The streets are alive...

Not even Andrew Lloyd Webber could have predicted the mayhem when he decided to hold open auditions for his new production of The Sound Of Music.

More than 3,000 children turned up today at the London Palladium dreaming of playing one of the seven Von Trapp offspring when the war-time Rodgers and Hammerstein musical opens this autumn.

The producers were looking for children who were well spoken, able to sing and dance and under 5ft tall. The queue extended round three street corners.

The first 320 in the queue were being seen today. The rest will have to come back tomorrow.

Ros Jones, the show's children's musical administrator, said: "I've never seen anything like it." She said the audition process will take three months.

Chelsey Johnson, eight, accompanied by mother Victoria, was one of the lucky ones. She was seen and made it through to the next round. "I'm excited but a little tired," she said. " We travelled from Hornchurch and got here at 5.15am. But it was worth it."

But Alice Turner, eight, at the back of the queue was distraught-Her mother Tracey said: "We came down from Shropshire and she's been doing nothing for two days except practising for this. So it's sad she's not had a go. But I suppose everybody wants to be famous."

Those who auditioned had to sing Somewhere Over The Rainbow from The Wizard Of Oz.

Lord Lloyd-Webber said everybody would be seen. He added: "I'm amazed by the reception. I think the Sound of Music is probably the best-loved score of anything in musical theatre."

He said his production would be "a little tougher" than the 1965 Oscar-winning film. "The Sound Of Music has never really been produced in the way that Rodgers and Hammerstein would have wanted it. We will have songs from the original stage show which were not in the film," he added.

Lord Lloyd-Webber dismissed criticisms from actors' union Equity over the BBC show which will find a star to play Maria, the part made famous in the film by Dame Julie Andrews.

He said the prime-time television slots would give exposure to talent that would otherwise remain undiscovered.

Referring to ex-wife Sarah Brightman, he added: "I've been in the business for 37 years and have discovered more young female performers than most - I even married one of them!"