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Shaun and Adam Rennie perform at Light The Night 2005

Australian musical theatre may be generally quite small, but in 2005 it proved it had massive heart with extraordinary support for the inaugural Light The Night charity event, which aims to raise money for cancer research.

Light The Night, developed and produced by Australian theatrical performer Shaun Rennie, is back again in 2006 and it again features a stellar line-up of stars.

One month before his 21st birthday, in August 2004, Shaun's brother Matthew was diagnosed with leukaemia. His courage and strength in fighting this disease inspired his family and friends to hold the first Light the Night concert in November 2005. All proceeds from Light the Night 2006 will be donated to the Arrow Foundation to help fund research into targeting a cure for Leukaemia.

"I feel so honored and humbled by how much support has been shown. It really is very powerful thing when a whole community comes together to help support a cause like this. I am very proud to be part of such a wonderful industry with so many talented and generous people," Shaun told AussieTheatre.com.

This year's line-up includes David Campbell, Kane Alexander, Trevor Ashley, Tamsin Carroll, Peter Cousens, Chloe Dallimore, Lucy Durack, Michael Falzon, David Harris, iOTA, Don Lane, James Millar, Sun Park and Tim Harding (Hi5), Emma Pask, Alex Rathgaber, Hayden Tee, Kaye Tuckerman and Belinda Wollaston, as well as countless others.

"I'm thrilled with this years line-up," Shaun said. "It's going to a great night of entertainment. What I'm really happy with this year is just how diverse the artists are. We have musical theatre stars like Tamsin Carroll and Peter Cousens, we have popular recording artists such as David Campbell, Jenny Morris and Kane Alexander, I am so honored that we have a legend like Don Lane performing, we have jazz singer Emma Pask who is just amazing and we have rock singer turned theatre star iOTA, as well as so many other amazing people. It means that this year's concert is going to be very diverse and exciting. There is something there for everybody."

Preparations for this year's event began essentially as soon as the 2005 event concluded.

"We knew we wanted to keep a few certain key elements the same this year, such as venue, Maggie as our MC, our logo and the general feel of the event. However, we have wanted to keep pushing Light the Night more and more into the general public's awareness, so that's why it's great to have some performers that aren't strictly musical theatre performers come on board this year," Shaun said.

And as for the brother the industry now knows so well? "Matt is doing alright," Shaun said. "Since last year Matt's leukaemia has returned in the form of tumors. He has had another Stem Cell Transplant and has been in and out of hospital all year. It just won't seem to leave him alone. He goes into hospital again next week to get treatment on some of the tumors. So he has good days and bad days, it really is a day to day thing. The combination of drugs and treatments have many side affects and finding the right combination can be a very tricky balancing act. Its important for everyone to remember that, for Matt, living is a day to day fight. Our lives have gone on and it sort of becomes part of our "normal" life that Matt is so sick, however for him, it is a daily battle that he must choose to fight if he wants to live."

Last year's Light The Night was a talking point across musical theatre for months. Shaun Rennie, still exceptionally young himself, has together with his family had to face significant changes in his life over the past few years as he joins the fight to save his younger brother.

The best thing musical theatre fans can do to help find a cure for this terrible disease is purchase a ticket to Light The Night.

The event is being held at the City Recital Hall Angel Palace in Sydney on Monday, November 13. For bookings, call (02) 8256 2222.

Purchasing a ticket could indirectly end up saving thousands of lives.