Gareth Gates finds his Belle for Great Yarmouth pantomime

A performer is ready to step into the shoes of a Disney princess after being selected from more than 200 hopefuls in a Norfolk theatre's first pantomime for 30 years.

More than 200 hopefuls auditioned in April for the opportunity to play the role of Belle in Beauty & The Beast at the Britannia Theatre in Great Yarmouth, Norfolk, over the festive season.

Rosanna Roscoe was announced for her first professional role opposite singing star Gareth Gates, who plays the cursed prince and is also co-producer.

She said: "The search for a local Belle was really important to the team... I have lots of family from Norfolk and my nan still lives there now."

Gates, who rose to fame on TV talent show Pop Idol in 2002 and has appeared in pantomimes for 15 years, has been working on the show for the past year with co-producer Brian Graves.

He said the team wanted to find a Belle locally to "transform someone's career from obscurity".

The audition panel received entries both in person and on film and whittled more than 200 auditionees down to five before Roscoe got the call.

Speaking to BBC Look East, she said: "My nan was probably one of the first people to witness any sort of performing ability.

"From the age of three I was dancing around the living room, running around the coffee table trying not to break all of her ornaments - it feels like a full circle moment to be back with my nan this Christmas and I'm living with her for the contract."

Gates said: "As soon as we saw Rosanna, we just knew and she has the most incredible voice and she is a great actress... we saw a lot of talent.

"A lot of our cast are homegrown, there's lots and lots of people from Norfolk.

"We are thrilled to have Rosanna and we can't wait to bring homegrown panto back to the Britannia Pier in Great Yarmouth."

The cast will have two weeks of rehearsals before the show opens on 8 December. It runs until 31 December.

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