FORTY young actors and musicians from a Darlington school are living it up on Broadway .

The GCSE music and drama students from Branksome School set off on Sunday to New York, where they were seeing the Broadway version of the musical Cabaret.

The show forms part of their exam syllabus which requires they study a production.

After seeing the show they will be able to take part in two workshops with members of the Cabaret cast. Some of the 14-16 year-olds have never left the shores of the UK before.

The five-day trip to New York will take in sightseeing, including visits to the Empire State Building, the Statue of Liberty, Central Park, ice skating at the Rockefeller Centre and a visit to Ground Zero, the site of the Twin Towers tragedy.

Before they set off, Branksome's head of music Ceri Keare said: "Last week it was -15C over there. We'll be telling them once again to pack warm clothing."