'Jekyll & Hyde," the Frank Wildhorn-Leslie Bricusse musical, has hit town after nine years of sporadic touring, two CDs, a lot of bad press, a lot of good Internet action, and a trio of hit singles.

"Dreckel & Snide" better describes a piece that uses a mishmash of styles to showcase a couple of belting Wildhorn hits; its big anthem, "This is the Moment," comes just before the good Dr. Jekyll injects himself with the glowing red fluid that will unleash his evil twin.

And in this show, boy, is he a twin.

The difference between good and evil is only in the hairdo. The good Jekyll with his neat ponytail shoots up, falls to the floor and, like Giselle in the ballet's mad scene, releases the rubber band that holds his locks in place. Voila! With messy hair and a growling delivery, Dr. Jekyll is now Mr. Hyde, the murderer who feels good doing bad.

Chuck Wagner, who originated the role way back when in Houston, sings at the Civic Theatre with the right kind of emotional bombast and at least tries to inject a little fun, along with the Formula HJ7. The part is solemnly written and the show is so pseudo-serious that it needs all the help it can get in its pursuit of "Phantom of the Opera" fan fanaticism.

Based on the Robert Louis Stevenson novella "The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde," Bricusse's book for the musical multiplies the dualities. He gives Jekyll a good fiancee, Emma (Andrea Rivette), to contrast with the wild whore, Lucy (Sharon Brown).

With Emma in an angelic white nightgown and Lucy dressed dark and gaudy, the two women sing "In His Eyes," a soaring ode to the double doc. The story and most of the scenery fade away here, and suddenly we seem to be at a stadium concert or a cabaret or club. Wildhorn has often said he wants to bridge the worlds of pop music and theater, but this isn't exactly the way to do it. Such here's-a-pop-hit moments battle the show's 19th-century atmosphere and story.

The tour staging by David Warren is different in a couple of respects from the Broadway production; it draws from lounge routines for the big songs, from "Cabaret" for the brothel numbers, and from the abstract stylizations of ballet and Brecht.

Lucy's first number, added for the tour, steals shamelessly from "Mein Herr" in "Cabaret." When Jekyll and friend John Utterson (James Clow) come to visit, Victorian whores dress in men's evening clothes, then slowly strip down to their push-up corsets while Lucy sings "Bring on the Men." She admits to being "partial to buns," liking two men for lunch, and triple sandwiches later (imagine the "Two Ladies" number in "Cabaret" with none of the winking wit). Brown has a tough time with the Cockney accent, but she does OK with the belting tunes that drew Streisand comparisons for Linda Eder, the original Lucy.

Rivette has a clear and silvery voice as long-suffering Emma. La Mesan Karyn Overstreet, once of the Christian Community Theatre, plays the Madame and the hypocritical Lady Beaconsfield. All the supporting players double up that way, their dual, good/bad roles literally underscoring Bricusse's theme of public virtue hiding private vice.

But to see a morality play in this cartoon musical is to misread it. "Jekyll & Hyde" is as much about marketing as morality or music. It's programmed audiences to respond, and mostly they do.

Composer: Frank Wildhorn. Book: Leslie Bricusse. Director: David Warren. Musical supervisor: Jason Howland. Choreographer: Jerry Mitchell. Set: James Noone. Costumes: Ann Curtis. Lighting: Beverly Emmons. Orchestrations: Kim Scharnberg. Featured cast: Chuck Wagner, James Clow, Dennis Kelly, David Elledge, Steven Bogard, Tanny McDonald, Roger E. DeWitt, Robin Haynes, Andrea Rivette, Max Pelman, Michael L. Marrs, Sharon Brown, Felicia Finley.