The Philadelphia Inquirer from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania • Page D04

D4 www.philly.com THE PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER Tuesday, October 5, 2010 Review Theater Here's monstrously muddy melodrama Jekyll Hyde: The Musical Through Oct. 31 at the Media Theatre for the Performing Arts, 104 E. State St. Media. Tickets: Information: 610-891-0100 or www.mediatheatre.org.

as Jekyll's fiancee Emma, brings her crystalline soprano to occasionally clear away some of the ersatz gothic fog, while Trisha Jeffrey, as prostitute Lucy Harris, throws welcome concert-hall energy into her role, though she and the cast are hobbled by choreographer Alisa Stamps' novice-level jazz hands and shoulder shimmies. Media also hired a new musical director, Tom Fosnocht, for this show, and he delivers sufficient aural bombast and turgidity to match the onstage histrionics. This is one case where more is definitely more. By Wendy Rosenfield FOR THE INQUIRER Jekyll Hyde: The Musical director and Media Theatre artistic director Jesse Cline announced before the curtain rose Friday night, "This show is pure melodrama." Well, it's melodrama all right, but this heavy breather by Frank Wildhorn and Leslie Bricusse, very loosely based on Robert Louis Stevenson's tale, is also pure something else. A muddy plot that raises questions it never resolves (among them: Is Jekyll trying to find a cure for his father's mental illness or exposing upper-class hypocrisy and exacting revenge on its practitioners?) pairs with a pop-shlock jjaiio wiLii a jjujj-oiiiuuis.

commendably steady and unremitting Patrick Ludt) to trade verses with himself as both tenor Jekyll and gravel-voiced Hyde, whipping between characters by lurching back and forth in front of a mirror (presumably developing a bad case of throat nodules in the bargain). Anywhere else you might avert your eyes; here, it's completely in keeping with the tone of the production a tone, by the way, that's completely humorless. And in a show so over the top and this-close to Grand Guignol, with multiple stabbing murders, why no blood? What, that's too much? Elisa Patrick Ludt, taking on the title dual role in 'Jekyll Hyde: The i i) i i i. i i. xiiaiuYiuiiy, naioa iviaiiiicwo, i wilier cii -pniiciaLciy.

IVIUcSIUal, lei UUllllllcriUalJIy cSLoaUy. Thankfully, Matthews, Twitter at philastage. score to create a cast-recording direct-delivery device as insidious as whatever's inside Jekyll's syringes. It's the sort of material that challenges even a fine production, with egregiously lazy lyrics and one song, "The Confrontation," that asks an unlucky actor (in this case, the USB luuivy allui luio lcisc, Luc Becky riazza, bhaw big winners Ulllllllllllllllllw BUllllllllllH BARRYMORES from Dl the ceremony, the Theatre Alliance of Greater Philadelphia showed part of a marketing video it has been making this year by inviting Philadel-phians to sit on a roving "casting couch" and talk about why they are fans; a few were invited to the ceremony to be award presenters. In addition to naming The Light in the Piazza best musical production, the Barry-mores honored its director, Joe Calarco, and three performers: Sherri L.

Edelen as best musical actress, for her portrayal of the mother of a mentally challenged young woman who falls in love on a trip to Italy; Whitney Bashor as the daughter; and Matthew Scott as her Italian swain. R. Lee Kennedy won for lighting the show, and Eric Ebbenga for his musical direction. Ebbenga's Barrymore is also a tribute to the way Piazza composerlyricist Adam Guettel reworked the orchestration so it remained true to the Broadway version yet was affordable to theaters without the vast resources of Lincoln Center, which used a conductor and 15 musicians; at Philadelphia Theatre Company, Ebbenga conducted four. Wilma Theater won five DAVID WARREN Staff Photographer Whitney Bashor, winner for supporting actress in a musical (left), stands with Sherri L.

Edelen, best actress in a musical, and Joe Calarco, best director of a musical all for "The Light in the Piazza" and Sara Garonzik, producing artistic director of Philadelphia Theatre Company. Follow Wendy Rosenfield on ners of this year's lifetime achievement award. The award was presented by Blan-ka Zizka, the Wilma Theater's artistic director, and Charlie Gilbert, chairman of the theater program at University of the Arts; the Wolfs who received a standing ovation, have been vital supporters of those institutions and others. "Through all of their work with educational, historic, and performing arts institutions, a common thread unites their efforts," Zizka said as she and Gilbert presented the medallion. "They do not just give financial support.

