Robert Evan, who has been playing the title character in Jekyll & Hyde on Wednesday and Saturday matinees, will play that role full time in the 1999 U.S. tour of the Frank Wildhorn musical, spokesman Rick Miramontez has confirmed. The national tour will launch at the Paramount Theatre in Seattle in March 1999, after a tryout in Grand Forks, ND.

Evan has been doing matinee duty since the show opened at the Plymouth Theatre on Apr. 28, 1997. Prior to that, he appeared as Jean Valjean in Broadway's Les Miserables. Regional roles include Jesus in Jesus Christ Superstar, Anatoly in Chess, Tommy in Brigadoon, and The Red Shadow in The Desert Song. No other casting for the tour has been announced.

The tour will be produced by PACE Theatrical Group and Fox Theatricals, the same companies that co-produced the 1995-96 tour that helped establish Jekyll & Hyde among fans across the country. A PACE spokesman also said it's unlikely that the other original Broadway leads, Linda Eder and Christiane Noll will take part in the tour. Cuccioli and Noll are set to stay with the Broadway production through January 1999. Eder is due to leave the show on Aug. 30.

Here are the dates of first performances for each stop. Each stop will last a week or more:

March 2: Grand Forks, ND (Tech), Chester Fritz Auditorium March 9: Grand Forks/Seattle, Paramount Theatre

March 30: Grand Rapids, MI, Devos Hall

April 6: Boston, Wang Performing Arts Center

April 13: Wallingford, CT, Oakdale Theatre

April 20: Detroit, Fisher Theatre

May 11: Minneapolis, Orpheum Theatre

May 18: Dallas, Music Hall

June 1: Tulsa, OK, Tulsa Performing Arts Center

May 15: Memphis, Orpheum Theatre

June 22: Toronto, Ford Center

July 20: Vancouver, Ford Center

Aug. 3: San Francisco, Golden Gate Theatre

Aug. 31: San Diego, Civic Center Theatre

Sept. 7: Los Angeles, Pantages Theatre