NEW ZEALAND’S RODGERS FINDS ‘BIGGEST CHALLENGE’ IN ROLE OF JEKYLL & HYDE
The Mac-Haydn Theatre in-the-round stage offers “the perfect kind of space for this show,” said James Benjamin Rodgers, who will play the characters of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde in the production of Jekyll & Hyde, playing July 7-10 and 13-17. “It’s up close and in your face here.”
The 29-year-old New Zealand native said that Jekyll & Hyde Director John Saunders has approached the show with a basis in reality. “Everyone has a bad side – that’s the way we’re coming at it. Look at what people have dealt with in their lives. Jekyll is trying to avoid what happened to his father, who was crazy. How afraid are we of what our parents have? You think, that could be me. Jekyll becomes obsessed with finding some kind of a cure, and becomes driven to find a solution. In doing so, he hastens his trip down that path. In the end, he’s just crazy,” said Rodgers.
Musically, Rodgers said, “it’s a very strong show with great ensemble numbers.”
At the age of 13, Rodgers became involved in theatre at his Blenheim, New Zealand school. Subsequently, he concentrated more on playing sports, particularly rugby and cricket, before turning back to theatre. As a high school senior, he played Huck in the Marlborough Repertory Society’s production of Big River, a role Rodgers likened to that of Jekyll/Hyde in that “I was off-stage just once in the role.”
James Benjamin Rodgers
After high school, Rodgers “did a lot of work with local theatre,” then studied music at Victoria University in Wellington, New Zealand. There, he studied voice with the nationally renowned Emily Mair, who, said Rodgers, is “an opera fan. I decided I wanted to do opera instead of musical theatre.
However, he said, after entering the Manhattan School of Music in 2005, where he studied voice under Carolyn Marlow, he began attending Broadway shows and discovered “all this great stuff, like Chicago and The Drowsy Chaperone and Into The Woods. I was back interested in musical theatre. American musical theatre is really where it’s at.”
Rodgers said he was thrilled for the opportunity to appear on the Mac-Haydn Theatre stage, a theatre dedicated to presenting and preserving musical theatre, for the production of Jekyll & Hyde: “This is the most challenging thing I’ve ever done. Back in New Zealand, when I was much younger, I was asked to perform in the role, but I said no, it’s too big. Vocally, it’s a technique issue. But when I saw that the Mac-Haydn was doing it, I thought, I can do it now.”
