"I heard about it over the internet and wanted to do it - I wanted to do something away from my brother," she said.

"He was annoying me at that point."

That worked for one show, but then Oliver, 9, was part of the second one she did.

"We had a shortage of people, so he came along."

She - but not, apparently, he - will be one of the cast of Pied Piper's next Junior production, Of Mice and Mozart, by Jill and Michael Gallina, which adapts melodies by the composer to tell a story about him through the ancestors of the mice who lived in his house.

The artistic director, Nina Stevenson, who used to work with Music for Everyone, has been running Pied Piper for 13 years and said it was about educating and training young people to achieve excellence in performing in musical theatre, whatever their level of experience.

She said the junior shows were for boys and girls aged between seven and 14 and senior shows were for ages 10 and up.

Many of the participants had gone on to appear in other Canberra musicals and some had pursued professional careers in the performing arts.

While for most of the participants the opportunity to perform was the big attraction, Angelika Bui, 12, of Watson, said she had joined to gain confidence and that the process of warming up with singing and dancing was her favourite part.

The $356 fee for each student includes costumes, music, and a 10-week rehearsal period ending with performances in the September school holidays. The next senior production, Frozen, will be produced in 2022.

Lizzy was one of several girls returning for another show with the company, turning up at an information session that turned into an impromptu rehearsal (official rehearsals begin on Wednesday).

Some of the children knew Mozart was a composer and some recognised his tunes when they heard them played by Emma Zen, musical director for the last five Piped Piper shows.

Stevenson wrote one show for the company, Puss in Boots, and other musicals have been licensed including Disney's junior versions of Aladdin and High School Musical.

Parents of participants are often recruited to help out in various capacities.

Physical culture teacher Julie Heather is one of them. She's been choreographing Pied Piper productions for the last five years, though she isn't doing much on Of Mice and Mozart as dance isn't a big feature of the show.

Another parent is Roger Hunt of Wanniassa, father of 11-year-old Evie-Jeanne. He said his daughter went to school with Lizzy, who told her about Piped Piper, introducing her to new fun and friends.

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