YORK Stage Musicals will celebrate the 25th anniversary of Miss Saigon with the York premiere of its School Edition at the Joseph Rowntree Theatre from February 22 to March 2.

Created by Alain Boublil and Claude-Michel Schönberg, the French duo responsible for Les Miserables, this modern, rock-infused adaptation of Puccini’s 1904 opera Madame Butterfly explores the impact of love, loss and the collision of cultures during the Vietnam War.

York Stage Musicals newcomer Lauren Sheriston will play the young Vietnamese girl Kim, who flees her village after the killing of her family and then has no choice but to work in a sleazy Saigon nightclub owned by notorious wheeler-dealer The Engineer. When American GI John buys his friend Chris the services of Kim for the night, it will change their lives forever.

Lauren, 15, from Sherburn-in-Elmet, played Anya King in Emmerdale last year and also appeared as Ruby Yearling in Eternal Law, ITV1’s legal drama shot in York in 2011.

Lauren will be joined by Joe Douglas as The Engineer, Ben Williams as John and George Stagnell as Chris, the American GI she falls in love with and for whom she makes the ultimate sacrifice.

Joe, 17, is studying musical theatre at York College; Ben, 17, is a student at Manor School; and George, also 17, soon will head for London’s bright lights after appearing in many York productions, such as playing Rolf in York Light Opera’s The Sound Of Music and Riff in Stage Experience’s West Side Story at the Grand Opera House in 2011.

Kim’s cousin Thuy – to whom she was betrothed as a child – will be played by Leeds actor Jed Berry, who toured Britain as Friedrich Von Trapp in The Sound Of Music and starred as Michael Darling in the West Yorkshire Playhouse production of Peter Pan in 2008-2009.

Stephanie Bolsher, a pupil at Queen Margaret’s School, Escrick, has been cast as Chris’s American wife, Ellen, and is particularly thrilled to be performing two of the show’s show-stoppers, I Still Believe and Now That I’ve Seen Her.

York Stage Musicals will bring Boublil and Schönberg’s score to life with Adam Tomlinson’s 18-piece orchestra and a cast of 40 young actors, who will perform such songs as Last Night Of The World, Sun And Moon, Bui Doi, This Is The Hour, Why God Why?, Movie In My Mind and The American Dream.

“I believe this is one of the finest casts that York Stage Musicals have ever had,” says director Robert Readman. ”The quality and richness of their singing, combined with a passionate and intense performance, simply takes your breath away in rehearsals.”

Readman and musical director Tomlinson form the show’s production team with assistant director Gilly Adam and choreographer Lesley Hill.

Tickets for the 7.30pm evening shows and 2.30pm Saturday matinees of Miss Saigon School Edition are available from the York Theatre Royal box office on 01904623568 or online at yorktheatreroyal.co.uk