Junior Theatre Festival Online Line-Up Revealed

Junior Theatre Festival Online Line-Up Revealed

The award-winning authors of Matilda the Musical will join representatives from Hamilton, Disney’s The Lion King, & Juliet, Disney and Cameron Mackintosh’s Mary Poppins and performers from across the West End at the Junior Theatre Festival Online which takes place on Saturday 8th May.

In an exclusive ‘Matilda Takeover’ segment, authors of the show Tim Minchin and Dennis Kelly will take part in a unique Q&A with students and teachers attending the event. Matilda the Musical alumni Kerry Ingram (original cast member) and Tom Brown (Bruce, Cambridge Theatre) will join associate director Lotte Wakeham in conversation about this musical phenomenon, alongside specially created performances from Belfast School of Performing Arts.

Stars of Hamilton Karl Queensborough (Alexander Hamilton) and Alexzandra Sarmineto (swing/dance captain) will join a ‘Direct From the West End’ panel which will also feature Olivier & WhatsOnStage Award winner Miriam-Teak Lee (Juliet), director of & Juliet Luke Sheppard, and, from Disney's The Lion King Janique Charles (Nala) and David Blake (Banzai).

Students will take part in online workshops lead by Disney teaching artists from Disney and Cameron Mackintosh’s Mary Poppins, cast members from & Juliet, and teachers from across the globe. Teachers will work with our good friends at iTheatrics, adaptors of the Broadway Junior shows and the musical theatre in education experts.

Rob Houchen (Les Miserables), Alexia Khadime (Prince of Egypt, Wicked) and Jamie Muscato (West Side Story, Dogfight) will perform as part of the Festival’s finale, where we'll also preview a one-off, specially created 20-minute version of SHREK The Musical JR featuring 19 performers from across the UK and Ireland. A unique rendition of ‘When I Grow Up’ from Matilda the Musical, again lead by Belfast School of Performing Arts, will unite students from every attending group and close the event.

870 young performers from 33 schools and youth groups across all parts of the United Kingdom, Ireland, Malta, Norway, Georgia and the Czech Republic will take part. 

Though the May festival has moved online due to social distancing measures, an in-person festival is currently planned to take place on Sunday 24th October at The ICC in Birmingham.