Taieri Musical's next show, Gourmet Broadway, a dinner theatre cabaret, is being completely run by youth this year - a first for the organisation.
Twenty-one-year-old director Ben Thomas, who is directing for the first time, said the show would include a collection of well-known musical theatre songs.
''There's songs from shows like West Side Story and The Lion King. It's mostly really well-known stuff but there's a few newer or different songs in there just to mix things up a bit.
''I think it's guaranteed to be entertaining. I'm of the mind-set that people tend to know what they love but at the same time it's great to have some different numbers in there,'' Mr Thomas said.
The self-proclaimed ''musical theatre nerd'' went to New York at the start of the year and saw 11 shows, which gave him inspiration for this one.
''The idea is that the whole show, both on stage and behind the scenes, is run by our youth members, which is 16 to 30-year-olds.
''It's a great way for us to get different people involved in different roles and make sure that we've always got people coming through the ranks,'' he said.
Making it youth-run gave younger performers the opportunity to take the spotlight for the first time and gain experience.
''Taieri's never done a show like this before but usually for our other shows we would have other directors come in and we'd cast the show based on their requirements.''
The musical director for the show is Sam van Betuw and the choreographer is Emma Holloway.
''Sam is a very talented musician - he plays a lot of instruments - and Emma did her first musical production last year and won an Otago-Southland theatrical award for her efforts.''
Auditions for the show are being held on Saturday and information about how to audition can be found on the Taieri Musical website.
''Absolutely anyone can come along. They're not high-pressure auditions; we're just looking for anyone who loves to perform.''
- David Beck
