Almost one hundred nine to thirteen year old children of Dolphin School in Hurst delighted audiences on the evenings of Thursday and Friday, 28^th and 29^th June, when they brought the town of Hamlin to life in an original, specially written, 2 hour, musical version of The Pied Piper.

The musical which was composed, produced and directed by Dolphin’s Head of Music, David Cooper, was first performed at Dolphin in the year it was written, 1979.

Since 1979 the show has grown and new material has been added. This was the third and most lavish performance of the musical in the school’s history.

Year Four portrayed the children of Hamlin Town who are eventually taken by the Pied Piper to teach the adults of Hamlin a lesson when they betray him. Year Five provide the menace as they scurried about as the all important rats in the story. The roles of the adults were taken on by pupils in Years Seven and Eight.

Sophie Eager, aged twelve, who is very fittingly a flutist, took on the demanding lead role of the Pied Piper. The music associated with the character throughout the performance was largely written for the flute.

There are some hilarious scenes where the Pied Piper uses time and magic to manipulate the duplicitous Mayor of Hamlin who refuses to pay him for ridding the town of its rat infestation.