Despite having plowed through more than my fair share of Western literary canon, I’ve never read a word of Robert Louis Stevenson. So although I was familiar with the underlying premise of Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde (isn’t everyone? Is there any title phrase this side of “Romeo and Juliet” that’s proven so successful at transmitting its referent to people who don’t actually know the work itself?), I came to Long Beach Playhouse with no point of comparison — and left completely satisfied.

Despite having plowed through more than my fair share of Western literary canon, I’ve never read a word of Robert Louis Stevenson. So although I was familiar with the underlying premise of Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde (isn’t everyone? Is there any title phrase this side of “Romeo and Juliet” that’s proven so successful at transmitting its referent to people who don’t actually know the work itself?), I came to Long Beach Playhouse with no point of comparison — and left completely satisfied.