Home > Current Buzz > The 11th Annual Broadway Jr Celebration in NYC Features 2 FAME Jr songs, Mott Hall IV Performs, "Hard Work" & Global Technological Preparatory Middle School Performs, "There She Goes!"
...........................................................................................................

 

Tuck Everlasting Star Hosts 11th Annual Broadway Junior Student Finale Today
By Robert Viagas
May 17, 2016

Andrew Keenan-Bolger presents student performances May 17 on the stage of the Imperial Theatre.

Andrew Keenan-Bolger
(Monica Simoes)

Tuck Everlasting star Andrew Keenan-Bolger hosts the 11th Annual Broadway Junior Student Finale 10:30 AM May 17 on the stage of Broadway's Imperial Theatre.

The Shubert Foundation and Music Theatre International sponsor the event, which features students from Brooklyn, Bronx, Queens and Manhattan. Students have the opportunity to step onto a Broadway stage to perform numbers from their school versions of classic Broadway musicals including Disney’s The Lion King Jr, Fame Jr, Guys and Dolls Jr, Annie Jr, Hairspray Jr and Shrek the Musical Jr. MTI created the “Jr” series that offers classic musicals in shortened and simplified forms for student performances.

New York City Department of Education Senior Deputy Chancellor, Dorita Gibson and Music Theatre International’s Chairman and CEO, Freddie Gershon offer welcoming remarks to the students as well as Shubert Foundation President Michael I. Sovern, Chairman of the Shubert Organization Philip J. Smith, President of the Shubert Organization Robert E. Wankel, members of NYC Schools Chancellor Carmen Fariña’s cabinet from the Department of Education, plus prominent NYC arts educators, and leading members of New York’s professional theatre community.

Chancellor Fariña said in a statement, “In the arts capital of the world, it’s so important that all our students—regardless of their zip code—have access to a great arts education, which teaches them to create, rehearse, and revise in the pursuit of mastery. That’s why the City is investing an additional $23 million in the arts annually. In particular, we want our students to interact with our cultural institutions, including Broadway. I thank the Shubert Foundation and Music Theatre International for their invaluable partnership, and for their work broadening and brightening our students’ education.”

Sovern said, “Every year, the Broadway Junior celebration is a joyful burst of youthful talent and energy that lights up Broadway. The long-running success of this program clearly demonstrates the value of The Shubert Foundation’s ongoing support for arts education programs in our New York City public schools.”

Gershon, who conceived the Broadway Junior Musicals Program, added, “I am enormously gratified, along with Team MTI to witness how this program has matured and expanded over 11 years. The unanticipated long term impact on the students, schools and local communities has gone beyond what any of us could have envisaged as the participating students are learning life skills, indispensable to their futures. These include the ability to collaborate, follow direction and instruction, practice self-discipline and work ethics, and use their imaginations while honing their verbal communication skills and developing social skills which will serve them well in navigating life. These are the great gifts to give a new generation, critical for success, and generally atypical of traditional curricula.”

In the first year of the program, teachers and students are guided step-by-step through the process of producing a first-ever musical in their schools. In the second year, teachers and students continue to receive support and encouragement on their second musical, but take ownership over their productions. In the third year and beyond, schools present a musical independently, and serve as inspiration for other schools involved in earlier cycles of the program.

Participating schools and their shows include:

Disney's The Lion King Jr
Angelo Patri School

Hairspray Jr
In Tech Academy MS/HS 368

Annie Jr
Pablo Casals MS 181

Disney's Beauty and the Beast Jr
PS 5 Port Morris School

Fame Jr
Mott Hall IV

Shrek the Musical Jr
Seth Low I.S. 96

Hairspray Jr
Shell Bank Intermediate School 14

Annie Jr
Middle School for Marketing and Legal Studies

Seussical Jr
PS/IS 30 Mary White Ovington

School House Rock Live! Jr
New Design Middle School

Guys and Dolls Jr
Academy of Medical Technology

Disney's High School Musical Jr
Corona Arts & Sciences Academy

Hairspray Jr
Hunter's Point Community Middle School

Disney's The Little Mermaid Jr
PS/IS 119 The Glendale

Annie Jr
Spring Creek Community School

Disney's The Lion King Jr
Lyons Community School

Fame Jr
Global Technology Preparatory

Disney's The Little Mermaid Jr
Thurgood Marshall Academy for Learning and Social Change

Disney's Aladdin Jr
PS 23Q (QCPC)

 

 

< Back