Shubert Foundation & Music Theatre International Broadway Junior® Celebration

May 22, 2025

Broadway Junior Student CelebrationOVER 450 NYC STUDENTS MAKE THEIR BROADWAY DEBUT

AT THE 20TH ANNUAL

SHUBERT FOUNDATION & MUSIC THEATRE INTERNATIONAL

BROADWAY JUNIOR® 

STUDENT CELEBRATION

Hosted by Nicholas Matos & Aline Mayagoitia

New York, NY (May 22, 2025) – The 20th annual Shubert Foundation & Music Theatre International Broadway Junior® Student Finale was held on Thursday, May 22, 2025 at Broadway’s Ambassador Theatre (219 West 49th Street) hosted by Nicholas Matos (Smash) and Aline Mayagoitia (Real Women Have Curves).

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 shared musical numbers from their fully produced school shows at the Finale. For many, this was their first musical theatre experience performing on Broadway.

New York City Public School students from Brooklyn, the Bronx, Manhattan and Queens performed numbers from their full school productions of Broadway musicals. The shows included Disney's Aladdin JR., Disney's Alice in Wonderland JR., Annie JR., Disney's High School Musical JR., Disney's The Lion King JR., Madagascar – A Musical Adventure JR., Roald Dahl’s Matilda The Musical JR., Disney's Newsies JR., Seussical JR., and Shrek The Musical JR.

The program is sponsored by The Shubert Foundation, Music Theatre International (MTI) and New York City Public Schools (NYCPS). In attendance at the Broadway Junior® Student Finale were Diana Phillips, President of The Shubert Foundation, President and CEO of Music Theatre International Drew Cohen, representatives from the NYC Public Schools Arts Office, prominent NYC arts educators, and leading members of New York’s professional theatre community.

“The Shubert Foundation and MTI Broadway Junior partnership with our Arts Office is an example of how the arts can empower our students both inside the classroom and on the big stage,” said Schools Chancellor Melissa Aviles-Ramos. “We deeply appreciate this commitment, which gives our young people unforgettable experiences that will leave a lasting impact on their artistic journeys.”

“Every year, our middle school students light up a Shubert stage with their performances, uplifting us all with their exuberance and inspiring spirit,” said Diana Phillips, President of The Shubert Foundation. “More than 30,000 students have benefitted from this program over the past 20 years and it is a privilege for us to help make these formative and memorable experiences possible.”

“For 20 years, Music Theatre International has been honored to partner with The Shubert Foundation and the NYC Public Schools to help bring the transformative power of musical theatre to students across the city,” said Drew Cohen, President and CEO of Music Theatre International. “As we celebrate this milestone, we remain inspired by the creativity, determination, and joy these young performers bring to the stage. Theatre fosters collaboration, empathy, perseverance, and confidence—skills that serve students far beyond the footlights. We are deeply grateful to the educators, administrators, teaching artists, parents, and, most of all, the students who continue to make this celebration of arts education so meaningful.”

“Youth today navigate a rapidly changing world. Theatre in our schools provides a space and time to process events socially and emotionally, to explore big issues safely and creatively with their peers daily in classes, rehearsals, and on all of life’s stages, shared NYCPS Director of Theater Peter Avery. “We are so fortunate to partner with the Shubert Foundation and Music Theatre International who for 20 years have supported impacting positive school culture one musical at a time!”

The Shubert Foundation / MTI Broadway Junior® program engages students in all aspects and areas of the arts, utilizing master teachers and expert production advisers from the educational theatre organizations, iTheatrics, Broadway Bound Kids and ArtsConnection.

In the first year of the program, teachers and students are guided step-by-step through the process of producing a first-ever musical in their schools. In the second year, teachers and students continue to receive support and encouragement on their second musical, but take ownership over their productions. In the third year and beyond, schools present a musical independently, and serve as inspiration for other schools involved in earlier cycles of the program.

The 2025 Broadway Junior® Student Finale presented performances from middle school groups participating in the second year of the program:

 Graduated Schools participating in the Shubert/ MTI Musical Theater Ensemble: 


THE SHUBERT FOUNDATION

Since 2005, The Shubert Foundation has provided over $9 million to New York City Public Schools for Theatre/Arts programs. This year marks the Foundation's 20th year providing funds for The Shubert Foundation/MTI Broadway Junior® program which was founded during the 2005-2006 school year. To date, 198 schools and more than 30,000 students have participated in the program. Currently almost 125 schools are involved in the program.

The Shubert Foundation, Inc. is the largest institutional funder of theatre education programs throughout NYC public schools and the nation's largest private foundation dedicated to unrestricted funding of not-for-profit theatres, with a secondary focus on dance. In 2025, the Foundation provided $42 million to 672 not-for-profit performing arts organizations across the United States. The Shubert Foundation, Inc. was established in 1945 by the legendary team of brothers, Lee and J.J. Shubert. Since 1977, more than $695 million has been awarded to not-for-profit arts organizations throughout the United States. For more information, visit www.shubertfoundation.org.

MUSIC THEATRE INTERNATIONAL

About Music Theatre International and Broadway Junior Music Theatre International (MTI) is one of the world's leading theatrical licensing agencies, granting theatres from around the world the rights to perform the greatest selection of musicals from Broadway and beyond. Founded in 1952 by composer Frank Loesser and orchestrator Don Walker, MTI is a driving force in advancing musical theatre as a vibrant and engaging art form. MTI works directly with the composers, lyricists and book writers of these musicals to provide official scripts, musical materials and dynamic theatrical resources to over 100,000 professional, community and school theatres in the US and in over 150 countries worldwide. MTI is particularly dedicated to educational theatre, and has created special collections to meet the needs of various types of performers and audiences. MTI’s Broadway Junior® shows are 30- and 60-minute musicals for performance by elementary and middle school-aged performers, while MTI’s School Editions are musicals annotated for performance by high school students. MTI maintains its global headquarters in New York City with additional offices in London (MTI Europe) and Melbourne (MTI Australasia).www.mtishows.com.

NEW YORK CITY PUBLIC SCHOOLS

New York City Public Schools is the largest system of public schools in the United States. New York City Public Schools supports universal access to arts education through school support programs, student initiatives and the ArtsCount initiative, which tracks and reports student participation in arts education according to city and NY Standards. The Shubert/MTI Broadway Junior Outreach Program highlights the positive impact of theater on school culture and showcasing student voice. For more information about theater in our schools, visit www.iteachtheater.com.

 

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