Miranda Hart ‘to smash glass ceiling’ as Royal Variety Performance host
The comedian said she cannot wait to “smash a glass ceiling” with her new appointment.
Miranda Hart has said she is “going to smash a glass ceiling” when she becomes the first female to act as sole host of the Royal Variety Performance later this year.
The comedian will helm the show, which will boast performances from Frasier star Kelsey Grammer and the cast of new musical Big Fish, The Killers, Louis Tomlinson and Paloma Faith, as well as the casts of West End shows Annie and 42nd Street.
Also taking to the stage at the London Palladium in front of members of the Royal Family will be Seal, James Blunt, The Script, Michael Ball and Alfie Boe and West End leading ladies Beverley Knight, Cassidy Janson and Amber Riley, as well as Britain’s Got Talent winner Tokio Myers and comedians Jason Manford and Tom Allen.
“It’s thrilling for me because of that, and because I am hugely proud to be part of such an important event in our comedy and variety heritage as the Royal Variety Performance.
“The young-wannabe-comedian me who watched the show every year would be just as excited to hear that grown-up me is going to be hosting – only I’ll be doing it without the 1970s pudding bowl haircut that made me look like a young male monk!”
The 2016 show was hosted by David Walliams. Among the women who have presented parts of the show in previous years are Cilla Black, Cat Deeley and Emma Forbes.
But a spokeswoman for ITV, which will broadcast the event, said Hart is the first woman to host the entire show on her own “in this way”.
The money raised from the show helps those people from the world of entertainment in need of care and assistance.
The show will take place on November 24 and will be screened on ITV in December.
