AN original musical, composed by a local songwriter, has been staged at a London musical showcase in front of all the major casting directors.

The Blackburn music teacher Louise Morris and her university friend and playwright Caroline Smith, wrote the two-hour musical Vincent Van Gogh.

Louise currently teaches singing at Music For Families, Feilden Street, Blackburn and lectures at Pendleton College, Salford.

The 22-year-old, of Montonfields Road, Eccles, said: "Caroline works in London and showed the score to her boss. We got a call about six months later out of the blue and had one weekend to put it all together."

The major casting directors including The Stage and Cameron Mackintosh are on the look out for new talent and a representative of Andrew Lloyd Webber was rumoured to be in attendance.

Five other plays were acted out on the night but Vincent Van Gogh is the only original musical to be performed .

The women have relied on donations to help fund the debut as well as voluntary performances by actors and musicians.

The performance was staged at the 500-capacity Islington Theatre, London.