'After Schoolsical Special' entertains at Phillips Center Oct. 16

October 5, 2005

GAINESVILLE, Fla. – Academics will become dramatically more musical when MTI’s Broadway Junior on Tour! “After Schoolsical Special” – a performance designed to educate, empower and entertain parents, teachers, and students about the process of putting on a musical – comes to the Phillips Center for the Performing Arts on Sunday, Oct. 16, for performances at 2 p.m. and 4 p.m.

“After Schoolsical Special” incorporates elements of Meredith Willson’s “The Music Man” Junior, Zina Goldrich and Marcy Heisler’s “Dear Edwina” Junior and Stephen Sondheim and James Lapine’s “Into the Woods” Junior.

The goal of the program’s 25-city nationwide tour is to not only introduce musicals into elementary and middle schools, but also to guide schools in using musicals as an interdisciplinary curriculum to meet national standards and encourage team teaching.

MTI Education offers the vast majority of students their first experience with one of America’s truly unique art forms: musical theatre. Freddie Gershon, chairman of New York-based Music Theatre International (MTI), began developing the “theatre for schools” program in 1995 with the first production “bowing” in 1998, motivated by his belief that musical theatre could be translated to life-enhancing experiences for children. To date, more than two million children have performed more than 20,000 MTI Education productions since the program’s launch.

Tickets are $15 for adults and $10 for children and students.

Tickets to University of Florida Performing Arts events are available by calling the Phillips Center Box Office at (352) 392-ARTS (2787) or (800) 905-ARTS (2787) or by faxing orders to (352) 846-1562. Tickets are also available at the University Box Office, all Ticketmaster outlets, www.ticketmaster.com or by calling Ticketmaster at (904) 353-3309. Cash, Visa and MasterCard are accepted.

$10 student tickets are available anywhere in the house for University of Florida students and in the balcony for other students. Students must purchase tickets in person with student ID at the Phillips Center Box Office or at University Box Office in the Reitz Student Union. Each student may purchase only one student ticket per performance, for himself or herself only. Student tickets are based on availability.

The Phillips Center Box Office is open Monday – Saturday, noon to 6 p.m.

Performance dates, times and programs are subject to change.