Introducing... Summer Holiday, the Clear Channel Stage Experience show for the summer holiday in York.

The old summer youth project at the Grand Opera House has a new name for 2005, the Clear Channel Stage Experience. Director Simon Barry has assembled his biggest company yet - 96 on stage and eight musicians in the pit - to climb aboard the buses in the rock'n'roll road trip Summer Holiday. Among those enjoying the ride are Sam Coulson, 15, and Claire Brett, 20, who are playing the bachelor boy and the living doll. Charles Hutchinson takes the wheel to ask the questions.

We all know the 1962 film, a musical vehicle for Cliff Richard. What does the stage version add, Simon?

"This show has every Cliff Richard song you can think of from that time, and every Shadows hit too. It starts with The Shadows' Foot Tapper, and I defy anyone not to tap their feet to that!

"The show is based on the film, but it's the film with more Cliff hits, so that's a real bonus, like having Bachelor Boy, which was written as a single and has never been in a Cliff film.

"In most musicals you have just a few songs that stand out but here there are so many: Summer Holiday, Bachelor Boy, Living Doll, The Young Ones, In The Country; that's my favourite!"

Clearly, you can't just stick a London double-decker bus on stage and drive around from London to Paris and Rome, can you, Simon?

"No, the story has been very much adapted for the stage. So much of the film took place on the road and on the back seat, so the show has a new script based on the original film. And of course Paris is very different to Rome; it's not just a change of hat that's required!"

Sam, what did you think of the film? Will you be playing your role of garage mechanic Don in the Cliff style?

"The film's incredibly cheesy, and that's what Cliff is, but there's a lot to get your teeth into and keep you busy! Trying to imitate Cliff would be...not impossible but for me it's better to play it my way and as well as I can, so there's none of that Cliff curled lip stuff.

"I'm just trying to bring out the character as much as possible. He's a confident guy, a natural leader, the kind of person you'd look to for advice."

Describe the character you play, Claire.

"Barbara is escaping from her pushy stage mother, who just wants the fame and fortune, and Barbara doesn't understand that. She thinks, 'how can you put on that act when you haven't experienced life?'. She wants to experience life herself..."

...Simon, you want to add a comment...

"Yes, in Summer Holiday, everybody is escaping from something or someone. Barbara is escaping from a life she doesn't want to have; the bus mechanics are escaping from their London Transport jobs."

As a "stage experience" for a youth theatre company aged nine to 12, what does Summer Holiday have to offer, Simon?

"The show started very much as a vehicle for Darren Day to do Cliff, and while it can be very much a solo piece, our job has been to turn it into an ensemble piece for a large cast.

"What we've done is involve the chorus in a lot of numbers, and I am sure they would have done that in the original production if they'd been able to afford it.

"The other thing to say is that this is a fun show. It's about getting the opportunity that people in my generation didn't have to run off to Europe, with some nice touches about responsibility.

"Each of them in the story has a sense of responsibility, which reminds you it's a period piece because nowadays everyone wants the fun and none of the responsibility."

What have you been doing since last year's summer show, Claire? Something responsible, I trust!

"I've just finished my second year at Bath Spa University. Eight months to go, and then I'll have my degree in drama."

Sam, we saw you playing Benny Southstreet, a character maybe twice your age, in York Musical Theatre Company's Guys And Dolls in May. Since then?

"I've had school exams and I've just done Blood Brothers, our school play at Manor School. We played to full houses every night...and the Scouse accent went down a treat!"

Summer Holiday, Clear Channel Stage Experience, Grand Opera House, York, August 3 to 7. Performances: Wednesday, 2.30pm, 7.30pm; Thursday, Friday, 7.30pm; Saturday, 2.30pm, 7.30pm; Sunday, 2.30pm.

Box office: 0870 606 3590.

Updated: 16:52 Thursday, July 28, 2005