Young actors have been given the chance to take on a new colourful role in a forthcoming musical.

During the rehearsals for the new Douglas Choral Union production of ’The Sound of Music’, the creative team behind the play decided to use some of the younger cast members to recreate a famous scene from the film where the Von Trapp children make their puppets dance, rather than actual puppets, in the scene.

Two groups of 14 children were selected from the many hopefuls who auditioned, and will play the role of the puppets at the Gaiety Theatre on alternate nights.

Jude Fullerton, from Douglas Choral Union, said that the show’s director wanted to give as many local children as possible a role in the show.

’When we held the auditions last year we were overwhelmed by the number of talented kids on the island who applied,’ said Jude.

’We decided to add a new twist to the show where we use the children to be the puppets for the musical number ’Lonely Goatherd’.

’You normally only have the seven Von Trapp children in the show but there was so much local talent that our director,Tony Finnegan, could not resist using these wonderful children.’

Tickets for ’The Sound Of Music’, which runs from Friday, February 14, until Saturday, February 22, are priced from £24 for adults, £22 for seniors and £20 for children, available online from villagaiety.com