On Saturday 29th April we had the absolute delight of taking 34 young people between the ages of 9 and 16 to the Junior Theatre Festival in Birmingham, in which we were delighted to return with an award for 'Outstanding Achievement in Music' for our adjudication performance of Shrek the Musical JR!
The Junior Theatre Festival brings together schools and youth groups from across the UK and Europe for a day of musical theatre mayhem. It is an incredible day full of jazz hands and spirit fingers!
The trip kicked off on the Friday following a slight coach delay due to accident, with the 3 hour journey to Birmingham, full of coach karaoke and plenty of snacks! Upon arriving at our hotel a quick un-pack was followed by bedtime, ahead of an early rise for the festival.
A 6am Saturday morning wake-up was swiftly followed by a delicious breakfast buffet, before we headed to the ICC for the festival kick-off. The morning of the festival saw adjudications as we watched 9 other performances from Broadway JR musicals, before we took to the stage with a 10-minute extract from 'Shrek the Musical JR'! The atmosphere in the room was electric and the feedback from the judges was amazing!
Lunch saw us receive the amazing news that Isabelle-Rose and Charlotte had been selected as our 2 AllStars, chosen by the panel of judges during adjudication!
Following lunch, we returned to the main auditorium for the 'New Works Showcase' where we got an exclusive preview of 2 new Broadway Junior shows, 'Finding Nemo JR' and 'Dot & the Kangoroo JR', and an exclusive performance from the incredible West End star, Cassidy Jansen!
The afternoon brought 3 workshops, including acting, singing and dancing with more west end stars, but the festival finished off with the highlight of it all; the awards ceremony! Including, several performances, a teacher dance starring our very own Toby and Charli, a west end concert from Carly Mercedes Dyer, an All Stars performance and the cherry on the top saw us receive the award for 'Outstanding Achievement in Music' for our Shrek performance! It was such an incredible end to an incredible day, and what a privilege it was to see 1,500 young people united by their love of musical theatre, supporting each other and celebrating their true passion!
A massive congratulations to all our incredible South Siders and don't forget to put the 10-11th May in your diaries for next year! Check out of highlights below!