“Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde” comes to the Modesto Junior College Theater Department

If you’ve ever felt like two people in one body, pull up a chair, because Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde would like a chat.

The classic story of a man and the monster within him comes alive with the Modesto Junior College theater department staging of “The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde,” just in time for Halloween. The production will run Thursday through Oct. 25 and Oct. 30 through Nov. 2 in the main auditorium of the Performing and Media Arts Center on the MJC East Campus.

MJC theater professor Michael Lynch wrote and directed the adaptation based on the late-19th-century novella by Robert Louis Stevenson. The work has been adapted for stage and screen innumerable times over the years. Famous U.S. film versions include the 1920 silent picture starring John Barrymore, the 1931 adaptation that earned Fredric March an Academy Award, and a 1941 remake with Spencer Tracy and Ingrid Bergman.

“I’ve always loved the story. You know, Jekyll/Hyde is really a shadowy character. He is almost a phantom in the novel. This is more or less in his point of view,” Lynch said.

Lynch said he took from the novella and the 1941 film, among other sources, to create a more flexible but still faithful retelling of the story. The new version will still be set in 1895 England in the Soho district. Lynch has added some female and villager roles to bring more students into the piece.

The production has about 30 MJC students in the cast. Tyrus Loveless, who has played the leads in MJC productions of “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest” and “Curse of Apollo: The Legend of Oedipus Rex” over the years, portrays both Jekyll and Hyde.

“It’s really fascinating to watch,” Lynch said. “We don’t have time to do a lot of makeup and the effects they do in a movie. So he does the transformation with his hair and face. It’s really remarkable.”

The rest of the cast includes Dean Medek as Mr. Utterson, Anna Blazzard as Mrs. Poole, Shane Meyers as Dr. Lanyon, and Jeremy Winter as Sir Danvers Carew.

The October production follows the theater department’s tradition of staging a Halloween-themed show. In years past, they’ve done “Frankenstein” and “Dracula.”

“It will satisfy your spooky needs for Halloween. And it will be dramatic,” Lynch said. “Physically, it will be tremendous to look at – the fog, the costumes, the huge set. It’s going to be an exciting show.”

This story was originally published October 16, 2014 at 3:47 PM with the headline "“Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde” comes to the Modesto Junior College Theater Department."