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Big Night of Musicals 2025 on the BBC – line-up, cast, numbers and more from the broadcast

Everything you need to know before tuning in!

Tanyel Gumushan

Tanyel Gumushan

| Nationwide |

21 March 2025

Jason Manford at the Big Night of Musicals
Jason Manford at the Big Night of Musicals, © BBC / Freud

The National Lottery’s Big Night of Musicals is back!

Celebrating all things theatre, the musical bonanza will be broadcast on BBC One and BBC iPlayer this weekend.

Recorded live at Manchester’s AO Arena, Jason Manford was back on hosting duties. Interested to know who’s performing which number from which show? Our helpful guide will see you through!

Let’s start with some photos of what to expect!

On the line-up are performances from West End musicals and touring productions, including:

  • Carrie Hope Fletcher and the cast of Calamity Jane
  • Ryan Kopel leading the cast of Dear Evan Hansen in a stirring rendition of “You Will Be Found”
  • The “arena-style” UK tour cast of Jim Steinman’s Bat Out of Hell The Musical
  • An appearance from the original cast of Here and Now – The Official Steps Musical
  • Georgina Castle performing “World Burn” from the WhatsOnStage Award-winning new musical Mean Girls
  • A heroic first look at Disney’s Hercules with “Zero to Hero”
  • Marisha Wallace‘s first public performance of “Maybe This Time” as Sally Bowles in Cabaret
  • The tour cast of Chicago, and “All That Jazz”!
  • A “Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious” performance from the cast of Mary Poppins
  • Olivier Award nominees Lauren Drew and Layton Williams, with the cast of Titanique
@whatsonstage

A BIG NIGHT OF MUSICALS FOR MARISHA WALLACE! The Cabaret star performs “Maybe This Time” #WestEnd #Cabaret #MarishaWallace #BigNightOfMusicals

♬ original sound – WhatsOnStage

There was also a special performance from Michael Ball with the Our Dementia Choir, Daniel Mays united with Manford to perform a number from the WhatsOnStage Award-winning Something Rotten! (which also revealed some news earlier this week!) and there were showcases from National Lottery-funded performance groups.

The broadcast will also offer a glimpse behind the curtain of The Curious Case of Benjamin Button and Johannes Radebe‘s musical theatre debut journey in Kinky Boots.

The event marks 30 years of National Lottery support for the theatre and performing arts, having helped support more than 20,000 theatre-related projects to the tune of £1.3 billion. In addition, National Lottery funding has helped restore theatres as well as enabling hundreds of performing arts projects.

The show will be broadcast on BBC One tomorrow, 22 March, at 18.50.

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