#anteeksi en antaa voi koskaan enkä tahdokaan~

[starlene]

My problem with the 2020 Finnish production of Jekyll & Hyde in a nutshell (because I feel like I've kept badmouthing it in tags for four years now without elaborating):

They just did the show as it's written, without putting any extra spice/interpretation/silliness/aesthetic/etc. into it.

With the likes of Les Misérables, West Side Story, or Fiddler on the Roof, you can get away with that approach. They're written so well you can't really go wrong by just acting out the words without any independent thought. Heck, you could do those in t-shirts under worklights and they would still be enjoyable.

But my dearest trash musical Jekyll & Plothole? I mean, Madonna/Whore-Complex & Hyde?

I love J&H with all my heart, but I'm also 100% aware that it isn't built well enough to stand on its own. You gotta go the extra mile with the direction and/or production design. You gotta give the audience a little something more than whatever's written in the libretto. A bit of camp. Some extra intensity. Some weird fun aesthetic. Something.

And personally, I got nothing from that production.

An unforgettably forgettable experience, as simple as that.