They lead. They listen, they talk, they think, and they come back with ideas that achieve success." Versatile actress and director Sarah Sanford, a member of Pig Iron Theatre who is at home both in outre work (last year's Fringe Festival hit Welcome to Yuba City) as well as on the city's main stages, won the $10,000 F. Otto Haas Award for an emerging theater artist, the only other monetary award among the Barrymores. She currently is in rehearsal in the cast of Anton Chekhov's classic Uncle Vanya, which opens at Lantern Theater this month. The Barrymore special-recognition award was presented to longtime Philadelphia actor and director Pete Pryor in August, when the nominees for the other awards were announced.

He had just completed a fellowship in the second class of the prestigious Lunt-Fontanne fellows. B. Someday Productions, of Kensington, won this year's education and community-service award for a program An 'Otello' not quite at summit 'OTELLO' from Dl Moorish general brought down by jealousy over his bride left an uncertain impression. As Desdemona, Norah Am-sellem pushed her lyric soprano, needlessly robbing her voice of its character. Baritone Mark Delavan (Iago) was in complete vocal and theatrical command, though bound to a wheelchair due to recent knee surgery.

Perhaps in compensation, his performance was too animated from the waist up, though it drew on a wealth of insights into his role. Next to him, Otello was a fish in a barrel. Clifton Forbis made a reasonably commanding entrance in the title role but, despite secure high notes, barely sustained the lyrical vocal lines of the love duet. Orchestral accompaniment was iffy. Intermission despair set in, though those who persevered Friday were rewarded.

In subsequent acts, sets are a handsome portrayal of 16th-century Cyprus even if Desdemona's bed chamber is done in Atlantic City turquoise. The chorus was exceptional throughout, but enjoyed a sturdier orchestra than earlier with music director Corrado Rovaris' typically brisk, bracing tempos. And that counts for much since Otello contains some of the most dramatically sophisticated choral and orchestral writing in all of opera. Forbis' tenor never fully accommodated Otello's monumental rage, but the declamatory aspects of the role (which predominate after Act 1) were often projected powerfully, if brutishly. Even the most stringent Otello snobs, though, might consider the evening well spent if only for Am-sellem's Act 4 "Willow Suddenly, her voice became deep and rich and her theatrical timing was flawless, aided by Driver's sensitive staging.

Secondary characters have trouble being noticed in such company, but not the sonorous Margaret Mezzacappa as Emilia. So was Otello a chance worth taking? Yes. Other than Jose Cura (who works mostly in Europe), post-Placido Domingo Otellos fare little better than Forbis, whether Christian Franz on the Berlin Staat-soper DVD or Simon O'Neill in the new London Symphony CD. And Domingo rarely touched the standards of Jon Vickers. One could wait decades.

That's too long for a masterpiece to be absent. Barrymore Award Winners In addition to best play, the production won a Barrymore for the cast's ensemble acting and for director Anne Kauffman; a best-actor award for Jeremy Bobb as a flinty money manager; and a supporting-actress award for Brooke Bloom in the title role. InterAct Theatre Company won three awards, one each for three different productions. John Bellomo and Tony "Hitman" Stetson won for their choreography of The Elaborate Entrance of Chad Deity, a funny, edgy play about a wrestler for which they plotted the movement inside the ring InterAct built in lieu of a stage. A new Barrymore honor the Brown Martin Philadelphia Award for a production that shows how theater can illuminate the meaning of diversity went to InterAct's Black Pearl about two women, a white collector of rural folk songs for the Library of Congress and an African American convict.

Most Barrymore awards are medallions, but this one also means a $25,000 prize for InterAct. The company's third award, for new approaches to collaborations, went to City of Numbers, which InterAct produced with Philadelphia's Mural Arts Program. Playwright Sean Christopher Lewis interviewed lifers at Graterford Prison about their work as mural artists, and also performed the one-man play. That Barrymore, to honor stage work whose creation also involves organizations not normally linked with theater, is annually sponsored by two patrons of theater, Ted and Stevie Wolf, who are win Peter DeLaurier, who played Kent in People's Light Theatre Company's "King Lear," accepts the award for supporting actor in a play. called Of Mythic Proportions, which provides opportunities for high school students in Kensington to create theater pieces and share them with the community.

The Barrymores were chosen by 65 voters theater educators and administrators as well as artists. A randomly selected eight voters were assigned to each of 145 eligible shows. Each voter gave points from 1 to 100 in each category. The top point-earners became nominees, and those with the most points were the winners Monday night. The Walnut Street Theatre production of Fiddler on the Roof swept the nominations, 13 in all, and won two Barry-mores.

