Step inside love... for the chance to play Cilla on stage

The auditions, held at the New Alexandra Theatre in Birmingham, attracted girls from as far away as Edinburgh and South Wales, with a good smattering of Black Country talent thrown in.

Cilla's son, executive producer Robert Willis, who attended yesterday's interviews, was impressed with the turn-out. "Everyone's in with a chance," he said. "For me for me, it's about capturing the spirit of my mother."

Third in the queue was Rachel Cooper, of Vicarage Road, Wednesfield, who said she would love to leave the working men's clubs circuit for a career on the musical stage.

The 34-year-old, with a belter of a voice, was not shy about performing a verse or two of Cilla favourite 'You're My World' for film crews who were there to record the occasion.

Rachel Stevens, 22, from Brownhills, who was fourth to arrive, was also full of ambition. The budding actress, who trained at South Staffordshire College in Lichfield said: "I just want to become a musical theatre sensation in the West End."

Around 250 people registered online in advance of the auditions - also being held in Liverpool, Edinburgh and, on Friday, in London - with another 50 booking their place the night before. On the day, a further 100 girls turned up on spec and were allowed to sing for the judging panel.

Next week all the judges will get together to start the process of whittling down their favourites to an overall 50 potential Cillas. More auditions will follow, with five or six girls shortlisted to perform at The Cavern for the ultimate final.

It will then be straight into rehearsals for the chosen candidate, with the stage show due to open in September. The production is a musical adaptation of the acclaimed TV mini-series based on the early life of the Liverpool legend.

Robert Willis said his mother was fully behind the project and had been working with him on it before she died. He said he could 'feel her on my shoulder' during yesterday's auditions in Birmingham and revealed they were not looking for a physical replica of the bob-haired redhead.

"There are all shapes and sizes in the queue, and that's fine because we're not looking for an impersonation. Sheridan Smith who did the TV series didn't look like my mother. She was small with a cleavage while my mum was tall and flat-chested. You can do wonders with wigs and make-up.

"We want her to capture the joy in performing that my mum had but the show covers the beginning of her career, from the ages of 18 to 24 when she was still young and inexperienced enough to have self-doubts. The confidence came later for her, so we're looking for that element of insecurity too.

"If you get the personalty right, you kind of forget about the likeness.Obviously the girls at the Liverpool audition had got the accent and they know the city, they get it. Having said that, we're really open to giving an opportunity to girls all over the country."

Cilla, who went on to have a hugely successful career as a television host, died suddenly at her holiday home in Spain in 2015, aged 72. Eldest son Robert, who became her manager, said that working on the project had been an emotional experience.

"It's a living testament to my mother and I want to get it right. I can feel her on my shoulder as we work on these auditions and I kind of know what she'd be thinking," he said.

"There were certain things that we discussed before she died that she wasn't sure about. To tell the story we had to condense parts of it to fit it all in. For example, Brian Epstein first saw her in The Blue Angel Club, not The Cavern, but in the show it's The Cavern to fit in with the drama.

"Mum would go 'But that's not right.' But she came round to the idea."