Junior Theatre Celebration Line-Up Revealed

Junior Theatre Celebration Line-Up Revealed

We are  proud to announce the second annual Junior Theatre Celebration (JTC), to be held at Leicester Curve on Sunday, 3 June.  The event provides an opportunity for young students to celebrate their love of musicals and experience the transformative power of theatre. 

The day-long Junior Theatre Celebration programme will feature 18 schools and youth groups from across the UK and Ireland, with performers ranging in age from 7 to 18, presenting excerpts from specially-created Broadway Junior™ shows for adjudication, and will include:   Singin’ in the Rain, Legally Blonde, Annie, Disney's Aladdin, Disney and Cameron Mackintosh’s Mary Poppins, and more. Participants will also enjoy an afternoon Q&A with special guests George Stiles and Anthony Drewe (Mary Poppins, Half a Sixpence, Honk!); workshops presented by teaching artists from the West End productions of Disney's Aladdin, Mamma Mia! and Shrek the Musical; and an evening concert performed by Rachel Tucker.

“The Junior Theatre Celebration is a unique opportunity for young performers of all experience levels to share their talents in a positive and nurturing environment over the course of a fun-filled day, while receiving constructive feedback from Industry professionals,” said Drew Cohen, President and CEO of MTI.  “Sharing their art with these theatre professionals, and alongside their peers, highlights the collaborative and community-building aspects of theatre in a way that is meaningful not just for the JTC attendees, but for those of us who organise the event as well. I am especially delighted” Cohen added, “that the JTC has been so warmly embraced in the UK. Our second annual JTC at Curve is building on the great response we had from last year’s programme, and we’re already looking forward to JTC ’19.”

Participating groups will spend the first half of the day presenting scenes from their Broadway Junior™ productions in front of fellow guests and a specially-selected panel of Adjudicators, including Andrew Wright, Anthony Drewe, Debbie Isitt, George Dyer, Lotte Wakeham and Tim Jackson, as well as Timothy Allen McDonald, musical theatre author (Roald Dahl’s James and the Giant Peach, Between the Lines) and founding chairman of iTheatrics; Marty Johnson, iTheatrics Director of Education and Resident Director; and Steven G. Kennedy, iTheatrics Resident Choreographer.

Interactive workshops take centre stage during the afternoon with teaching artists from the West End productions of Disney’s Aladdin, Mamma Mia! and Shrek the Musical hosting masterclasses with the young participants. (See below) Students will have the opportunity to attend acting workshops presented by Lotte Wakeham whilst group leaders and teachers attend their own sessions hosted by the experienced team from iTheatrics.

The day-long event concludes with an Awards Ceremony and Showcase on Sunday evening. All participants will gather in the main theatre to enjoy an evening of celebration and presentation. Outstanding performances from the morning adjudications will be showcased on stage and performers will be honoured with awards in music, dance, acting and ensemble. There will be a unique Question & Answer segment with George Stiles and Anthony Drewe, with the evening culminating in a special concert by Rachel Tucker with special guest Mark Dugdale. Kris Rawlinson provides musical direction.

The Junior Theatre Celebration is based on the Junior Theater Festivals, the world’s largest festivals exclusively dedicated to celebrating young people and student-driven musical theatre which are produced by the New York City based iTheatrics and take place on both U.S. coasts each year. The 2018 Junior Theater Festivals were covered by The New York Times and brought together 7,500+ students and educators from 165+ educational musical theatre groups representing 38 U.S. states, the District of Columbia, Australia, South Korea, New Zealand, and Canada.  One-day Junior Theatre Celebrations based on the same iTheatrics festival model take place annually across the US and in the UK, New Zealand, and Australia.  In 2017, nearly 15,000 worldwide people attended a Junior Theater Festival or Junior Theater Celebration.

 

ABOUT THE AFTERNOON WORKSHOPS:

  • WORKSHOP 1 – ARABIAN NIGHTS:  Your wishes come true as you learn the iconic music and inventive choreography to Disney’s Aladdin, the West End’s spectacular hit musical.  Disney Teaching Artists will lead you on a magical journey to the wondrous world of Agrabah.
  • WORKSHOP 2 – DANCE WITH MAMMA MIA!: Say I Do, I Do, I Do, I Do, I Do to learning a song and dance routine on stage with an ex Dance Captain of MAMMA MIA! - the ultimate feel-good West End musical!
  • WORKSHOP 3 – SHREK THE MUSICAL SINGING WORKSHOP: Let your Freak Flag fly as Musical Supervisor Alan Williams brings you a dynamic singing workshop.

 

ABOUT iTHEATRICS:

Founded in 2006 by educator and author Timothy Allen McDonald, and headquartered in New York City, iTheatrics is the world’s leading authority on musical theatre for young people. Every day iTheatrics works to make theatre more accessible for students everywhere and, in turn, leads a dynamic and talented group of artists and educators who are indeed changing the world through the transformative power of musical theatre. iTheatrics develops collections of musicals for leading musical theatre licensing agencies. Working with esteemed partners in the Unites States such as the President’s Committee on Arts and the Humanities, New York City’s Department of Education, the Kennedy Center, McGraw-Hill Education and NBC Universal, iTheatrics develops and implements dynamic programs to build cost-effective and sustainable musical theatre programs in underserved schools. iTheatrics produces the now bi-coastal Junior Theater Festivals, the world’s largest festivals exclusively dedicated to celebrating young people and student-driven musical theatre.