THEY came in their hundreds and queued for hours - all in the hope of making their big break as the next musical superstar.

Children from across the south descended on Southampton for the first round of auditions for the smash hit musical Chitty Chitty Bang Bang.

From the early hours of Saturday morning the pavement outside the Central Hall in St Mary's was transformed into a packed chorus line as more than 300 boys and girls warmed up their voices.

All would be singing with hopes of securing a place in the world famous family musical, that comes to the Mayflower this summer.

In search of talented youngsters to play lead roles as Jeremy and Jemima, as well as groups of children for the lavish singing and dancing routines, judges spent the weekend looking for that burst of talent to join the cast.

"We have had a tremendous response," said Catie Entwhistle, Children's Director for Chitty UK Ltd.

"Everyone has been in high spirits and we have a few more rounds to go through yet, but we have seen some real talent so far."