When politicians want to cut spending, the first place they look are the arts and music programs; over 450 New York City high school theater students just proved why that is the wrong way to think.
On May 22, the Broadway Junior Student Celebration marked 20 years of young theater students when over 450 “theater kids” made their Broadway debut on the stage at the Ambassador Theatre.
The Shubert Foundation and Music Theatre International’s annual presentation was hosted by Broadway actors Nicholas Matos and Aline Mayagoitia.
After a mentoring program, the students performed a musical number from their school production including “Aladdin Jr.”, “Alice in Wonderland”, “Annie Jr”, “High School Musical”, “The Lion King Jr”, “Madagascar – A Musical Adventure Jr”, “Matilda the Musical Jr”, “Newsies Jr”, “Seussical Jr”, and “Shrek the Musical Jr”.
NYCPS Director of Theater Peter Avery spoke on the theatre program via statement saying, “youth today navigate a rapidly changing world. Theatre in our schools provides a space and time to process events socially and emotionally, to explore big issues safely and creatively with their peers daily in classes, rehearsals, and on all of life’s stages. We are so fortunate to partner with the Shubert Foundation and Music Theatre International who for 20 years have supported impacting positive school culture one musical at a time!”