Dashing widely held moral standards, a cold-blooded murderer was appreciated, if not welcomed, during the Penn State Thespians production of Jekyll and Hyde this weekend.
The musical featured Ross Peduzzi (freshman-Spanish) as Dr. Henry Jekyll, who develops a potion that lets his evil side, Edward Hyde, loose by mistake.
Peduzzi seemed slightly stiff and restrained as Jekyll during the first half of the show -- maybe on purpose -- but then let loose as Hyde.
Although his altered character murdered half a dozen people, Peduzzi was so convincingly evil he connected more with the audience as Hyde than as the well-intentioned scientist.
Members of the ensemble added strangely beautiful harmonies in balance with the macabre atmosphere created by the music of the pit orchestra.
This interplay proved especially impressive during Hyde's rampage song, "Murder, Murder."
The student performers showcased their talents with clear, expressive singing despite the dark subject matter. Each of the lead characters seemed perfectly cast, especially Jekyll's fiancee Emma, played by Courtney Lope.
Even though Lope was younger than most of her fellow cast members -- she's a junior at State College Area High School -- her stage presence and vocal talent fit the emotional struggles of her naïve but loving character very well.
The musical was performed on a multi-tiered set meant to create the feeling of Jekyll's basement laboratory, complete with bubbling potions, at stage level. However, as the featured cast members moved around the set, the lack of stage lighting in certain spots made it hard to see them at times, which may have been intentional to reflect the overall mood of the performance.
This, as well as a few problems with the microphones during the first act, was slightly distracting, making the audience work harder to suspend disbelief leading up to the climax of Jekyll's transformation.
Peduzzi used a grave voice, adopted a slouched, strutting walk and threw his stringy, collar-length hair in front of his face to make the distinction between the two personalities clear.
The highlight of the show was the two personalities' feud with each other during the climactic song "Confrontation" near the end of the production, when Peduzzi flailed back and forth physically and used different intonation in his singing to distinguish the characters that he was portraying.
If the song was done differently, it could have left the audience confused, but Peduzzi pulled it off well.
The Thespians' 191st production was entertaining as a whole, but nothing was as wowing as Peduzzi's two-faced, standout performance.
