Though he considers himself more of an actor and a singer, Great Neck native Alex Schecter will work on the other side of the stage when he directs the musical “Jekyll and Hyde” at the Gold Coast Arts Center in August.
“I love every aspect of performance, so directing is something that interested be because it was something on the other side of performance,” said Schecter, a 2014 Great Neck South High School graduate. “Usually I’m the one being directed on stage, and now that I’m on the other side of it, it’s kind of a cool experience.”
The musical “Jekyll and Hyde” will be performed at 8 p.m. on Aug. 6 and at 2 p.m. on Aug. 8 at the Gold Coast Arts Center, located at 113 Middle Neck Road. Admission to the show is free.
“Jekyll and Hyde,” based on the 1886 novella “Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr Hyde” by Robert Louis Stevenson, first premiered on Broadway in 1997.
The show follows Dr. Jekyll, a scientist who wants to prove the human mind has two sides to it, and that everybody has both a good and an evil side.
But because Jekyll wants to experiment this on living humans, those in charge of the experiments turn him down.
To prove his hypothesis, Jekyll experiments on himself, creating the dual personality Mr. Hyde, the embodiment of Jekyll’s evil side.
The two personalities of Jekyll and Hyde are paralleled by two different love interests as well, Schecter said.
While Jekyll is engaged to the character Emma, who represents goodness, later in the show he finds the character Lucy, who represents evil.
“The show is about his conflict within himself between Jekyll and Hyde and between Emma and Lucy as well,” Schecter said.
Schecter said he wanted to put on the show partly because he loves the music, and partly because of the characters’ complexity.
The character John Utterson, Jekyll’s attorney and friend, also serves as a foil to Jekyll himself, Schecter said — while Jekyll and Hyde are erratic in transitioning between the two selves, Schecter describes Utterson as the normal character, always doing things by the book.
“Just the way it was structured; everyone has a foil,” Schecter said. “Every character is seen in a different light by another character.”
The musical will also be co-produced by Schecter, who will be entering his sophomore year at Vanderbilt University.
Schecter said he has directed shows before, but on a smaller scale.
While a student at Great Neck South High School, he directed a one act play, and just last summer directed the musical “Seussical” for the Great Neck Public Schools summer program for middle schoolers.
At Vanderbilt, Schecter said he studies at the Blair School of Music.
He has been in the operetta “Die Fledermaus,” the musical version of “The Addams Family” and multiple music concerts as well at his time at college, he said.
Levels, the Great Neck Library’s teen center, is the other co-producer of the show, making it a “Next Stage” production, Schecter said.
Schecter said Levels helped with funding and helped locate a performance venue as well.
Although he one was only in one Levels production himself — as a high school freshman in the musical “The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee” — he said he was always connected to kids in the program, and knew it to be a very welcoming community.
Because it isn’t a Levels main stage production, kids from outside of Levels can be in “Jekyll and Hyde.” The actors are mostly from Great Neck, but it includes one from Hicksville as well, Schecter said.
Schecter said directing the show is a great experience, and he hopes to do it again.
