DR. JEKYLL AND MS. HYDE

MARK McKENZIE

Rating:

Original Review: Looking at the rather bizarre CD cover for Dr. Jekyll and Ms. Hyde, you would never in a million years think that the album would contain music this good. Mark McKenzie, one of Hollywood's foremost orchestrators who has worked with composers such as Bruce Broughton, Basil Poledouris, Marc Shaiman, John Barry, James Newton Howard and Cliff Eidelman, has a musical style reminiscent of Danny Elfman on top form: he employs the same kind of bouncy melodies, uses musical instruments in the same innovative way, and his scores are just plain fun to listen to. The six minute overture which opens the score is absolutely brilliant: after a magical, uplifting two-minute string theme (which featured in the 1996 Oscar telecast obituary section), replete with cymbal clashes and wonderful brass crescendos, four renditions of the main 'Dr. Jekyll' theme are performed: first on a solo violin, then by horns, then twice by the full orchestra. The theme perfectly fits the mood of the film: it's fun and quirky, but as McKenzie says in the liner notes, " it can be manipulated in a variety of ways to underscore the variety of situations Dr. Jekyll finds himself in". This main theme forms the core of the entire score, and appears in a variety of guises throughout (most notably in 'The Unstable Gene', the best of the rest, and in the terrific final cue 'Acid Love Potion', which also seems to make a homage to Herrmann's Psycho), but McKenzie also excels in creating a number of additional standout cues: 'Old Movie Music' is fun, especially when performed by what sounds like an old Wurlitzer organ, and it really conjures up images of moustachioed caped villains tying helpless heroines to the railtracks in those turn of the century movies; the fanfare at the beginning of 'Something Electrical' makes my skin creep every time I hear it, before is leaps into a jaunty rendition of the main theme. 'Charades' bursts into something akin to a barn dance after about 1:50; 'Taking Back My Chromosomes' features the main theme performed in the style of a 1950s war movie march, and McKenzie also makes inspired use of source music, in this case "Habanera" from Bizet's Carmen in the cue 'Footsy'. It's quite ironic that big budget films can very often have by-the-numbers, completely uninspiring scores, while little movies like this can have wonderful ones. Watch out for Mark McKenzie in the future - I have a feeling that he will stepping out of the shadow of other composers very soon, and spending some well-deserved time in the limelight in his own right.

Track Listing: Running Time: 40 minutes 15 seconds

Intrada MAF-7063D (1995)

Music composed by Mark McKenzie. Conducted by Randy Thorton. Orchestrations by Mark McKenzie and Patrick Russ. Includes extracts from "Carmen" by Georges Bizet. Soprano solo performed by Patricia Swenson. Recorded and mixed by Andy Waterman. Edited by Dick Bernstein, John Finklea and Jim Young. Mastered by Joe Tarantino. Album produced by Mark McKenzie and Douglass Fake.


Home Page | Soundtracks | Soundtrack Reviews | Composers | Soundtrack Links

These web pages were designed and maintained by Jonathan Broxton copyright 1998. All opinions and views expressed on these pages are my own and are in no way intended to reflect those of my employer, the Trent Institute for Health Services Research, or those of the University of Sheffield.