ELEANOR Leaper had the perfect 13th birthday present: the call to say she had landed the lead role of Dorothy in York Musical Theatre Company’s production of The Wizard Of Oz.

From Tuesday, she will appear in Paul Laidlaw’s show at York Theatre Royal, in the role that Judy Garland played at 16 in the 1939 film version.

Joseph Rowntree Theatre schoolgirl Eleanor was 12 when she auditioned: the age of Kansas girl Dorothy Gale, but Eleanor thought the role might go to an older girl. “What happened was that first there were auditions for 12 to 16 year olds at the Theatre Royal in February and they chose three of us to go on to the 16-plus audition,” she says.

“I didn’t sense I was going to get it because the standard was so high, to be up against 19 year olds… but two days before my 13th birthday it was such a nice early present to know I’d got it.”

Playing Dorothy feels “rather amazing”, Eleanor says. “My first amateur show I did was when I was seven and I played a Munchkin in the New Earswick Musical Society, so it’s ironic to be playing Dorothy now.”

Eleanor, who lives in Haxby, will be joined in the cast by her sisters, Kiera, 11, and Natalia, eight, who are following her in playing Munchkins.

“Always from a young age I watched Annie and Oliver!, being scared of Bill Sikes, and I used to sing Tomorrow on the kitchen table, while everyone was eating, and I liked to dance to the music of High School Musical in the lounge,” says Eleanor.

She now studies dance at the Rebecca Davies School of Dance, in Huntington, as well as singing under the tuition of Margaret Garvey and piano under Fiona Evans, and next year she will begin her drama GCSE studies.

“I’d love to take it further; even if I don’t make it as a professional actress, I’d like to teach singing and music,” says Eleanor, who already has appeared in four pantomimes at the Grand Opera House.

Coming next will be a chorus role on the Opera House stage in Robert Readman’s production of Billy Elliot for York Stage Musicals from June 7 to 12. “So I’ve been rehearsing that as well on Sundays,” says Eleanor.

Watch out for the Leaper girls: sister Kiera will be playing Debbie in Billy Elliot.

York Musical Theatre Company’s The Wizard Of Oz runs at York Theatre Royal from May 18 to 22. Performances: Tuesday to Thursday, 7.30pm; Friday, 4.30pm and 8pm; next Saturday, 2.30pm and 7.30pm. Box office: 01904 623568.