Hannah Waddingham's musical show will put you in the mood for Christmas

Sparkles, numerous dazzling outfit changes, an 18-piece band, glittering Christmas trees, wide smiles, nostalgic teary-eyed moments, comedic skits and countless festive musical numbers.

Best known as a West End star in musicals including The Wizard Of Oz and for her Emmy-winning stint in Ted Lasso, Waddingham’s latest endeavour sees her front a dazzling Christmas special at the Coliseum theatre in London.

The location holds particular significance for Waddingham: many a childhood evening was spent in one of the boxes, bewitched as her mother, Melodie Kelly, a mezzo soprano in the English National Opera, performed on stage.

Joining Waddingham in this extravaganza are the likes of Hamilton’s Leslie Odom Jr, British singer Sam Ryder, Beauty And The Beast’s Luke Evans, the English National Opera, London Gay Men’s Chorus and The Fabulous Lounge Swingers.

We sat down with Waddingham, 49, to talk glitz, glam, outfits and performing alongside her special guests.

FIRSTLY, HOW WAS PERFORMING AT THIS FESTIVE SPECIAL? WHAT DID YOU LOVE ABOUT IT?

It was amazing. I was expecting it to be really exhausting but it just turned out to be completely thrilling, even though it was hours and hours long to film.

I hadn’t prepared myself for the moment when we weren’t on camera, having to sit back and talk to my director, Hamish Hamilton, in my ear and having to kind of hold the audience – that was actually the most tiring part of it, just trying to keep the energy in the room up. But I absolutely loved it.

THERE ARE SO MANY SPECIAL GUESTS, NOT LEAST YOUR TED LASSO CO-STARS. HOW WAS IT HAVING SO MANY LOVED ONES THERE WITH YOU?

Well, I found it a bit overwhelming really that so many of my Ted Lasso pals said ‘yes’. I thought maybe one or two would. But to literally have an embarrassment of riches from AFC Richmond was incredible and they tip it into something quite extraordinary.

TELL ME ABOUT YOUR DUETS. DID YOU HAVE A PARTICULAR FAVOURITE?

No, genuinely not – that’s why I chose who I chose. They all have their gifts. They all have their magic. And every single person brought it.

WHAT WAS THE REHEARSAL PROCESS FOR THOSE PERFORMANCES LIKE?

It was brief. Particularly people like Leslie Odom Jr, you know, he’s a busy man. He flew in, his flight was delayed. We literally sang the night he arrived. We went through it once and then we went through it again around the piano, and then the next day we did it. Just insane!

But musicians globally have a shorthand. So once it was myself and David Tench, my musical supervisor, and whomever of my guests, we literally went, ‘Right, shall we do it? Are you happy with that? What are we doing there? How do we get into that? What should we do there? Should we slightly change the harmony?’ And we feed off each other. It’s a real tribe.

WHAT WERE THE KEY ELEMENTS IN THE SHOW THAT MADE IT FEEL REALLY FESTIVE FOR YOU?

I think I wanted to create that kind of thing of everybody coming round to our house – like coming round for a Christmas party. I wanted people to feel like they could kick off their shoes, even if they were in the auditorium that night.

And even if you look at things like my duet with The Fabulous Lounge Swingers and Phil Dunster, we purposely put in that concept of Phil being in the auditorium and us being around the piano and that kind of ramshackle feeling, people thinking it was just discovered on route.

Hannah Waddingham: Home For Christmas is streaming on Apple TV+.