There s a scene in 1991 s forgotten crime comedy
The Object of Beauty in which John Malkovich s broke commodities broker ponders, How many times can they remake
Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde? It s a fair question considering there d been more than two dozen film adaptations of Robert Louis Stevenson s gothic novella. Yet just five years later, director Stephen Frears
Mary Reilly (which ironically starred Malkovich) proved that not every story about the mad scientist had been told. And as its title suggests, neither of his personalities takes center stage.
Instead, the descent of Dr. Jekyll is viewed through the lens of his housemaid, a dowdy, downtrodden young Irishwoman with significant scars both emotional and physical. Dowdy sure isn t a word you d typically associate with Julia Roberts, the rom-com queen with a literal million-dollar smile. Yet she still pipped several other glamorous A-listers Uma Thurman, Winona Ryder, and Nicole Kidman were all rumored to have been in
We all know 2020 wreaked havoc upon those who entertain us.
The musicians and actors, the music venues and theater companies. Jobs and gigs were lost. Shows were canceled. Entire seasons were slashed.
But was there some gold in the rubble? For artists, the urge to create can’t be dampened. So people found other ways to perform and present their work, including creating outdoor stages and learning the skills necessary to produce virtual concerts and productions.
Nobody knows the future, or when they might return to pre-pandemic performances on an indoor stage with healthy-sized audiences. It could be well into 2021 and perhaps not even until fall, or 2022.