Australians attend the Super Bowl of musical theatre
75 lucky young Australians aged between 12 and 18 were chosen to take part in the ‘Super Bowl’ of musical theatre, the Junior Theatre Festival thanks to thanks to Travel Gang and Music Theatre International (Australasia).
The Junior Theatre Festival (JTF) brings together over 7,000 student musical theatre troupes (that’s 14,000 jazz hands!) from all over the world for a weekend of musical theatre mayhem and madness. Each troupe performed fifteen minutes from a Broadway Junior show for adjudication by a panel of musical theatre experts.
The festival took place in Atlanta this month and featured some of Broadway’s biggest names as guests, including stars from Mean Girls, Hamilton, Into the Woods and Dear Evan Hansen.
The world’s largest collection of musical theatre lovers, the Junior Theatre Festivalalso featured professional development for teachers, workshops for students and parents, a New Works Showcase featuring new musical adaptations soon to be released and concluded with a grand finale concert headlined by Broadway’s best.
MTI Australasia’s Managing Director Stuart Hendricks Explained:
MTI’s commitment to youth theatre is grounded in the knowledge that performing arts schools are an essential part of the holistic development of students.
The Junior Theatre Festival is the perfect vehicle to provide a space for this development. Apart from developing the essential performance skills of singing, acting and dancing, it is also teaching the essential life skills of public speaking, self-confidence, teamwork and problem solving.
In 2023, guests included Mean Girls Broadway favourites Krystina Alabado, Erika Henningsen, Grey Henson, Kate Rockwell and Kyle Selig; Into the Woods’ Katy Geraghty; Six and The Devil Wears Prada star Taylor Iman Jones; Hamilton’s Daniel Yearwood; Dear Evan Hansen writers Benj Pasek and Justin Paul plus Disney Theatrical Productions President and Producer Thomas Schumacher.
MTI are working closely with partners, Travel Gang to provide this life-changing adventure for these outstanding Aussie All-Stars who will be attending the flagship Junior Theatre Festival in Atlanta as well as a week in New York attending workshops and performances.
Music Theatre International (MTI) is one of the world’s leading theatrical licensing agencies, granting theatres from around the world the rights to perform the greatest selection of musicals from Broadway and beyond. Founded in 1952 by composer Frank Loesser and orchestrator Don Walker, MTI is a driving force in advancing musical theatre as a vibrant and engaging art form.
MTI works directly with the composers, lyricists and book writers of these musicals to provide official scripts, musical materials and dynamic theatrical resources to over 100,000 professional, community and school theatres in the US and in over 150 countries worldwide.
MTI is particularly dedicated to educational theatre and has created special collections to meet the needs of various types of performers and audiences. MTI’s Broadway Junior™ shows are 30- and 60-minute musicals for performance by elementary and middle school-aged performers, while MTI’s School Editions are musicals annotated for performance by high school students.
MTI maintains its global headquarters in New York City with additional offices in London (MTI Europe) and Melbourne (MTI Australasia).
