All pictures courtesy of Hugh Warwick, author and parent of Mati, one of the DIY performers. www.hughwarwick.com

THE quaint German city of Bonn was transformed into the mean streets of New York by an Oxford musical theatre company.

The DIY theatre group performed the classic musical West Side Story in the German 'federal city' to celebrate 70 years since it was twinned with Oxford.

Over two nights last Friday and Saturday the cross-cultural production wowed the sell-out crowds as dozens of the group's members, aged nine to 70, sang, acted and danced their way through Leonard Bernstein's famous show.

Accomplished Oxford musicians and performers joined novices and children from Grenoble, France – another city that is twinned with Oxford – to stage the production.

The driving force behind the initiative was piano teacher Melanie Houldershaw who set up DIY eight years ago and describes herself as 'wonderfully bonkers about music.'

The Sunningwell resident said: "We performed the play in Oxford two years ago and I just had this dream to take it to Bonn.

"It's one of the best musicals ever made and is still very relevant even though it was written in the 1950s.

"Particularly after the EU referendum, it became even more important to me to make this happen and share creativity and trust between the two countries."

Oxford was twinned with Bonn in 1947 as one of the first official Anglo-German links to be formally established after the war.

Many of the performers, who live in Oxford and Bicester, were visiting Germany for the first time and stayed with local families during the week long trip.

Ms Houldershaw has organised for local choir groups to visit Bonn before but this was the first time she had taken a full musical theatre group.

She said the genre was not as big in Germany as in other countries but the 350 people who saw the production were left 'astounded'.

She said: "The audience were on all sides and there was no stage to speak of so they really felt that they were amongst the action.

"At the end they would not stop clapping so we gave them another encore and suddenly everyone was up and joining in.

"It was a fantastic moment for everyone."

Harriet Spring, 18, from Headington, played Anita in the production.

The student, who is about to begin a degree in Chinese at Cambridge University, said: "My character is described as being mouthy, sexual and sharp.

"She's a sassy Latino and a lot of fun to play.

"It was a wonderful time for everyone in Germany. The people we were working with were really welcoming.

"We had heard that when German audiences really like something, they really show their appreciation and we certainly found that."