From the Jekyll & Hyde program:
Chuck Wagner (Jekyll & Hyde) rejoins this grand experiment after having originated the dual role in the World Premiere at Houston's Alley Theatre. B'way: over 1,200 performances as The Beast in Disney's Beauty and the Beast(including Canadian premiere), Javert in Les Miserables, Rapunzel's Prince in the original cast of Into The Woods (PBS' Great Performances), and Athos in The Three Muskateers. Nat'l Tours: The Wolf/Prince in Into The Woods, Javert in Les Miserables. Recordings: The Scarlet Pimpernel, Into The Woods (Grammy Award, Best Cast Album), and Broadway Bound. Other:Svengali (title role), Lancelot in Camelot (with Robert Goulet) and Han Solo in Star Wars: The Musical. Films: America 3000 and The Sisterhood. TV: ABC's "Automan" (title role), "Matlock," "Dynasty," "All My Children," "Guiding Light" and currently, the national spokesman for Zyban and the voice of Hartford Insurance.

My random thoughts:
BEAUTY AND THE BEAST
I'm ashamed now to admit that I went into Beauty and the Beast in Toronto preparing to be disappointed. I had fallen in love with the OBC and Terrence Mann's performance on that recording, and I had never heard of this Chuck Wagner guy who was playing the Beast in Toronto. However, Chuck changed my mind pretty quickly. By the time he finished "If I Can't Love Her" I was in love. They tell me that the lights came up at intermission and my mouth was still hanging open. :-) And Chuck made the Beast's waltz with Belle during the title song one of the most romantic things I've ever seen on stage. He's such a huge guy, but he made the Beast seem so vulnerable and endearing, you couldn't help falling in love with him. I went back to see Chuck in this production the following summer, and he was just as good as I remembered. Truly one of the nicest surprises I've ever had in all my years of theatre-going. :-)

JEKYLL & HYDE
I'm not a really big fan of this show, but when I heard that it was coming to Ottawa with Chuck in the lead role(s) I knew I had to go, if only to hear Chuck sing "This Is the Moment." Now that I've seen the show, I have to admit that I'm still not a huge fan, although I do think it is an entertaining evening of theatre. And Chuck was worth the price of the ticket. I still chuckle remembering some of the things he did as Hyde. He didn't quite pull off the confrontation or the transformation, but I still maintain that that is a problem of staging, not acting - there isn't a man alive who wouldn't look silly talking to himself like that. :-)

INTO THE WOODS
I've only seen a *really* bad copy of the production that was broadcast on PBS, but I love it. Chuck is having entirely too much fun - that's all I'm going to say. :-)

CHUCK WAGNER - A SOLO CD
When we went to see J&H in October I bought Chuck's CD ($30 for 10 songs - I think that's highway robbery, but I'll pay just about any price for Chuck!!!) and it has barely left my CD player since. He does songs from all the major productions he's been involved in, so I finally have a recording of Chuck singing "If I Can't Love Her" (don't get me started on my bitterness over the failure of the Toronto BatB recording!!!), along with "Stars" and "This Is the Moment", among others. I really like this recording - the arrangements of some of the songs are a bit different (for example, he does "Stars" almost as a lullaby) but they all work very well. And he does have one of the most beautiful, most powerful voices in the business (the fact that he sounds more than a little bit like Terrence Mann doesn't hurt!!!).

MISCELLANEOUS
Don't be fooled by Chuck's bio - he was on ONE episode of All My Children! :-) However, I was lucky enough to catch it ... by sheer fluke - I didn't even intend to watch AMC that day. But how thrilled was I that he showed up? AMC was already in my good books since Terrence Mann showed up there a couple of years ago, but seeing Chuck just made my happiness complete. And I get all excited everytime his Zyban commercial comes on. My housemates think I'm totally nuts. :-)

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