musical is either Hyde's "Alive," where he gleefully rampages through London, or "Confrontation," where Jekyll and Hyde duet as they struggle for control of the body.

* CreatorsPet: Lucy gets an unusual amount of songs despite being TheNotLoveInterest in most revisions of the show. The simplest explanation is that the character was written with Linda Eder in mind... who was dating writer/composer Frank Wildhorn at the time.
* CrowningMusicOfAwesome: Both Jekyll and Hyde get a ton of them, with "This is the Moment", "No One Must Ever Know/Confrontation" (in which Jekyll and Hyde ''[[TalkingToThemself duet]]''), "I Need To Know", and "Alive" being the stand-outs.

* RomanticPlotTumor: A lot of the songs and scenes in the musical, especially early on, are about Jekyll, Emma, or Lucy singing about love and being in love. It takes about 45 minutes into the musical for Hyde to show up.

* TheWoobie: Say what you will about Linda Eder's clearly superior vocal performance, but the DVD Release features Colleen Sexton as Lucy and she sure looks like someone killed her puppy.
* WTHCastingAgency: Among the castings are theatre royalty [[Theatre/LesMiserables Colm Wilkinson]] and [[ThePhantomOfTheOpera Steve Barton]], weird additions like Creator/DavidHasselhoff and [[Music/SkidRow Sebastian Bach]], and perhaps most infamously Takashi Kaga. And that's just for the character of Henry Jekyll/Edward Hyde.

* EpicRocking: "Facade"

* RomanticPlotTumor: A lot of the songs and scenes in the musical, especially after the tours, are about Jekyll, Emma, or Lucy singing about love and being in love. It takes about 45 minutes into the musical for Hyde to show up.

* HilariousInHindsight: The surreal imagery and lyrics in "The World Has Gone Insane" call to mind the [[VidoeGame/DrJkeyllAndMrHyde infamous NES game]].

* WTHCastingAgency: Among the castings are theatre royalty [[Theatre/LesMiserables Colm Wilkinson]] and [[ThePhantomOfTheOpera Steve Barton]], weird additions like Creator/DavidHasselhoff and [[SkidRow Sebastian Bach]], and perhaps most infamously Takashi Kaga. And that's just for the character of Henry Jekyll/Edward Hyde.

** Am I a good man ... am I a ''mad'' man? There's such a fine line...

* RomanticPlotTumor: A huge percent of the songs and scenes in the musical are just the two love interests singing about being in love. It takes about 45 minutes into the musical for Hyde to even show up.