FORGET about tomorrow, Worcester Operatic and Dramatic Society's Youth Section are performing the smash hit musical Annie today, as part of the Three Choirs Fringe Festival.

The sell-out production includes 70 youngsters, aged between eight and 18, plus a 12-year-old yellow Labrador called Penny.

"She's a show-off and just loves people, especially children", said owner Una Webb, of Kingston Avenue, Worcester.

"She's never been on the stage before, but she's very placid and laid-back. She should be all right once the little girl is used to instructing her."

The girl in question is nine-year-old Anna-Julia Grinnell a pupil at Claines C of E Primary School.

Annie has long been a favourite of the Fernhill Heath girl, and this is the second time she has played the lead.

A dancer with Harlequin Stage School since the age of three, Anna-Julia took the role of the orphan girl at their summer school.

"It's been my favourite film for ages and I always wanted to be Annie," she said.

This is the 18th show David Humphries has produced and directed for WODYS.

"I guess it's a case of anything can happen," he said. "But it'll be all right on the night."

Annie is at The Swan Theatre until Saturday, August 3. Evening performances start at 7.30pm and there is a matinee on Saturday.

Another Three Choirs Jubilee Fringe Festival production opens tonight at The Commandery, when the Mikron Theatre Company stages All Steamed Up.

The company, which tours England by canal, devised this piece, which tells the story of Richard Trevithick, the Cornish engineer and inventor of the world's first self-propelled steam engine. Trevithick's life included an 11-year journey to the silver mines of South America where he made and lost his fortune.

In a final irony, when Trevithick was penniless in South America, he had to borrow his fare home from Robert Stephenson, the man history would credit as inventing the steam engine.

Tonight's show begins at 8pm, before moving around Worcestershire for two weeks.

For further information contact Louise Fenton, arts development office at Wychavon District Council, on 01386 565102 or log on to www. mikron.org.uk