Ballet West mixes it up madly with “Jekyll and Hyde”
Ballet West opened its 2024-25 season with Jekyll and Hyde, a retelling of Robert Louis Stevenson’s gothic novella, choreographed by Val Caniparoli. This production is an exploration of opposites, not just in the dichotomy of the characters of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, but also presented through the details of the sets, costumes, music.
Stevenson’s Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde is an allegory for man’s battle between good and evil. Caniparoli has kept the broad strokes of Stevenson’s work, but inserts the author as a character in the ballet to establish the setting and move the story forward.
Caniparoli has further chosen to separate Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde into two different roles, using Stevenson to interact with both to smooth the transition from one to the other. Stevenson’s repeated injections of opium throughout the tale frame the action as a drug-induced hallucination which heightens the unease in early scenes of Act I.
Jekyll and Hyde is a complex production, with some elements that are more successful than others. Mental asylum patients have sequences of sublimely energetic, contorted choreography, but that is contrasted with the shorthand of twitches and scratching that symbolize mental illness.
Since Mr. Hyde does not appear until the end of Act I, Act II sometimes felt rushed to cover enough detail of the story, and some musical repetition made some scenes feel too long. The narrative choice to include Stevenson to move the action felt cumbersome at times, and more direct contact between Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde throughout the work might lend more tension and highlight the attempts at self-control.
Caniparoli employs a modern physical dance vocabulary that is well matched to convey emotional feeling. His gestures are grounded, both in the floor beneath the dancer’s feet and in the rhythmic sense of the music. The motion he creates includes steps and poses that could be seen in modern dance or hip-hop, but it feels unique through the positions and formality of ballet. Ballet West has performed many of his ballets over the years, so they seemed very comfortable and grounded in the movements on opening night.
Jordan Veit performed the role of Dr. Jekyll, and had ample time to explore the emotional depth of his character in a performance filled with dynamic contrast. At times his body extended in all directions, searching every inch of space. Other times his contractions exemplified Dr. Jekyll’s search inward, both to plumb the depth of his experiments, but also as a way to hide from the man he was becoming.
As Mr. Hyde, David Huffmire had a rebellious aggression, but since he emerged fully-formed as the evil side of the character, there was not much nuance for him to explore. Yet in the party scene at the beginning of Act II, the pas de deux between Huffmire and Katlyn Addison was captivating. The athleticism and pace of their pairing gave a breathless energy that felt just on the edge of control.
Tyler Gum rounded out the trio of leads as Robert Louis Stevenson.
Caniparoli did add two female characters—Nellie, a fiancé, and Rowena, a prostitute—but they are secondary, one-dimensional roles just waiting to be terrorized or killed. One unexpected but charming addition to the casting was seeing multiple former Ballet West dancers take on character roles.
The corps artists were strong in their roles as mental patients, but later in the story added soft, beautifully layered motion in a quiet street scene.
Each of the two acts have multiple settings, and the action moves quickly from an insane asylum and Dr. Jekyll’s laboratory, to parties and a tavern. Many of the costumes have a distinct Victorian influence while the set incorporates strips of LED lights and reflective black surfaces. The stark contrast between the two elements accents the modern edginess of the ballet. In the beginning, moments with Dr. Jekyll incorporate white LED accents, which switch to red when Mr. Hyde presence is personified. As the boundaries between the two characters become less defined, more red elements are added through masks and costumes.
Unlike many new ballets, Jekyll and Hyde does not feature a newly composed score. Instead, the majority is a variety of 20th century works by three Polish composers, Henryk Górecki, Wojciech Kilar, and Krzysztof Penderecki. In addition to music performed by the Ballet West Orchestra, the production also included solo piano, recorded symphonic music, and additional sound design of environmental and ambient noise. The differing levels of sound served to build the tension in many scenes, but in some occasions the sound quality suffered.
Ballet West’s Jekyll and Hyde continues through November 2. balletwest.org