TWO friends are to appear in the hit West End musical Les Miserables, just days after ending their current run in Chitty Chitty Bang Bang.

Ten-year-old Natalie Paris will be playing Cosette while Fleur Woolf, ten, will be taking the part of Eponine.

Braeside School pupil Natalie, of Grange Crescent, Chigwell who played Eponine two years ago is looking forward to her latest starring role.

She said: "I'm excited but I think it will be hard work."

The pair, who both attend Finch Stage School, based in Loughton and Dagenham, have appeared in Joseph and his Amazing Technicolour Dreamcoat and are currently among the sewer kids in Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, but the casting arrangements mean they are in different cast teams and do not appear together.

By luck the best friends will take to the stage together in their new Les Mis roles, with their debut appearance on December 14.

Natalie's mother, Rhian, said: "I'm a proud mum. I love the show, it's just brilliant. Natalie's quite level-headed and takes it all in her stride."

Tracey Woolf, of Roding Gardens, Loughton mother of Oaklands School pupil Fleur said her daughter was "over the moon" at having been selected for the show.

She added: "We said it would be great if they could go on and play the adult Cosette and Eponine. That would be something to aspire to."

Stage school principal Linda Finch said: "I think it's absolutely wonderful, I'm thrilled to bits for them. They're best friends. To get in on the same team in the same show is lovely. It will be a lovely experience for them."

The girls will remain part of the cast until the end of next April.