Samson sings. The muscle-man of the Bible, the Old Testament’s answer to Arnold Schwarzenegger, is the subject of the first home-grown musical to be fully staged in south Essex since the Nineties.

Another strongman, Hercules, famous for the gruelling labours, is probably a closer alter ego for the show’s creator, Ashton Moore.

Ashton is Samson’s composer, lyricist, dramatist, director, orchestrator, musical director, publicist, and – by no means least – financial backer. He has filled lots of other roles as well. If you want to knowwhat Ashton looks like, you should probably check out the guy selling ice creams in the interval.

Control freakery? Ashton sees it in a different way.

“This is my baby, and I know that whatever happens will be my responsibility alone,”

he says. “Also, I have to consider costs all the time, and I don’t have to pay myself.”

Ashton has been a well-known figure on the local music circuit for years, chiefly as a musical director for other people’s shows, but also as a teacher, pianist, wind-player and performer (Jean Valjean in Les Mis, Sky Masterson in Guys and Dolls).

“I like to challenge myself with as much work, and as many types of music, as possible,” he says, although anybody looking at his CV has probably already sussed that already.

Ashton’s working life is a musical medley, but there has never been any doubt as to the long-term focus of this highly-ambitious 22-year-old.

“What is my ultimate dream? There’s only one answer, and that’s to sit in a West End theatre to watch a musical I’ve written,” he says.

Incredibly, Ashton has four of his own musicals in various stages of development right now.

Samson is merely the first to hit the stage.

Samson and Ashton, both outsize figures in their different ways, were probably always destined for each other. “I’ve always been fascinated by the Bible, since I was a child, though I’m not religious in a formal way,”

says Ashton. “I wanted a hard-hitting subject for a show and, of course, the Bible is full of hard-hitting stories.

“When I looked through the Bible, I realised the Samson story has it all. There is a big hero figure, it is about subjects everyone can relate to, like personal loss and bad decisions, and putting your heart before your head. And it also has a tremendous female lead. Delilah is one of the great femme fatale characters.”

The show is sung through and, as in Les Miserables (Ashton’s model when it came to writing Samson), the story unfolds through its songs.

They have been written in bursts over the past three years, drawing on a range of musical influences, including gospel, folk, ethnic music, and contemporary composers of musicals like Alan Menken and Claude Michel- Schonberg.

“Some of the songs came easily, some were a struggle to get right,” says Ashton.

“I’ve been writing them right up to the last moment. The most recent was actually written specifically for Haydn Cox, who plays Samson.”

Ashton’s connections around the local musical scene mean that he has been able to take his pick of local talent, and the cast alone would justify a trip to Samson.

Selling the musical did not prove a problem. “We are really blessed with talent in this part of the world,” says Ashton (he is from Benfleet himself). “And there is a real appetite among our talented performers and musicians for new projects. When I pitched the idea of Samson to people, the response tended not to be ‘yes, yes, yes,’ rather than just ‘yes’.”

Haydn Cox, who plays Samson, was a familiar face as a teenage performer in local musicals and Southend Shakespeare Company productions, before heading off for a professional career in the West End. Physically, he is no Incredible Hulk, but Ashton believes his voice, “which stands out for its strength and clarity,” will carry all before it.

A great coup has been the casting of Sharon Rose as Delilah. Southend audiences discovered Sharon when she played the lead in Southend Operatic and Dramatic Society’s production of Sister Act last year. To say Sharon made a strong impact is a bit like saying that Vesuvius shook up Pompeii a bit.

“Anyone who saw her in Sister Act won’t need to be told how amazing her voice and presence are,”

says Ashton.

Samson has its debut at the heart of local theatreland, the Palace, Westcliff, on Sunday.

The 1hr 50min showwill be staged in concert version, with a full cast and 16-piece orchestra.

“After that, anything could happen,” says Ashton. “There will be a number of producers in the audience. I’m open to approaches.

“Or I could see if we can start workshopping it at local drama schools.

“Basically, I’d like to see it taken up by someone I don’t know and who doesn’t know me, someone who is completely detached and can bring a whole fresh vision to the show.”

There is one other requirement. Like most Old Testament stories, Samson is an epic, with giant characters and a sprawling narrative set against a vast canvas.

“This is not a minimalist show,” says Ashton. “The collapsing temple scene at the end doesn’t come cheap.

It requires a cast of 27 and a full orchestra, bare minimum, to make it work.

Samson is a big show. It needs to be staged big, or not at all.”

ý Samson is at the Palace Theatre, Westcliff, on Sunday, July 5, 7.30pm. For tickets, call 01702 351135