Photos: NYC Kids Hit the Stage for Broadway Junior Student Finale!

The 14th annual Shubert Foundation/Music Theatre International Broadway Junior Student Finale took place earlier today, May 14, at Broadway's Imperial Theatre, hosted by James Harkness and Jawan M. Jackson, stars from Broadway's new hit, Ain't Too Proud - The Life and Times of The Temptations.

The Shubert Foundation / MTI Broadway Junior partnership is a groundbreaking musical theatre mentorship program that helps public schools affect school culture change through building sustainable theatre education programs. Hundreds of participating students share musical numbers from their fully produced school shows at the Finale. For many, their first musical theatre experience performing will be on Broadway.

New York City Public School students from Brooklyn, Bronx, Queens and Manhattan performed numbers from their full school productions of Broadway musicals. The shows include Hairspray JR.; Once on This Island JR.; Disney's Aladdin JR.; Disney's Beauty and the Beast JR.; Legally Blonde the Musical JR.; Disney's The Lion King JR.; Roald Dahl's Willy Wonka JR; Disney's The Little Mermaid and Madagascar JR.

The program is sponsored by The Shubert Foundation, Music Theatre International (MTI) and the New York City Department of Education (NYCDOE). In attendance at theBroadway Junior® Student Finale will be Philip J. Smith, Chairman and Co-CEO of The Shubert Organization, Robert E. Wankel, President and Co-CEO of The Shubert Organization, Michael I. Sovern, President of The Shubert Foundation, representatives from the Office of Arts and Special Projects for the NYC Department of Education, prominent NYC arts educators, and leading members of New York's professional theatre community.

Photo Credit: Jennifer Broski