One went to Mark Ja-coby as Tevye, the central character in the musical about an ill-fated shtetl at the outset of the Russian Revolution. The other award went to Colleen Grady for her evocative costumes. Local playwright Bruce Graham won the award for outstanding new play for Any Given Monday, a joint production of Theatre Exile in Center City and Act II Playhouse in Ambler. The funny, arresting play, about a man addled by changes in his life and his friend who attempts to help him over them, was performed on both stages. Cheryl Williams received the award for best actress in a play, for her performance as an author who seeks out her husband's former mistress in David Hare's play The Breath of Life at Lantern Theater.

Christopher Colucci also won for his original music in the production and was the sole winner of two awards, the other for his sound design of Azuka Theatre's The Long Christmas Ride Home. Arden Theatre Company, often a big winner, received one award, for David P. Gordon's set of the family show If You Give a Mouse a Cookie. Peter DeLaurier, Kent in People's Light Theatre Company's King Lear, won as best supporting actor in a play, and Act IPs The Story of My Life won for outstanding musical ensemble a curious choice as the show's ensemble consists of two actors. After the program, directed by the Theatre Alliance's Karen DiLossi, the audience, made up largely of theater artists and their spouses and friends, strolled to a reception a few blocks away at the Ben Franklin House ballroom.

Contact staff writer Howard Shapiro at 215-854-5727 or hshapirophillynews.com. Follow him on Twitter at philastage. Barrymores for its production of Becky Shaw, a wickedly funny play about a complex young woman who is obsessed with a man she has met on a blind date. The play, by Gina Gionfriddo, had been a hit Off-Broadway. Music Direction Eric Ebbenga, The Light in the Piazza; Philadelphia Theatre Company Set Design David Gordon, If You Give a Mouse a Cookie; Arden Theatre Company Lighting Design R.

Lee Kennedy, The Light in the Piazza; Philadelphia Theatre Company Costume Design Colleen Grady, Fiddler on the Roof; Walnut Street Theatre Sound Design Christopher Colucci, The Long Christmas Ride Home; Azuka Theatre New Play Bruce Graham, Any Given Monday; Theatre Exile and Act II Playhouse Ensemble in a Play Becky Shaw; The Wilma Theater Ensemble in a Musical The Story of My Life; Act II Playhouse Brown Martin Philadelphia Award Black Pearl InterAct Theatre Company New Approaches to Collaborations InterAct Theatre Company Mural Arts Program; City of Numbers Theatre Education and Community Service Award B. Someday Productions; Of Mythic Proportions F. Otto Haas Award for an Emerging Philadelphia Theatre Artist Sarah Sanford Special Recognition Award Pete Pryor Lifetime Achievement Award Ted Stevie Wolf Best Play Becky Shaw; The Wilma Theater Best Musical The Light in the Piazza; Philadelphia Theatre Company Direction of a Play Anne Kauffman, Becky Shaw; The Wilma Theater Direction of a Musical Joe Calarco, The Light in the Piazza; Philadelphia Theatre Company Actor in a Play Jeremy Bobb, Becky Shaw; The Wilma Theater Actress in a Play Cheryl Williams, The Breath of Life; Lantern Theater Company Actor in a Musical Mark Jacoby, Fiddler on the Roof; Walnut Street Theatre Actress in a Musical Sherri L. Edelen, The Light in the Piazza; Philadelphia Theatre Company Supporting Actor in a Play Peter DeLaurier, King Lear; People's Light Theatre Company Supporting Actress in a Play Brooke Bloom, Becky Shaw; The Wilma Theater Supporting Actor in a Musical Matthew Scott, The Light in the Piazza; Philadelphia Theatre Company Supporting Actress in a Musical Whitney Bashor, The Light in the Piazza; Philadelphia Theatre Company ChoreographyMovement John Bellomo Tony "Hitman" Stetson, The Elaborate Entrance of Chad Deity; InterAct Theatre Company Contact music critic David Patrick Stearns at dstearnsphillynews.com. Otello Music by Giuseppe Verdi, libretto by Arrigo Boito based on Shakespeare's Othello.

Conducted by Corrado Rovaris, directed by Robert B. Driver, designed by Paul Shortt, costumes by Richard St. Clair. Cast: Otello Clifton Forbis Iago Mark Delavan Desdemona Norah Amsellem Cassio Jason Collins Roderigo Cody Austin Emilia Margaret Mezzacappa Presented by Opera Company of Philadelphia at the Academy of Music, Broad and Locust Streets, Wednesday, Sunday and Oct. 15.

Tickets: Information: 215-893-1999 or www.operaphila.org. Rebekah Sassi, chair of the board of the Theatre Alliance of Greater Philadelphia (left), stands with Ted and Stevie Wolf, winners of this year's lifetime achievement award..