When: Tuesday, November 29, 7.30pm

Where: Hull City Hall, Queen Victoria Square, Hull

Tickets: £18.50 To book: 01482 300300

Visit: www.voiceinamillion.com

Origins: The Voice In A Million choir was founded in 2009 by Jo and Robert Garofalo. Having adopted two children, they wanted to increase awareness of the millions of children worldwide that need a family.

Launch: An inaugural concert took place at the 02 Arena, London, in January last year, featuring a 5,000-strong children's choir drawn from across the UK.

Celebrity: Celebrity supporters include Elton John and Piers Morgan.

Voice In A Million – a choir show – was inspired by one couple's struggle to adopt a child, as Will Ramsey finds out

J o Garofalo could never have imagined where her struggles to adopt would lead. The Hull-born producer and her husband, Robert, are now the proud parents of Samuel, 6, and 17-month-old Alicia.

But their experiences of the endless delays in the British adoption system – something recently highlighted by Prime Minister David Cameron – ultimately had another happy consequence.

As the creators of Voice In A Million, a musical project inspired by the millions of children orphaned, abandoned or separated from their birth parents, they have encouraged thousands of young people to take to the stage.

"It just grew and grew because we are so passionate about it," said Jo, who is based in Surrey.

"The more you get involved, the more you realise how many people are faced with these delays. It is becoming a bit of a crusade."

After two major performances at London's O2 Arena – the most recent, last February, featured 7,500 singers – east Hull-raised Jo is bringing the concept to her home city.

The company's latest show, An Orphan's Christmas Wish, will be staged in Hull this month. Created by Jo's husband, the musical production follows a young orphan, Jake, who wishes for nothing more than an orange for a Christmas present.

"When I read it, I was in tears, I knew it would move an audience," said Jo.

"But there is also something uplifting about it. The show is inspiring as well."

The show, starring Connor Flanagan from Wolfreton Lower School, will feature more than 250 singers, aged between 7 and 18, who have been drawn from schools across Hull and the East Riding.

Leading the choir will be Julie Sampson, Jo's childhood friend, who runs the company's Hull academy.

"My husband thought we should set it up in a larger city, such as Manchester or Leeds, but I was very keen to bring this to my home city," said Jo.

"It was where I was brought up and I know there is a huge amount of talent there."

It is something her own life has proved. After leaving Malet Lambert at 16 – and training at stage school in Surrey – Jo went on to appear in West End shows including Rocky Horror.

It was through her career that she met Robert, who runs a production company specialising in concerts and music documentaries. And with their lives settled, they wanted to have their own family.

"We couldn't have children of our own, so we decided to adopt," said Jo. "It was then five years in the adoption system – with never-ending delays for all sorts of reasons."

They eventually decided to look abroad, adopting Samuel, then a four-month-old baby, from an orphanage in Morocco in 2006.

They waited a further seven months before getting clearance to bring him back to the UK. Despite these struggles, they adopted a second baby, Alicia, last August.

In the interim, with their contacts in the music industry, they decided to create a show to highlight the issues.

Next year, Voice In A Million will be staging performances at Wembley and a 20,000-seater stadium in Kansas City as part of American adoption week.

"I feel proud we have done this with such a small company," said Jo. "It has been really hard work but the rewards for the young people taking part are immense."