THE magic and drama of the Phantom of the Opera is coming to a Lake District school after staff won the rights to stage it for the first time in Western Europe.

Michael Gallop, acting head teacher of the Lakes School, Troutbeck Bridge, said staff and pupils were thrilled to have gained consent to perform the hit show after it became available for school use for the first time.

“We applied to do a production of it as soon as the rights became available and we’ve been told we’re the only school to have requested to perform it in Western Europe,” said Mr Gallop. “It’s incredibly exciting to think that one of the first ever performances of Phantom of the Opera in a school will be here at the Lakes School.”

The school’s staging of the West End favourite will involve around 100 pupils, led by head of music Adam Theobold and head of drama Richard Cartwright.

Pupils will also travel to London for a backstage tour with the cast of the current Andrew Lloyd Webber prod-uction at the Her Majesty’s Theatre.

“Around 40 students and five staff have been invited down to London by the cast of the current Phantom of the Opera, which should help them learn more about their forthcoming roles,” said Mr Gallop. “There’s no better way to be inspired than by meeting the stars of the musical on a West End stage.”

The show — which will be performed in October 2012 — is set to cost around £10,000 and fundraising will be going on throughout the school year. Alongside investment from the school budget, the Parent Teacher Association will be raising money through car boot sales and school concerts.

Mr Gallop added: “It’s one of those memorable things, a memory that lasts a lifetime and not just for those who appear on stage but for those who do the lighting and set design.”

This is the second time a school in the South Lakes Federation has achieved a national first with a school production.

In December 2011 Kirkby Lonsdale’s Queen Elizabeth School was the first state secondary school to perform the Nutcracker ballet.