Dr. Phillips Center to host 2024 Disney Musical in Schools Celebration
Nearly 350 students & teachers to participate in the 7th annual Disney Musicals in Schools Student Share Celebration
Orlando, Fla. – At the 2024 Disney Musical in Schools Student Share Celebration on Tuesday, May 7, 2024, local elementary schools will showcase the magic they’ve been working on for the past four months.
Disney Musicals in Schools is a 17-week musical theater residency provided at no cost to local schools and facilitated by a team of Dr. Phillips Center for the Performing Arts teaching artists.
The Dr. Phillips Center and Disney Theatrical Group first partnered to bring the Disney Musicals in Schools program to the Orlando area in 2015, with the mission of developing sustainable musical theater programs in Orange, Osceola and Seminole county. The program was created by Disney Theatrical Group in 2009 and has expanded to a national network of affiliate organizations.
"This initiative is about igniting parents, administrators and students to imagine and foster a sense of possibility-- all while building sustainable musical theater programs across Central Florida,” says Ryan Simpson, education director of Dr. Phillips Center.
Since its inception at the Dr. Phillips Center, more than 4,000 students have participated in the program, across 28 Title I elementary schools and spanning three counties.
Lisa Mitchell, Disney Theatrical Group’s Director of Education and Audience engagement says “the team at the Dr. Phillips Center is providing a joyful experience to students, they are building arts education programs in under resourced schools through partnerships. It’s thrilling to see school theater seeded by Disney Musicals in Schools blossoming into quality.”
Five schools including Idyllwilde Elementary, Lake Silver Elementary, Lakeview Elementary, Oak Hill Elementary and Riverside Elementary, will perform a scene from their selected Disney KIDS musical at the Walt Disney Theater at the Student Share Celebration, happening May 7, 2024.
This program is supported by Walt Disney World and also supported by AdventHealth.
Doors will open at 6 p.m. and the show will begin at 6:30 p.m.
Media assets can be viewed here.
The performance is free for all friends and family to attend. No reservations are required.
About Dr. Phillips Center for the Performing Arts: Dr. Phillips Center for the Performing Arts is a private nonprofit 501(c)(3) organization in downtown Orlando supported by the City of Orlando, Orange County, the City of Winter Park, the State of Florida and generous donors and sponsors. The 698,312-square-foot venue includes performance spaces like the Walt Disney Theater, the Alexis & Jim Pugh Theater, the Steinmetz Hall and Judson's Live; and event spaces like the DeVos Family Room, the Rooftop Terrace and the Seneff Arts Plaza. In addition, the arts center's AdventHealth School of Arts offers performing arts education year-round. For more information, visit drphillipscenter.org. Follow on YouTube, Instagram, Facebook and X.
DISNEY THEATRICAL GROUP, a division of The Walt Disney Studios, operates under the direction of Andrew Flatt, Anne Quart and Thomas Schumacher. The group produces and licenses Broadway productions around the world, including Beauty and the Beast, The Lion King, Elton John & Tim Rice’s Aida, TARZAN®, Mary Poppins, a co-production with Cameron Mackintosh, The Little Mermaid, Peter and the Starcatcher, Newsies, Aladdin, and Frozen, winning 20 Tony® Awards and 62 nominations for their Broadway productions. Other stage ventures include the Olivier-nominated London hit Shakespeare in Love, stage productions of Disney’s High School Musical, Der Glöckner Von Notre Dame in Berlin and King David in concert on Broadway. Disney Theatrical Group has collaborated with the nation’s preeminent theatres to develop new stage musicals including The Hunchback of Notre Dame, Freaky Friday and Hercules. As a part of the recent acquisition of 21st Century Fox, Disney Theatrical Group also heads the Buena Vista Theatrical banner, which licenses Fox titles for stage adaptations including Anastasia, Moulin Rouge! The Musical and Mrs. Doubtfire. Next on the Disney Theatrical schedule: the world-premiere of Hercules in Hamburg, Germany and the North American tour of a reimagined production of Beauty and The Beast in 2025.