You may not think that Anthony Burgess’ cult novel A Clockwork Orange would lend itself well to a stage musical. Schmultzy chick-flick Ghost maybe, or the light and airy Billy Elliott perhaps, but rape, murder and beating up the homeless are a few of protagonist Alex’s favourite things.

Nevertheless, Theatre Royal Stratford East has chosen the dystopic, ultra-violent tale as the inspiration for its new season’s debut show.

The tricky task of scoring the sickening scenes is down to New Yorker Fred Carl, but don’t expect high kicks with the ‘kovvy and keeshkas’.

“When people think of musicals they think of big Broadway numbers or West End songs. I noticed a lot of the music in musical theatre is nothing like the music I listen to at home,“ explains Fred, “It’s the music we listen to most of the time, so why not on the stage?

“There’s a lot of musical styles involved in the show but they’re all groove-based. There’s a lot of grooves.“

Fred has drawn inspiration from r’n’b, jazz and even reggae to score the show.

How do these styles sit with the subject matter?

“I like to think they fit in pretty well,“ says Fred while trying to stifle his laughter. “I never really thought of putting serious themes to song as a contradiction.

“In musical theatre sometimes it’s lighter, sometimes not. There’s everything from fluffy stuff to opera – we’re somewhere in between.“

It’s not the first time the 1962 book has been reimagined into a musical, although the results are patchy at best. There was a German adaptation in 1988 featuring the sounds of punk band Die Toten Hosen. The run was short (though cheery number Hier Kommtt Alex became one of the band’s signature songs).

Then there was A Clockwork Orange: 2004 from 1990 scored by none other than Bono and The Edge from U2. “Neo-wallpaper“ was how the author described the music, while The Sunday Telegraph called the show “a clockwork lemon“.

It’s probably for the best then that Fred and lyricist Ed DuRanté restrained from listening to past stage versions. The pair holed themselves up in a writing retreat to avoid any outside influence.

“We worked from 7am to midnight each day,“ says Fred. “At first I was a little self-conscious, it was the first time we had worked together, but it clicked.

“You can’t avoid the film. I was horrified by the violence the first time I saw it, and captivated by the look of it. In New York at Halloween everyone’s wearing the bowler hat and braces.“

This, though, is a new adaptation of the book and includes the redemptive final scene that was ommited from Stanley Kubrick’s 1971 film version.

“The last chapter of A Clockwork Orange,“ explains Fred, “which was omitted from the first American editions of the novel and does not appear in the film, was an important reason why we accepted the commission.

“That chapter is about hope and possibility. We don’t want to just tell people that young people are bad.“

With a ultra-talented cast, contemporary score and refreshed slang; this production, my droogs, promises to be real horrorshow.

Anthony Burgess’ A Clockwork Orange is at Theatre Royal Stratford East until October 1. Details: 020 8534 0310