Star returns to the theatre where she was backstage baby

The 29-year-old actress and dancer has just discovered her first appearance at the theatre was as a three-month-old stowaway hidden beneath her mother's dressing table.

Cherida Strallen sneaked her backstage at the venue as a baby while she performed in the Andrew Lloyd Webber show Song and Dance.

Scarlett knew nothing of the connection when it was announced that the acclaimed Chichester Festival production was transferring to the West End. She said: "It does feel really special. It feels as if I've come home."

Cherida, 57, is the sister of Bonnie Langford and mother of another three performers, Summer, Zizi and Sasi. Within four weeks of having Scarlett she was rehearsing for Song and Dance and was on stage within 12.

She said: "I thought, the baby will be so little, maybe I can take her in?" The dressers and wardrobe ladies kept an eye on the child when she had to perform.

Cherida added: "I used to sneak her in. I would carry her in a basket with my other bags, hoping she wouldn't cry. But she was a lovely baby, a little cherub, and never cried."

After a couple of months the arrangement was rumbled by management and stopped. Scarlett said: "Performers struggle so much with children. You get that terrible guilt thing but it's your passion, your love, your spirit. It's very hard to say no."

She is loving playing Kathy Selden, the role made famous by Debbie Reynolds. "The show seems to bring this joy. When people walk out, they are singing and swinging around lamp posts," she said.
Her mother is thrilled.

"She has worked so hard, that little girl. She has danced from the minute she could stand up."

The show also stars Adam Cooper, star of Matthew Bourne's Swan Lake. It is booking until September 29. www.singinintherain.co.uk