THEY could be following in the footsteps of global superstar Ed Sheeran.

Before worldwide success as a singer songwriter and a host of awards, including an Ivor Novello, the The A Team musician was a member of Youth Music Theatre (YMT).

And the leading musical theatre company has been in Hampshire signing up stars of the future for its latest company.

Dozens of talented young people aged 11 to 21 were at The Point to audition for YMT organisers, who are visiting 25 cities across the UK and Ireland in a bid to recruit 300 performers and musicians to join the YMT 2016 company.

The successful participants, including those from the Eastleigh auditions, will work with leading theatre professionals and top composers to create eight brand-new musicals during residential courses around the country in July and August.

The musicals include The Busted Musical at the Brighton Theatre Royal, written by Busted's James Bourne and Elliot Davis.

There's also a glittering musical adaptation of The Great Gatsby; site-specific, contemporary dance opera The Dark Tower at Peckham's Bussey Building; Irish warrior tale The Frenzy of Sweeney (Buile Shuibne) at the Lyric Belfast; a women's boxing epic Fight Like a Girl at the Dean Clough Halifax; and devised working in Plymouth, Aberdeen and Reading.