Musicals: The Greatest Show programme to be broadcast by BBC Radio 2 and BBC One
Posted on 15 January 2021
The BBC has announced a major series of shows across television and radio to honour musical theatre. Sheridan Smith (Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat) will lead the event entitled Musicals: The Greatest Show, which will air on Sunday, 31 January on BBC Radio 2 from 7pm to 9pm and be followed by a subsequent broadcast in February on BBC One and BBC iPlayer. After being broadcast on television, the celebration will be available to stream on BBC iPlayer for one whole year.
Who will appear in Musicals: The Greatest Show Programme?
The special musical event will feature vocalists from all over the world as well as a host of performances taped at the London Palladium. Among such performers will include:
- Aisha Jawando from the London production of TINA: The Tina Turner Musical will perform "The Best"
- Alexia Khadime and Christine Allado will perform "When You Believe" from The Prince Of Egypt (on BBC Radio 2 only)
- Elaine Paige will perform Sunset Boulevard's "As If We Never Said Goodbye" (on BBC Radio 2 only)
- Gavin Spokes from the London production of Hamilton will perform "You'll Be Back"
- Ivano Turco will perform "Only You, Lonely You" from Andrew Lloyd Webber's Cinderella
- Jac Yarrow will, with the public, perform "Any Dream Will Do" from Joseph
- Josh Groban will perform "The Impossible Dream" from Man Of La Mancha (on BBC Radio 2 only)
- Kerry Ellis will perform "Defying Gravity" from Wicked
- Layton Williams of Everybody's Talking About Jamie will perform "The Wall In My Head"
- Lea Salonga will perform "I Dreamed A Dream" from Les Misérables - with her performance recorded in Manila
- Mazz Murray, Kate Graham, and Jo Napthine of MAMMA MIA! perform "Dancing Queen"
- Michael Ball will perform "You Can't Stop The Beat" from Hairspray
- Nicole Raquel Dennis of "Dreamgirls" will perform "And I Am Telling You"
- Nicole Scherzinger, from Los Angeles, will perform "Never Enough" from The Greatest Showman
- Ramin Karimloo will perform "The Music Of The Night" from The Phantom Of The Opera
- Sam Tutty will perform "You Will Be Found" from Dear Evan Hansen, alongside members of the West End cast
- Sheridan Smith will perform "Don't Rain On My Parade" from Funny Girl
- Smith and Amanda Holden will duet on "I Know Him So Well"
- The West End cast of SIX will perform the title song "Six"
Additional information about Musicals: The Greatest Show Programme
Over the weekend from Friday, 29 January through to Sunday, 31 January 2021, BBC Radio 2 will also air a medley of shows that explore musicals. BBC Radio 2 presenter Elaine Paige stated: "Musicals are such a huge part of my life, as they are for so many of my friends and colleagues, so to be unable to perform or go to the theatre for most of last year was devastating for us all. Radio 2 Celebrates Musicals is a way for us all to come together, to be uplifted and sing out loud to the world's best show tunes."
In January and February, BBC Four is scheduled to broadcast a series of documentaries, including Imagine - Andrew Lloyd Webber: Memories; Imagine - Cameron Mackintosh: The Musical Man; West Side Stories: The Making Of A Classic, and ...Sings Musicals.
By Nicholas Ephram Ryan Daniels
Ephram is a jack of all trades and enjoys attending theatre, classical music concerts and the opera.