Writing partnership Jake Brunger and Pippa Cleary are to address schools and youth groups from across the world at a festival in Birmingham.
Brunger wrote the book and lyrics while Cleary wrote the music and lyrics for The Great British Bake Off Musical which played a 12-week season at London’s Noël Coward Theatre in 2023. They also penned Sue Townsend's The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole Aged 13 3/4, The Musical which had its première at Curve, Leicester in 2015.
They will host a question-and-answer session at the MTI Junior Theatre Festival Europe, which will be held at the ICC, Birmingham on Saturday 18 and Sunday 19 May.
Sixty schools and youth groups will be represented, making it the biggest event of its kind in Europe. More than 2,200 young performers will attend from all parts of the UK, Ireland, France, Italy, Malta, Georgia, the Czech Republic and the USA.
Groups will perform 15 minutes of a show and receive feedback from a panel of industry directors, choreographers and musical directors. Twenty-one musicals will be performed including excerpts from Annie, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, Disney’s Finding Nemo, Guys and Dolls, Legally Blonde the Musical and Shrek the Musical.
Students will also take part in workshops focusing on the core disciplines of acting, singing and dance. The young performers will have an opportunity to learn choreography from current West End productions of Disney’s Frozen the Musical, Hamilton and Matilda The Musical.