LATE Late Toy Show producers say they are planning the RTÉ programme's biggest ever opening performance as auditions get under way.
The flagship festive extravaganza hits the road this week to find the best young singers, musicians and performers to take part.
Auditions began in Cork on Monday before moving to Galway on Tuesday and Dundalk on Wednesday, with hundreds of children invited to perform from the thousands of applicants.
Show bosses have drafted in more than 60 students from the Institute of Art, Design and Technology in Dublin to help with the opening performance.
Late Late Toy Show producer Katherine Drohan said the students are working on "special pieces to feature in the opening of the show".
"This year's opening number is the most ambitious we have ever staged," she said.
"Sworn to secrecy, these students have been working tirelessly on the project for weeks now.
"The giant characters they are creating will be an integral part of an opening that will stretch the limits of The Late Late Toy Show studio and the imagination."
Opening numbers in previous years have seen a cast of children deliver performances to the music of Mary Poppins and Chitty Chitty Bang Bang.
Singers, dancers and musicians from as young as four years old will perform in the closed audition process over the coming days.
Musicians, singers and dancers met presenter Ryan Tubridy at auditions in Cork today hoping to win a slot on this year's Late Late Toy Show pic.twitter.com/qFKERi1hdi
— RTÉ News (@rtenews) October 24, 2016
Toy Show host Ryan Tubridy said he was "tremendously excited" to discover "hidden gems".
"There is so much untapped talent in this country and I'm really looking forward to getting out there and finding it," he said.
For more than a decade The Late Late Toy Show has been Ireland's most watched TV programme with almost 1.6 million viewers tuning last year.
This year's programme will be broadcast on Friday December 2 at 9.35pm.
