The National Lottery’s Big Night of Musicals to return in 2024, with initial line-up revealed

The National Lottery’s Big Night of Musicals has revealed details for its forthcoming 2024 event.

Taking place once again at the AO Arena in Manchester and hosted by Jason Manford (The Wizard of Oz), the musical theatre-infused concert will be held on 22 January. The show will be aired on BBC One, BBC Radio 2 and BBC Sounds at a later date.

Manford commented: “I’m thrilled to be hosting The National Lottery’s Big Night of Musicals once again. We’ve got another amazing line-up of smash hit shows for the Manchester Arena audience to enjoy. And the best thing about this show is that the tickets are free! It’s a thank you from The National Lottery to all the people who have supported the performing arts through these crucial years by playing each week.”

Twelve thousand tickets will be made available on a first-come, first-served basis from 1pm today. National Lottery players will be able to reserve up to four free tickets (plus a £2 booking fee per ticket) with proof of purchase of a National Lottery product.

Over the past 12 months, more than £517m has been granted to arts projects across the nation, with £46m of this going directly to theatre-related projects. Since 1994, The National Lottery has contributed more than £7.8 billion to the UK’s arts industry.

The initial line-up for Big Night of Musicals in 2024 includes performances from Everybody’s Talking About Jamie, Grease, A Chorus Line, Moulin Rouge! The Musical, Hadestown, and Guys and Dolls, with the full list of participating shows to be announced in due course.

In addition, the event will showcase a guest star appearance by multi-award-winner Beverley Knight, whose many stage credits include Sylvia, Sister Act, Memphis and The Bodyguard, among others. Alongside her performance, she will also be surprising some National Lottery heroes along the way.

Find out below what Knight had to say about the Big Night of Musicals when she chatted to WhatsOnStage:

@whatsonstage

🚨 FREE TICKETS TO WATCH LIVE THEATRE! 🚨 #Musicals #BigNightOfMusicals #Manchester

♬ original sound – WhatsOnStage