The National Youth Music Theatre or NYMT is a UK organisation for young people in the field of musical theatre, based in London. It runs acting auditions, workshops, and musical theatre productions. It is constituted as a company and registered charity under English law, formerly named Children's Music Theatre Limited.

On 9 May 2011, Her Majesty The Queen and His Royal Highness The Duke of Edinburgh gave a reception at Buckingham Palace to celebrate Young People in the Performing Arts. Fifteen members of the National Youth Music Theatre spent the weekend rehearsing in the palace in preparation for their performance alongside the English National Ballet, Flawless, Alleviate and the Docklands Sinfonia in a specially commissioned theatre performance in the Ballroom, which had been inspired by Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet. NYMT singers and dancers joined X-Factor winner, Joe McElderry in "Something's Coming" from Bernstein's "West Side Story", excitingly choreographed by Cristian Valle. They also accompanied Rumer in the finale, performing Taylor Swift's "Love Story". The music was directed by Mike Batt.

Musical theatre is a form of theatre that combines songs, spoken dialogue, acting, and dance. The story and emotional content of the piece – humor, pathos, love, anger – are communicated through the words, music, movement and technical aspects of the entertainment as an integrated whole. Although musical theatre overlaps with other theatrical forms like opera and dance, it may be distinguished by the equal importance given to the music as compared with the dialogue, movement and other elements of the works. Since the early 20th century, musical theatre stage works have generally been called, simply, musicals.

Although music has been a part of dramatic presentations since ancient times, modern Western musical theatre emerged during the 19th century, culminating with the works of Gilbert and Sullivan in Britain and those of Harrigan and Hart in America, followed by the numerous Edwardian musical comedies and the works of American creators like George M. Cohan. Early in the 20th century, the Princess Theatre musicals and other smart shows like Of Thee I Sing were artistic steps forward beyond revues and other frothy entertainments and led to such groundbreaking works as Show Boat and Oklahoma!. Some of the most famous and iconic musicals through the decades that followed include West Side Story, The Fantasticks, Hair, A Chorus Line, Les Misérables, The Phantom of the Opera, Rent, The Producers and Wicked.

The National Youth Theatre is a registered charity in London, United Kingdom that is committed to creative, personal and social development of young people through the medium of creative arts, and aims to use theatre to help in the personal and social development of young people. It is a member of National Council for Voluntary Youth Services (NCVYS).

The National Youth Theatre offers a series of acting courses with an emphasis on ensemble playing. The acting courses for new members generally take place in August and are of 12 days duration. During that time, up to thirty young people on each course improvise, devise and perform under the guidance of directors and tutors, developing an understanding of performance and learning skills and disciplines. The courses culminate in a performance which is presented to other course members. These performances are closed to the public.

In addition to the National Youth Theatre acting courses, the company also offers technical courses for new and existing members to gain practical training and experience in the technical approach to theatre production. Applicants for the four main technical departments are interviewed, and if successful, join one of the departments to be given training in their respective fields. Under supervision by theatre practitioners, the technical members form the production teams for all of the National Youth Theatre productions.

Matthew Richard "Matt" Lucas (born 5 March 1974) is an English comedian, screenwriter, singer, and actor best known for his acclaimed work with David Walliams in the television show Little Britain; as well as for his portrayals of the scorekeeping baby George Dawes in the comedy panel game Shooting Stars, Tweedledee and Tweedledum in Alice in Wonderland, and the roguish innkeeper Thénardier in the musical Les Misérables.

In May 2007, he was placed seventh in the list of the UK's 100 most influential gay men and women, by British newspaper The Independent.

Lucas was born in Paddington, London, the son of Diana (née Williams) and John Stanley Lucas (1944–1996), who ran a chauffeuring business. Lucas was raised in an observant Jewish family, with some of his British-born mother's family having fled Nazi Germany. His family were members of Edgware and District Reform Synagogue. Lucas grew up in Stanmore, Middlesex; he has an older brother, Howard. He has had alopecia since his childhood, which in interviews he has inconsistently attributed to various events, including a delayed reaction to a car accident at the age of four. He lost all of his hair when he was six years old. Lucas' father died of a heart attack aged 52, in Brent, Greater London.

Matthew Price (born 14 June 1972, London) is a British journalist who currently works as Europe correspondent for the BBC.

Matthew Price was educated at St Catharine's College at the University of Cambridge, gaining a First Class degree in Geography.

He began his career in 1994 as a trainee local radio reporter. He worked at BBC Radio Lincolnshire and then for the BBC in Newcastle. In 1999 he moved on to report for the BBC's news programme for children, Newsround. In 2000 he was voted the Royal Television Society's Young Journalist of the Year. Following his work for Newsround he went on to work in a number of posts as a BBC television reporter, including Belgrade correspondent, and covering the Iraq War from an aircraft carrier in the Persian Gulf and from Baghdad. Prior to moving to New York, he was stationed in Jerusalem as a Middle East correspondent.

He now lives and works in Brussels as the BBC's Europe Correspondent often reporting for the BBC News Channel, BBC World News and the flagship BBC One News bulletins, the BBC News at Six and the BBC News at Ten.