AIDA could be the most gold plated musical that nobody knows.

Its pedigree embraces the mighty Disney, the great composer Verdi, the world’s second most popular opera and the song-writing team of Elton John and Tim Rice.

Yet despite these spectacular credentials, it is almost completely unknown to Essex audiences. The only exception amounts to a few theatregoers who may have seen it on Broadway, where it ran to 1,800 performances.

All that is set to change next week when Leigh Operatic and Dramatic Society, true to its tradition of spearheading new material, becomes the first amateur company to stage Aida.

Andrew Seal, LODS’s chairman, says that he is at a loss to understand Aida’s lack of traction in the UK.

“You'd think with the success of that other Disney/Elton John/Tim Rice show, the Lion King, that they’d have wasted no time in staging a West End production.”

Indeed, some LODS members are conjecturing that its production, in the hands of the acclaimed Leigh director Sallie Warrington, is being treated as a trial run.

“Is it possible they are waiting for feedback from Southend before they stage it in the West End?” Andrew wonders.

As an opera, Aida’s worldwide popularity is second only to Carmen. Originally commissioned to coincide with the opening of the Suez Canal in 1869, this tale of forbidden love in ancient Egypt, with its magnificent score by Giuseppe Verdi, has been a crowd-pleaser ever since.

In 1996, following the huge success of the film version of Lion King, the Disney corporation commissioned Elton John and Tim Rice to write the score for a follow-up animation feature, again mining the great musical traditions of Africa.

They produced the score, but for reasons that are still unclear, the animation film never went ahead. Instead, the song-writing team reworked Aida into a stage musical.

While following the broad lines of the opera’s narrative, it gives the story a beginning and ending set in the modern world.

The score draws on a wide ,range of musical traditions ,including gospel, reggae, Motown and Indian styles, as well as rock and power ballads.

“Obviously Gospel music wasn't around in ancient Egypt, but it works exceptionally well in the context,” says Andrew. “It is just such a great instrument for expressing raw emotion and passion.”

Gospel style presented a new challenge to the LODS performers. To help them reach into the heart of it, they organised two workshops with the a charismatic tutor, the former director of the London Community Gospel Choir, Daniel Thomas.

“It is extraordinary what a journey they made with Daniel,” says Sallie. “Technically their grasp of the music was very sound, but what they have now mastered is the passion, the power, of the lyrics and music.”