BOURNEMOUTH'S Pavilion Theatre is set to burst into life with the return of the popular Broadway Showtunes.

A must-see for all musical theatre fans, the 19th annual show will feature performers from the renowned Big Little Theatre School, based in Christchurch.

Running from Thursday July 18 until Saturday July 20, the high-energy show is packed with performances from some of the best West End and Broadway shows.

A total of 159 professionally-trained young people between the ages of seven and 19 will take to the stage with performances from shows including Grease, Singing In The Rain, We Will Rock You, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang and Me and My Girl.

All train in the school's youth theatre companies or its Professional Development Programme (PDP) which prepares them for a career on the stage.

And they will be backed by a West End orchestra.

Every year Big Little students win places at some of the country's top performing arts schools.

And this year is no exception with members of PDP leaving to attend courses at Mountview Academy of Theatre Arts, The Arts Educational Schools London, The Urdang Academy and The Emil Dale Academy of Performing Arts.

This year the show will be raising money for the Bournemouth Hospital Charity.

There will be a retiring collection for the charity at the end of each show which will go towards raising funds for an interactive table projection for patients with dementia.

Tickets for Broadway Showtunes start from just £17.50 and are available from the BH Live box office: www.bhlivetickets.co.uk, telephone 0300 500 0595.

Anyne who wants more information about Big Little Theatre School can go to biglittle.biz