Some New Brunswick students have been invited to take to the stage at the world's largest arts festival in Scotland.

The drama group from Fredericton High School is scheduled to perform Gilbert and Sullivan's The Mikado at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in August.

But the students have to raise almost $200,000 to get there first, said drama teacher Dwight Dunfield.

"That includes our flights, it includes rental of the theatres, lights and equipment," he said.

Opera New Brunswick plans to help their fundraising efforts this weekend, said executive director Christopher Lane.

Opera 'tells really classic stories'

It's performing Topsy Turvy, a Gilbert and Sullivan production which includes a number from The Mikado called Three Little Maids, and will donate $5 from every adult or senior ticket sold.

Opera New Brunswick is happy to promote a love of opera among students, said Lane.

"It's got this myth behind it that it's really for stuffy, old folks and it's really elite. But in fact it tells really classic stories," he said.

"It's in some ways something that I think students should be exposed to in the same way they're exposed to Shakespearian writing."

The students have raised about $50,000 so far. Any amount shy of their goal will have to come from their own pockets.