Let this be a lesson to anyone, anywhere, who thinks twice about asking for something for fear of getting turned down. Fortunately, children attending a North Yorkshire boarding school didn’t listen to skeptics and recently wrote to Oscar-winning film actress, Dame Judi Dench asking her to take a part in their school play along with a cast of 90 school children.

While her appearance probably won’t garner the attention of the Laurence Olivier Awards, the highest honor in British theatre, but this is just about the coolest thing I’ve heard in a long time and doesn’t surprise me a bit. Dame Judi Dench is to be the voice of the giant in the Giggleswick school production of Stephen Sondheim’s Into the Woods.

Besides her obvious connection to the school, where she is patron of the recently opened Richard Whiteley Theatre, Dame Judi was chosen by the pupils because she had already been featured as the voice of the giant in the London Regent’s Park open-air production of the Stephen Sondheim musical.

If you happen to be in the neighborhood, Into the Woods runs from 1-3 December.

A tip of the hat to long-time tellyspotting reader, Anglophilesouth, for finding this little gem.