"Hot young talent Lucy Boynton has been signed up to play the lead, Posy, while Emma will play Pauline, who yearns to become an actress," I'm told.

"It's a real coup de coeur for Emma, who loved the book as a child and practised ballet for years. She is having her fittings done at the moment and is to have her hair dyed white-blonde for the part."

Set in Thirties London, Ballet Shoes tells the exhilarating tale of orphans Pauline, Petrova and Posy Fossil, who are adopted by an eccentric explorer, Gum, and raised as sisters by his selfless niece.

The timeless and uplifting story revolves around each girl's struggle to fulfil her dreams: Pauline longs to be an actress, Petrova yearns to be an aviator, and Posy seems born to be a ballerina.

But when Gum disappears, the money runs out – and the girls have a fight on their hands. Their struggle to balance personal ambition with the need to survive physically, emotionally, and financially, proves moving and comic by turns.