The strange case of... Me going to a musical

Saw Jekyll and Hyde the musical today. I consider musicals, by and large, to be the yodelling of Satan, and so avoid them at all costs.

I put aside such prejudices to see Lorraine's daughter Beth, in the last night of a production locally at the Barn in Southwick. The musical itself trampled on the Stevenson original, and focused instead on two women not in the original: one that Jekyll is engaged to, and one a prostitute that he befriends and later interferes with (in the guise of Hyde). The song lyrics fairly banal at times and at least two songs were so generic that they could be plucked from this and put into an entirely different one without anyone being able to tell.

However the mostly teenage cast was fine and young Beth, although not given much to do in this production, has a genuine stage presence. So I put aside my curmudgeonly ways and quite enjoyed it, although at one nadir I accidentally groaned aloud. I thought they should have made the production more dangerous and more Victorian and swirly moustached. But afterwards Lorraine and I waited in the bar with all the cast running in and being full of excitement and happiness, I felt chastened for my scornful thoughts.


Below a walk by the sea. Although the seaside was crowded, people are still able to capture a few quiet moments.