STAGE TUBE: Highlights from MUSICALS IN OUR SCHOOLS Launch in Times Square!

Just yesterday,2012 Tony honoree and MTI Chairman and CEO Freddie Gershon; Rodgers & Hammerstein President and past American Theater Wing Chairman Ted Chapin, SMASH's Krysta Rodriguez and more joined forces in Times Square to celebrate Musicals in our Schools Week. During Musicals in our Schools Week, Monday, March 18 through Monday, March 25, students, educators, industry leaders and community members advocate for the importance of quality arts programs in schools through grassroots efforts like organizing a flash mob, giving a free public performance from a Spring musical or sending a thank you note to an educator via letter, internet, video or kind deed.

Held annually in the third full week of March in honor of both Stephen Sondheim and Andrew Lloyd Webber's birthdays (March 22), the week-long event is endorsed by Music Theater International (MTI), Rodgers & Hammerstein/R&H Theatricals, and Tams-Witmark Music Library, and sponsored by NBC's "Smash." Musicalsinourschools.org.

Check out highlights from the festivities below!