Sutton theatre troop get once-in-a-lifetime chance to perform at Disneyland Paris

Claire Wragg runs the Star and Stage musical theatre group at the All Saints Centre and, at the start of 2019, came upon an opportunity to perform at one of Europe’s most-visited venues.

She saw an advert online to audition for shows at the popular France attraction, and organised her team to send in three songs and performances in the hope of making the big event.

The group found out a few months later that they had been successful and that they would be able to do shows at Disneyland Paris alongside favourites such as Mickey and Minnie Mouse.

Since then they have been practising the five songs they needed to learn and the performances to boot, and after returning from the “once-in-a-lifetime” trip on December 2, say it was an unforgettable experience.

Claire, who has been running the theatre group for about 18 months, said: “Since we found out we had been successful we’ve been doing so much practising and it’s been really exciting.

“We got there on November 28 and had a nice long weekend, with passes that gave us full access to the park which was really exciting.

“A lot of the kids had never been to France let alone Disneyland, so it was an amazing experience for them. We had a wide age range, with the youngest aged five and our eldest aged 47.

“It was really special, something we’ll never forget, and it was nice to be able to explore the park while getting on stage for such a big performance.”

When the group arrived at the resort, they took part in Disney workshops to prepare them for the routines with some of the much-loved characters.

The group had practised a repertoire of songs and dances sent to them by Disney, and in total played four shows over the weekend.

Claire added: “Although we were the performing group, we had to practise as we were also on stage with the Disney professionals.

“It’s really exciting, everyone now has a certificate to say they have performed at Disneyland Paris.”