ALL guns will be blazing in YAODS Youth's Bugsy Malone next week at the Grand Opera House, York.

The youth section of the York Amateur Operatic and Dramatic Society is joining in the society's centenary celebrations with a production big on budget and splurge guns.

"This is our 100th year, and I'd say that no other amateur group in York would be investing as much as we are in our youth group," says YAODS chairman Jim Welsman. "We're putting £30,000 into this show, and the idea is to have the same level of professional input as we would for our own shows.

"That's why we have Paul Laidlaw directing the production and John Parkes as the musical director; that's why we have a professional orchestra, a professional company stage manager, Carolyn Roper, and a professional lighting Bob Bustance, who's done the lighting for all our shows at the Theatre Royal over the past five years."

York and Ryedale's man of many stage parts, Robert Readman, has designed the set for the musical gangster movie spoof, in which children ape the gang warfare of 1920s New York: a city of hoodlums, showgirls and dreamers where no one is safe from the splatter of the splurge gun.

"Robert's building an outrageous set, a la Who Framed Roger Rabbit?," says Jim. "Skyscrapers will be going in all directions, rather than straight up and down, and there'll be bags of colour too, and lots of creamy colours to give it a Twenties' feel."

In the final piece in the design jigsaw, costumes and props are being hired from Donna Tubb, a Bugsy Malone specialist from Essex.

Laidlaw's 40-strong cast, which has been working on the show since June, ranges in age from eight to 15 and is led by Tristan Fayers, 13, from York, in the role of baby-faced Bugsy Malone, a killer with the ladies and a hot-shot asset to businessman Fat Sam.

"Tristan has been a soloist in our concerts and he's been a member of YAODS Youth since it started in 2000. He's very promising," says Jim.

Company newcomer Sam Coulson plays Fat Sam; Charlotte Young is Fat Sam's girlfriend Tallulah; and Hannah Dunsire is showgirl Blousey Brown, the new apple of Bugsy's eye.

They are among a youth section that now has 100 members and is looking to expand. "Membership is open to young people aged eight to 15 and anyone interested in joining should contact me on 01904 704520," says Jim. "We're planning to run workshops on every aspect of musical theatre and to run special projects in the school holidays."

The future can wait. First, Bugsy Malone runs from October 17 to 19 at 7.30pm nightly plus a 2.30pm matinee on the Saturday. Tickets: £12, £10, children £8; ring the Grand Opera House box office on 01904 671818.

Updated: 08:47 Friday, October 11, 2002