Jekyll & Hyde, dance review: Big, bright, broad and sexy

From the moment a bevy of femme fatales burst on stage, skirts swooshing to a jazzy blare of brass, it’s clear this is a different kind of Jekyll & Hyde. One that owes very little to Robert Louis Stevenson — mainly just the title — and much more to Little Shop of Horrors, Marvel superheroes, MGM musicals and Matthew Bourne.

Dr Jekyll (Daniel Collins) is a florist, experimenting with plant science on the side. He’s the archetypal Fifties nerd, awkwardly in love with a pretty redhead, when some accidental alchemy with his fertiliser sees him mutate into a brutish ladykiller (in both senses of the word).

Director Drew McOnie is a musical theatre whizz, and this is his first major show for his own company. A clever choreographer of unstoppable energy, his dance is full of wit, zip and zest, and a lot of leg. The show is big, bright, broad and sexy (sometimes trying a bit too hard on that front).

What doesn’t work is trying to create a sense of threat and horror by just pushing the volume up ever louder, rather than delving into character. But taken on its own terms, it’s a lot of fun.

Until May 28, Old Vic (0844 871 7628)

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