As a girl with dreams of treading the stage to mass acclaim, the West End must have seemed an incredibly long way from Leighton Buzzard, where Louise Dearman grew up.

But dreams are always to be followed, and Louise followed her instinct and let her talent loose, and bit by bit, things started to happen.

It's only a few years since the 29-year-old was working at Milton Keynes Theatre, greeting theatre-goers as an usher and pouring the drinks bar side, and from Monday, Louise returns to her previous den of employment.

But this time, she won't be pouring refreshments – she will instead be on the stage, under the lights in the lead role of the Tim Rice and Andrew Lloyd Webber musical masterpiece Evita.

Like we said then, you should follow your dreams. Not least when people tell you to forget your ambitions: "I was adamant it was what I wanted to do and being told I wouldn't make it in my careers talk at school made me more determined!" Louise said.

But then, her rise to stardom has less to do with luck and more to do with talent, and her role as iconic Eva Peron, wife of former Argentine dictator Juan Peron, is a real pinnacle in a career that is picking up more and more success.

"I've done Jekyll and Hyde and Guys and Dolls there before," she says of her return to her 'local' theatre. "It's really weird to play somewhere you used to work!

"I get really nervous as I know there will be a lot of my friends and family in the audience! But I absolutely love appearing there. It's such a brilliant theatre and I'm not just saying that.

"Of all the new theatres I've been to it has the best acoustics and I feel really at home there."

Evita – which features classic songs like Oh What A Circus, Another Suitcase in Another Hall and the inspirational Don't Cry For Me Argentina – will show at MK Theatre through to October 11.

Seamus Cullen and Mark Heenehan also star in the delivery, which is quite rightly being hailed as 'the theatrical event of the year'.

Performances are Monday to Saturday evenings at 7.30pm, with matinees on Wednesday and Saturday at 2.30pm.

Tickets range between £12 and £32.

Call the box office on 0870 060 6652.