EastEnd on the West End

I'm sure this would be a lot more fun if one was British and knew the long-running soap opera EastEnders and its actors.  But even without that it's thoroughly entertaining -- which speaks volumes of how enjoyable it must likely be over there to people who know what's what and who's who..

Not to worry, this isn't the soap opera itself, so you won't be lost trying to figure out what's going on.  It's something else entirely.

There's a very big, annual charity telethon broadcast on the BBC in the U.K. called Children in Need.  And as far as I can tell, from what little detective work I could manage, every year the cast of EastEnders puts together a hugely elaborate musical production number, whether or not all the actors are especially-accomplished with singing, let alone dancing.  But that seems to be some of the fun, watching actors a bit out of their element throwing themselves into such a big production all for a good cause -- and mostly it's quite well done.  And did I say elaborate?  They really put a major effort into this.  I've watched several of the videos from different years (and will post a few others), and they're a joy.

This is one of my favorites.  It's a a tribute to the West End theatre district, and I'll leave it to your discovery what shows are included.  I believe this came from the 2008 broadcast.