Jordan Luke Gage, Charlotte Wakefield, Jake Brunger, and Pippa Cleary Join MTI Junior Theatre Festival Europe 2024

Music Theatre International has announced the lineup for this year's MTI Junior Theatre Festival Europe (JTF Europe), to be held at the ICC in Birmingham on 18th and 19th May. The event, presented in partnership with iTheatrics in New York, will see 60 schools and youth groups from across the globe attend over the course of the weekend, making it the biggest event of its kind in Europe. Over 2,200 young performers will attend from all parts of the United Kingdom, Ireland, France, Italy, Malta, Georgia, the Czech Republic and the USA.

Groups perform 15-minutes of their Broadway Junior show (60-minute and 30-minute versions of popular West End and Broadway musicals) and receive feedback from a panel of industry directors, choreographers and musical directors. 21 different musicals will be presented, including excerpts from: Annie JR., Chitty Chitty Bang Bang JR., Disney's Finding Nemo JR., Guys and Dolls JR., Legally Blonde the Musical JR, Shrek the Musical JR. and more.

The Festival's New Works Showcase will feature an exclusive Q&A with authors Jake Brunger and Pippa Cleary (The Great British Bake Off Musical) as well as a performance from Charlotte Wakefield (The Great British Bake Off Musical, Spring Awakening).

The British Theatre Academy, based in London, and Get Your Wigle On from Shrewsbury, will present previews of Disney's Newsies JR. and The Drowsy Chaperone JR., two new Broadway Junior shows that will be released by MTI for licensing to schools and youth groups in the coming months.  

As well as performing, students take part in workshops focusing on the core disciplines of acting, singing and dance. The young performers will have an opportunity to learn iconic choreography directly from current West End productions of Disney's Frozen the Musical, Hamilton and the RSC's Matilda The Musical. Professional Development workshops, specially curated for theatre educators and directors, will be delivered directly to visiting teachers and group leaders by education specialists.

The Festival culminates in an Awards Ceremony, designed specifically to celebrate the talents of the visiting groups. Jordan Luke Gage (& Juliet, Bonnie & Clyde) will perform an exclusive mini-concert for the attendees to close out the programme.

This year MTI offered two free places to the Festival to groups who showed commitment to the arts in their local communities. The winning schools were Towers School and Sixth Form Centre in Ashford, Kent and LMPA Academy on the Isle of Skye.

Ryan Macaulay, producer of JTF Europe and Director of Operations, Education & Development at MTI, said: “I'm thrilled that teachers and educators everywhere recognise the importance of young people engaging with musical theatre. Our Broadway Junior shows are more popular than ever, and we're delighted to be able to ‘give back' by producing this showcase event. We're privileged to offer such a fantastic and varied line-up to the groups attending, and I'm hugely grateful to everyone who has agreed to take part. For all of us at MTI the Festival is one of the highlights of our year, and we can't wait to fire up our jazz hands and share the power of theatre with everyone attending in a positive and inspiring weekend of celebration.”