Jekyll & Hyde Resurrection Audio CD – Soundtrack, August 22, 2006

To start off with, this is a good album. BUT, it's certainly not the best rendition of Jekyll and Hyde by any means.I say it's iffy only because of some of the choices made. There are times when I think the musicality and story-telling takes a back seat to the new instrumentation. The electric guitar basically became a character in this version. Also, they have eliminated every character except Jekyll/Hyde, Lucy, and Emma (Lisa). So, there are NO chorus numbers, and some important songs are missing.That being said, Rob Evan does a fine job of singing these not easy songs. He struggles a little the more "rockin'" the songs get, and would sound better without the overworked (but nicely played) electric guitar.The women I have mixed feelings about. Kate Shindle I find tends to oversing on this recording and rely's far too much on blues slurs. They seem to become a crutch somewhat as the CD goes on. She also seems a bit pitchy at places - mostly because she is oversinging. I think she would have been so much better if she had taken a lighter hand on her high notes and worked a bit harder on holding notes straight without sluring her way onto the note. She has a pleasant voice, so I just felt it was sad that so many things intruded on my enjoyment of her songs.Now Brandi Burkhardt, on the other hand, I found utterly delightful. Her voice was pristine and lovely. I wished she had sung more songs. Such beautifully effortless high notes and she has such ease as she moves through the songs. I found hearing the two women sing together it simply pointed out the lack in one singer and the ability of the other, unfortunately.The biggest problem I had with this recording, honestly, was what many other people have mentioned. The addition of Emma singing in "Girls Of The Night". It didn't make sense, and simply begged the question of, 'why is she singing this?' I feel that was a poor choice, but the price you must pay, I guess, if you're going to eliminate all secondary characters...

I have loved "Jekyll and Hyde" by Frank Wildhorn since I first tripped across it in a CD stack back in the early 90's. It was the concept album with Colm Wilkinson. I fell madly in love with it. It was new and wonderful. It was a horror classic married to music, what could be more fun? And the concept album has some fabulous things going for it. Then there is the double disc Broadway production that fleshed the whole thing out. Of course there was the highlights from the 2 disc set. Now we have the concert version available. The performances are very good vocally. They seem to fit the singers very well, I didn't miss Linda Eder one bit!However, I must say that this will remain in my collection, for exactly that purpose, as a demonstration of what a different cast can do with a work. Granted, this is a concert version so the singers don't have all of the same demands placed on them as during a live staging of the production. Here they basically stand and sing. It's a bit easier for the singer. It's a good disc, don't get me wrong. I'm just not sure that it was necessary. Now if Frank Wildhorn would just get 'Dracula' out of it's coffin I'd be really happy! It's been too long a time for me waiting for Dracula's arrival on disc and then of course, on stage.

I've been a fan of this show since the concept album with Colm Wilkinson. I was blown away by the Gothic version with Anthony Warlow(who IMHO has the BEST voice I've ever heard). I saw the production with Robert Cuccioli 3 times and the recent touring production with Constantine and Deborah.I waited years for a recording with Bob Evans as the title role. Even when he appeared as the Bishop in a previous recording, I always thought he would be a killer(get it?) JandH.BUT.. I just can't get into this disc for the following reasons:1. the guitars are too much!!! It's like they got a Slash copy and allowed him to play whatever and whenever he wanted to. The lead guitar lines during the songs just completely took away from the overall vibe. What's with the extended solo at the end of The Transformation?!?!?! I just want to add that I'm a guitarist playing over 25 years and I love shred, but this is just tasteless. Great player for sure, but damn... have some restraint!!!!!2. The voices on this are so solid, but they take too many liberties(I think). There are runs where it would sound better if they just sang it the way it was written. A lot of the feel and emotion gets lost in the delivery... but if winning American Idol was the goal, then they succeeded.On the plus side, I'm glad that this show continues to press on. It's like the gift that keeps on giving... but the overdone guitars and vocals keep this from being on par with the Anthony Warlow version.

After listening to this cd for the first time I wasn't sure what I was supposed to be thinking. Many of my initial reactions were"What was that?!" "No they didn't!" "How could they?!"After listening to it again I really enjoyed it. For the Jekyll and Hyde purists out there, you'll hate it! For anyone open to new ideas and new interpretations, you'll love it! Robert Evan is a voice from the Broadway show itself (I saw him as Jekyll), and both woman have powerful voices that, in my opinion, do all of the songs justice. The only thing I couldn't handle was "The World Has Gone Insane." I think they took that one a little too far with the heavy metal! But aside from that, there are a lot of embellishments and guitar riffs, but it's a good cd!