IT’S some package. Audiences are promised madness, murder, mayhem, lust, passion, and an epic battle between good and evil, regularly interspersed by high-powered production numbers.

That’s the first few minutes accounted for. Then Jekyll & Hyde – the Musical Thriller really gets into its stride.

The high Gothic show is this year’s choice by Basildon Operatic and Dramatic Society for its early summer show. A major hit on Broadway, where it ran for four years from 1997, Jekyll & Hyde has been steadily growing in popularity with amateur companies in Britain.

Based on Robert Louis Stevenson’s story, Jekyll & Hyde is a classic tale of terror, centred around the phenomenon of split personality.

It tells the story of a brilliant doctor whose experiments create a murderous alter ego.

Convinced the cure for his father’s mental illness lies in the separation of mankind’s evil nature from its good, Dr Jekyll makes a plea to the board of governors at the local mental hospital to allow him to experiment on a living human being.

When he is turned down, Jekyll decides he has no choice but to experiment on himself.

The result is disastrous, turning Jekyll into the evil Edward Hyde, hell-bent on the murder of all who oppose his will, starting with the board of governors.

While the savage and maniacal Hyde wreaks havoc on the Victorian streets, the good Dr Jekyll attempts to rescue the beautiful Lucy from a life of prostitution, only to see both her and his faithful fiancee, Emma, fall prey to the foul appetites of his night-time alter-ego.

The melodrama is carried along by a lush, romantic pop score, which includes several songs with proven staying power, notably the much-recorded This Is the Moment.

For the first time in many years, BasOp will not be performing at the town’s Towngate Theatre. Instead, Jekyll & Hyde will be staged at the Eastwood Theatre.

BasOp spokesman Fred Woodrow explained: “We’re very closely associated with the Towngate, but the Eastwood is a very attractive theatre as well.

“Jekyll & Hyde has been a very challenging show to stage, with some complex numbers, but the result is something quite sizzling.”

The cast is led by Simon Lambert in the dual role of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde.

Simon also directs in partnership with Angie Mc-Glashon. Emma Lambert plays the rescued prostitute, Lucy, and Kristina Demou is the other woman in Jekyll’s life. The musical director is Alan Watts.