{"id":857371,"date":"2026-03-29T03:10:25","date_gmt":"2026-03-29T03:10:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/857371\/"},"modified":"2026-03-29T03:10:25","modified_gmt":"2026-03-29T03:10:25","slug":"we-got-to-star-in-the-national-lotterys-big-night-of-musicals-alongside-theatre-legends","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/857371\/","title":{"rendered":"‘We got to star in the National Lottery’s Big Night of Musicals alongside theatre legends’"},"content":{"rendered":"

Show host Jason Manford praised the youngsters who took part in this year’s Big Night of Musicals hailing from Greater Manchester theatre and dance groups<\/p>\n

Young performers from the Lowry CAT programme dance on stage with West End stars during the National Lottery’s Big Night of Musicals on BBC One this weekend(Image: BBC\/TBI Media\/Scott Garfitt)<\/p>\n

TV viewers will get to watch some of the biggest stars in musical theatre on Saturday night as the National Lottery’s BIg Night of Musicals makes its grand return to screens. And for a host of young Greater Manchester dancers it was also an unbelievable chance to join them.<\/p>\n

The show has become a bit hit in recent years, bringing together a host of big star names and blockbuster West End and touring theatre productions for one night of entertainment at Manchester’s AO Arena. And it also showcases some of the projects and theatres that directly benefit from the National Lottery’s fundraising each year.<\/p>\n

This year, it also means that some of the next generation of theatre and dance stars got to share the spotlight on the biggest stage.<\/p>\n

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TV audiences are in for an emotional night, as youngsters from Salford’s Lowry CAT programme, as well as Oldham’s Wild Things performing arts feature in a line-up that also includes the likes of pop idols Sam Ryder and Alexandra Burke as well as the cast of The Lion King, Wicked and Miss Saigon.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Lowry CAT dancers with Mae Ann Jorolan during the Disney medley(Image: BBC\/TBI Media\/Scott Garfitt)<\/p>\n

The Lowry younsters appear on stage in a Disney medley alongside West End and Broadway stars Trevor Dion Nicholas, Mae Ann Jorolan and Lucie Jones, while the Wild Things appear on stage in a showcase of the musical Annie, starring Strictly Come Dancing<\/a> star La Voix as Miss Hannigan.<\/p>\n

The show’s host Jason Manford was full of praise for the young talent in the show saying they provide the “real magic”. He said: “I think it is a nice side effect (of playing The National Lottery) that there is a hope in all of us, that this money goes towards funding.<\/p>\n

“To see it on stage, to actually see these kids get up there – we had a lot of kids performing with La Voix for Annie, and then we had really fantastic kids from some other groups performing in a Disney medley, that’s the real magic. That’s the real moment where everything comes together.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Young performers from Wild Things on stage with the cast of Annie and La Voix(Image: BBC\/TBI Media\/Scott Garfitt)<\/p>\n

“And I absolutely love those moments, for those kids, looking at their faces, knowing that their parents are in the audience, families and friends, I just think, what a moment this is.<\/p>\n

“This is something that doesn’t happen to most people, and it’s happened to you and you\u2019re nine.<\/p>\n

“I mean, if that doesn’t spur them on, if that doesn’t put a fire in their belly to go, I like that, I want to do that again. That’s why it’s so special.”<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

La Voix with some of the kids who appear on stage for Annie at the National Lottery’s Big Night of Musicals(Image: Getty Images for The National Lottery’s Big Night of Musicals)<\/p>\n

Jack Hilton is the co-ordinarator for The Lowry CATs and also got to head onto stage to chat to show host Jason Manford about the project during the show. He said the whole team is so excited to watch it all back on the BBC<\/a> on Saturday night after the first year they’ve been involved in the show. Ten CAT performers aged from 13 – 17 got to be involved in the Disney medley.<\/p>\n

He said: “Obviously we jumped at the opportunity, it was fabulous for our students to get involved with it, we saw them. Performing on stage, working with an internationally acclaimed choreographer, what an experience for us all. It was beyond exciting, we had some very giddy young people. it was the first time they have performed to a crowd that large.<\/p>\n

“They got to walk shoulder to shoulder with some very famous people, and they felt like mini celebrities on the day with professional hair and make-up! There were also lovely words from the singers and the choreographer who were really amazed by these young, talented people.”<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Young performers from the Lowry CAT on stage (Image: BBC\/TBI Media\/Scott Garfitt)<\/p>\n

Young people can join the CAT programme aged from 11 – 18 at the Lowry, with workshops on evenings and weekends. The programme aims to prepare youngsters for future careers in dance.<\/p>\n

And Jack, 29, was stunned to also be asked on stage to talk about his work. He said: “I was informed I would be going on stage to speak to Jason Manford and to express my celebration of the young people, he asked me how proud I was to see them on stage – it wasn’t hard to say how incredibly proud I was of them, they almost made it too easy to be proud.”<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Jack got to talk to show host Jason Manford about his pride in the youngsters(Image: BBC\/TBI Media\/Scott Garfitt)<\/p>\n

He adds: “It was such an emotive evening, the stories really showcase the youth on stage, but it made me think of the variety of performers who were all once young people, and it gave our young people the opportunity to look up and see the careers that could be possible, and also how big the world looks when you’re so small. It goes with the ideology of Disney of dreaming big, imagining what the world can be.”<\/p>\n

The National Lottery’s Big Night of Musicals is on BBC One on Saturday, March 28 at 7.45pm<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Show host Jason Manford praised the youngsters who took part in this year’s Big Night of Musicals hailing…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":857372,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8813],"tags":[192,748,393,4884,90199,2465,485,31228,1290,32801,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-857371","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-manchester","8":"tag-bbc","9":"tag-britain","10":"tag-england","11":"tag-great-britain","12":"tag-jason-manford","13":"tag-manchester","14":"tag-manchester-family","15":"tag-manchester-theatre","16":"tag-salford","17":"tag-the-lowry-theatre-and-arts-centre","18":"tag-uk","19":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/116310273546093155","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/857371","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=857371"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/857371\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/857372"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=857371"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=857371"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=857371"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}