THE Colchester Operatic Society are putting their own little twist on their latest production of a Broadway favourite.
Jekyll and Hyde is a musical horror-drama based on the novel The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson.
It started life with a short run in Houston, Texas, in 1990, before going on a national tour of the US five years later.
The show finally made its Broadway debut two years later where it ran for almost four years racking up an incredible 1,500 performances.
For each of those performances the lead character of Jekyll/Hyde was played by one person, although for the Colchester Operatic version, director David Rutter has chosen two.
He explains: "I thought a lot about the transformation of Jekyll into Hyde by just one person and did quite a bit of research into the original story.
"In the story written by Robert Louis Stevenson, it goes on quite a bit about how Hyde is unrecognisable to the person he was and I thought perhaps the transformation should be exactly the same, a whole physical transformation.
"The other benefit is it enables me to give the lead part to two people, which when you're directing a show for a society as big as Colchester is always a bonus."
As in previous productions, the cast for Jekyll and Hyde is a whopper with more than 45 jam packed with such familiar faces as Barbara Ryan, ChiChi Armstrong, Andrew Hodgson and Adam Duarte-Dias.
While David has appeared with COS plenty of times before, most notably as the lead in 42 Street and also in last year's Sister Act, this is his directorial debut for the group.
"I've directed other groups before," he adds, "including Braintree's musical society and I've also directed shows for my own company, OD Productions, at the Headgate Theatre. I also did my own piece about the First World War called While You Were Away, which focussed on the local people around this area during the war.
"That said, there are still plenty of challenges directing a large group in a show such as this, but I'm fortunate to have a great cast with some really brilliant performers so I'm confident it's going to be another excellent production which everyone should come and see."
Jekyll and Hyde
Balkerne Gate, Colchester.
January 18 to 28. 7.30pm and 2.30pm (Saturdays).
£20 to £13. 01206 573948.
www.mercurytheatre.co.uk
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