5 Oklahoma City Public Schools picked for Disney Musicals in Schools program

Lyric Theatre of Oklahoma announces today the five new local schools that have been selected to participate in the 2018-19 Disney Musicals in Schools program. 

As previously reported, the program is an initiative developed by Disney Theatrical Productions to create sustainable theater programs in under-resourced elementary schools. 

The five selected schools are a part of  Oklahoma City Public Schools. They are Adelaide Lee, Hawthorne, John Rex, Pierce, and Willow Brook elementaries.

The schools will begin a 17-week musical theater residency in the spring. Each school will receive performance rights, education support materials and guidance from two teaching artists. The program features a professional development focus, through which participating schoolteachers partner with Lyric Theatre teaching artists to learn how to produce, direct, choreograph and music direct, culminating in their first 30-minute Disney KIDS musical at their school. 

As a capstone to the experience, Lyric will host a Student Share Celebration in which each school performs one number from their show on the Oklahoma City Civic Center Music Hall stage for an audience of students, teachers, family and community members. 

This mark’s Lyric’s inaugural year with the program.

The goal of Disney Musicals in Schools is to help foster positive relationships between students, faculty, staff, parents and the community through musical theater, according to a news release.  Students and teachers work in teams, developing the wide spectrum of skills needed when producing a piece of musical theater, including critical-thinking, problem-solving, ensemble-building, communication, self-confidence and interpersonal skills.

Disney Musicals in Schools was launched in 2010 in response to Disney Theatrical Production’s concern that under-resourced public elementary schools were not afforded equitable access to the arts. After successfully offering the program in New York City schools, Disney Theatrical Productions began partnering with organizations in other communities across the United States.

Disney KIDS musicals, created in partnership with Music Theater International, are 30-minute musicals designed for elementary school performers and have been adapted from the classic Disney films "101 Dalmatians," "Aladdin," "The Aristocats," "Cinderella," "The Jungle Book," "The Lion King" and "Winnie the Pooh."

Over the summer, Lyric Theatre was awarded a $120,000 grant from Disney to fund two years of programming with the initiative. The nonprofit OKC theater is expected to select five more area public elementary schools to participate next school year, too.

-BAM