Actor says he’s challenged by dual roles in ‘Jekyll & Hyde’

by David L. Coddon

Not only is Richard Bermudez starring for the first time in a production at San Diego Musical Theatre this month, he’s also playing “two characters” at the same time.

That’s what comes with the lead role in “Jekyll & Hyde,” the 1990 stage musical written by Frank Wildhorn, Leslie Bricusse and Steve Cuden that’s based on the Gothic novel “Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde” by Robert Louis Stevenson.

“It’s like pushing a button back and forth – your mannerisms, your inflections, your posture, your speech patterns,” said Bermudez, of portraying both the respectable London doctor Henry Jekyll and the murderous Mr. Hyde that he becomes as the result of an experiment on himself. “This is one of the hardest, if not the hardest roles, I’ve ever taken on.”

Richard Bermudez plays both of the title characters in San Diego Musical Theatre's "Jekyll & Hyde" musical. (Julie Licari) — Richard Bermudez plays both of the title characters in San Diego Musical Theatre’s “Jekyll & Hyde” musical. (Julie Licari)

Besides the dual personalities, the part comes with full-throated singing, and a lot of it.

“If you like ballads,” Bermudez said, “this score has 40 of them. I’m sometimes overwhelmed by the sheer volume that I have to sing in the show. They’re bombastic. They’re over the top. It’s indulgent at times and I’m hoping to toe the fine line between the singing and the characterization.”

That scores includes the iconic “This Is a Moment,” sung as Jekyll is on the cusp of conducting his experiment.

“There’s probably not a man alive who hasn’t auditioned with that piece,” Bermudez said admiringly. “I’ve sung it, but never after 19 songs I’ve already sung before it.”

Bermudez has been exercising that singing voice of his a good deal already this year, having performed as The Wolf in Musical Theatre West’s production of “Into the Woods last spring in Long Beach and, more recently, as Gleb the Bolshevik revolutionary this summer in Moonlight Stage Productions’ “Anastasia.”

The “Jekyll & Hyde” demands are something else again, he said.

Besides the ballads, “There are a lot of guttural vocalizations and vocal grinding, I would call it,” he said. “This is such a physical role. I’m flying around stage, I’m murdering people left and right, I’m scampering like a crazed animal at times.”

Bermudez says he keeps in training physically and also for his voice. “I’ve always been very in tune with myself on how to sing in a healthy way,” he said. “You have to know your own instrument very well.”

At SDMT, “Jekyll & Hyde” is being directed by Omri Schein.

“At heart, he and I are just big fans of the piece,” Bermudez said. “We both grew up listening to the original concept album ad nauseum and we both realize it is a very over-the-top piece of work. What I appreciate about him as a director is he’s open to making this very collaborative and open to my input. At the same time, he’s got a very distinct vision that I’m trying to honor.”

The tale of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde has been around since the 1880s and has flourished on film, television and stage ever since. To some extent, Bermudez said, the character who is two men at once has been misunderstood.

“At its core,” he said, “the character is very hopeful. He’s trying to separate and contain and ultimately destroy the capacity for evil within him.”