A project to bring some entertainment to musical theatre fans during coronavirus lockdown.

Despite not having too much to do at the moment, every day there are certain appointments I make. Firstly, like most people, the 5pm Downing Street briefing is one of my appointments – to get up to date with what’s happening.

Then, there are other things I’ve been making appointments for. Finding out the latest celebs to duet with Matt Lucas on the Baked Potato Song, or who is joining Gary Barlow for a crooner session. Less important you could argue!

Throw into the mix some exercise, some work and baking sessions and you’ve got yourself a day plan.

For theatre fans, the lockdown has meant no escapism to go and see their favourite shows, but on Encore Radio we’ve tried to keep a bit of that alive.

The idea I had was to get listeners involved to create their own musicals, taking their favourite songs and building a show. With categories like ‘Best Duet’, ‘Best Love Song’ and ‘Best Opening Number’ fans could vote for their favourite songs over a two week period, ahead of the show being broadcast in its entirety.

Thousands of people got in touch to be a part of the campaign, before coming together to listen to the final product. Hopefully, every day, this gave people an appointment to get involved with the voting, before drifting away for an hour of pure escapism as we put together the most random mix of musical theatre songs, to create our own show.

If you like a bit of musical theatre, and are intrigued by which songs won, check it out here.

Photos: L to R Matt Crockett (Wicked), Johan Persson (Phantom of the Opera and Waitress), Matthew Murphy (Dear Evan Hansen), Craig Sugden (Come From Away), Alistair Muir (Everybody’s Talking About Jamie and Billy Elliot), ®Disney (The Lion King)