Rebecca Spencer as Lisa Carew in the Wedding Scene during the Alley Theatre premiere in 1990.
Miss Emma Alice Margaret Carew (formerly Lisa Carew), the fiancée of Dr Henry Jekyll and the daughter (and only child) of Sir Danvers Carew. She is a original character created for the musical, and does not appear in the original 1886 novella.
Miss Carew is a graceful, elegant young woman, with spirit and a joy of life. She is courteous, deferential and dutiful, but very much has her own mind and is slightly headstrong. In Jekyll’s company she shows a great love and has an easy, fun and flirty manner, she makes Jekyll smile. She is all that makes him feel wanted, loved, respected and knows she will support him in everything.
As a character she needs to hold her own against Lucy in the audience's eyes. She cannot be seen to be wet, but needs a real softness that comes from her likely pampered upbringing. She is the epitome of propriety, the opposite to Lucy, her tone is pure, she is effectively the “light” to Lucy’s “dark”.
First Name[]
Because neither Miss Carew nor Lucy appear in the original book of which the musical is loosely based, both of their names were created for the musical.
Both characters had precursors in other adaptations; the original book had no love interests, dealing mainly with the mystery of who Hyde was and why Jekyll was showing such erratic behavior. Once later audiences knew the answer to the mystery, that Dr Jekyll was in fact Mr Hyde, without even reading the book, the story lost a lot of its tension and draw, so when later adaptations were made playwrights and screenwriters added romantic elements to the show to keep up the drama.
The first of these was an 1887 stage play written by Thomas Russell Sullivan which opened in Boston, and went on to tour Britain running for 20 years. Sullivan created the characters of Sir Danvers' daughter -Jekyll's fiancée- Millicent Carew, and Miss Gina a dance hall worker whom Jekyll meets before taking the formula and later torments as Hyde. In 1920 a film was made based on this version of the story starring John Barrymore as Jekyll/Hyde, Nita Naldi as Miss Gina, and Martha Mansfield as Millicent Carew.
Shortly after Sullivan's play another adaptation was written in 1897 by Luella Forepaugh and George F. Fish, this one lacked the prostitute character, but retained the fiancée character, this time named Alice Leigh, the daughter of a vicar named Rev. Edward Leigh. This version, although written later, was adapted to film before Sullivan's, in a now lost feature released in 1908 starring uncredited actors.
The oldest surviving film adaptation was released in 1912 starring James Cruze as Dr Jekyll, and Florence La Badie as his nameless sweetheart who is also the daughter of a vicar and can be therefore presumed to be Alice. This version, like the previous one featuring Alice, does not have a second love interest.
In 1931 Paramount decided to once again film an adaptation of Sullivan's play this time with sound and starring Fredric March as Jekyll, Rose Hobart as his fiancée now named Muriel Carew, and Miriam Hopkins as the dance hall worker now named Ivy Pearson. 10 years later in 1941 MGM bought the rights to the Paramount film remaking it starring Spencer Tracy as Jekyll, Lana Turner as his fiancée once again renamed this time to Bea Emery, and Ingrid Bergman as the only slightly renamed Ivy Peterson.
Being as neither female character originated from the book, and their names changed fluently from one adaptation to the next, when Wildhorn and Cuden decided to add such characters into their musical they were free to name them as they wished. They originally decided to name Jekyll's fiancée Lisa Carew, and the prostitute Lucy Harris. The names stayed this way until midway through the First National Tour when they decided to better differentiate the two characters and to make her sound more upper class to rename Jekyll's fiancée Emma Carew.
The name of Emma was kept for all later North American productions however some European productions still have the character named Lisa. During the wedding scene of the Broadway production the character's full name of Emma Alice Margaret Carew was said by the priest, some of her middle names perhaps alluding to and in tribute of earlier names given to Jekyll's fiancée throughout the history of the character.
Notable Actresses Who Played the Role[]
- Gillian Gallant - 1986 Demo recording.
- Linda Eder - Played both Lisa Carew and Lucy Harris in the 1987 Demo recording and the 1990 concept album Highlights from Jekyll And Hyde before the show premiered.
- Rebecca Spencer - Originated the role of Lisa Carew with it's World Premiere at The Alley Theatre Houston Texas in 1990.
- Carolee Carmello - voiced Lisa Carew on The Complete Work Gothic Musical Thriller Album, though, like that album's Jekyll - Anthony Warlow, she never played the part on stage.
- Christiane Noll - took up the part in 1995 for the First National Tour and it was during the middle of her run as the character that the decision was made to change her name from Lisa to Emma, therefore making Noll the first actress to play Emma Carew. She continued in the role all the way to the Broadway run.
- Anastasia Barzee - The second actress to play Emma on Broadway.
- Andrea Rivette - The final Emma on Broadway.
- Kelli O'Hara - Second National Tour, and understudy on Broadway.
- Maya Hakvoort - Original Vienna Cast
- Tamara Weimerich - Magdeburg Cast
- Rina Chinen - Original Japanese Cast
- Sarah Earnshaw - 2nd UK Tour
- Teal Wicks - Fourth National Tour, 2013 Broadway Revival