What do you think about Simon Stride?
You, my friend, are asking the right questions. And I’m going to give you an unnecessarily long answer.
I like Simon Stride, it’s not a secret. He is a paper-thin character, but seriously, pretty much every character in the musical (except maybe Jekyll) is kind of two-dimensional. And when an actor does a good job with him, he can be either a really sympathetic fellow, or the most wonderfully annoying “love-to-hate-him” character ever.
I like his attitude towards Jekyll. He is one of the two characters (alongside Daddy Carew), who visibly oppose Jekyll, but who are still not portrayed as purely evil. Yes, yes, he is supposed to be Emma’s slimy ex, but when Emma’s current bf is kind of a douchebag as well, the comparison makes Simon look… a tiny bit better, I guess. Also, even though Simon’s and Emma’s relationship doesn’t sound like a healthy one, I feel a huge amount of sympathy towards him because of his feelings for her. Maybe he is an ass, and he may not be the only character in this musical who is hopelessly in love with somebody, but at least Simon is in love with a person who deserves all the love they get. (at this point I feel like I should note that I still like Jekyll very very much)
And, Simon’s only job in this show is to pine after Emma and then get killed in the wedding. And nobody even cares. Should we pity him? Yes.
Now that I’ve poured these feelings out of my chest, I can finally state that the musical would most certainly be better off without Simon. He used to have a bigger role, I know, but he really doesn’t have anything to do in most scripts these days. His character is a waste of stage-time that could be used for better purposes. Maybe for developing Emma or Lucy as characters? We could have another scene with Jekyll’s father? Something that would actually deepen the plot instead of making it more complicated?
But well, if no one is going to get rid of Simon, we might as well enjoy his character, right? And I most certainly do. Thank you for this ask, Anon.
Pardon me if I’m not making any sense, I’m pretty tired. ( A non-serious note: If I could save one character in J&H from being killed, it wouldn’t be Jekyll, it wouldn’t be Lucy, it’d be Simon. Killing Simon Stride wasn’t necessary at all, and I will fight you. #IBelieveInSimonStride )