LITTLE did busker Graham Edwards know he was about to be plucked from the streets of Lancaster to become a theatre star as he struck up his accordion one cold morning this week.

"I was on Common Garden Street," remembered Graham, 59, "and this lady just came up to me and said 'Do you live locally because I would like you to appear in our theatre production playing music?'

"Well, I've never been head hunted before so it was a bit of a shock! It's a production that's going to be on at the Grand Theatre called La Cage Aux Folles," explained the busker who is a familiar figure on the city centre's streets.

"I've been to a couple of rehearsals and I'm really enjoying it. It's a challenge to play the music because I only learnt by ear and with this I've got to learn from a score. I've been practising it while busking and it's gone down quite well - I made £20 yesterday playing it." Now instead of the streets of Lancaster for pennies Graham will be gracing the stage at England's second oldest theatre.

The woman who spotted Graham's talent was Sylvia Rogerson of the Lancaster Amateur Dramatic and Operatic Society. "We were having a problem finding an accordion player and so I just had to ask him when I saw him on the street," enthused Sylvia. "He was thrilled and so are we. He's a really colourful character. He said 'Oh I can do hours of French tunes.' I had to tell him, 'Don't worry, we only need you for about 60 seconds!' Anyway, we couldn't ask for better advertising. We'll probably end up plastering him with posters of the show! "

La Cage Aux Folles will be showing at The Grand between March 22 and 27.

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