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Kids Week Choir!
/We report back on getting 100 young theatre lovers singing in the Kids Week Choir at Shakespeare's Globe.
One of our biggest goals at Starling Arts is to see as many people as possible engaging with music and the arts. We love sharing our passion for music theatre with young people, in particular, which is why we were so excited to be part of the launch event of this year’s Kids Week, which took place at Shakespeare’s Globe on the 1st August.
The Starling team with the Kids Week Choir (photo by Pamela Raith)
Our team led a lively show choir made up of one hundred young theatre lovers aged between the ages of eight and 12, who performed a specially prepared medley of West End favourites, each from shows featured in the Kids Week scheme.
Official London Theatre said ‘the annual initiative, which offers a free child’s ticket for every full price ticket purchased, as well as an additional two children’s tickets at half price, offers families a chance to see an array of hit West End shows and take part in a wide range of special activities throughout the month of August.’
Starling Arts co-director Anna Shields arranged a medley featuring songs from hit musicals including We Will Rock You, The Sound Of Music, Matilda The Musical, Mamma Mia! and Les Misérables, which was performed to audience of friends and family at the end of the morning, complete with choreography. Joining the Starling team were facilitators Rebecca Bailey, Hannah Conway and Jamie Noar.
Anna and Emily teach the medley (photo by Pamela Raith)
We were thrilled to be joined by lead cast members from some of our favourite West End shows including Les Misérables’ Carrie Hope Fletcher, Matilda The Musical’s Marc Antolin, Mamma Mia!’s Emma Crossley, Jersey Boys’ Jon Lee, Let It Be’s Iain Hornal and The Mousetrap’s Annabelle Brown.
The stars joined in with the choir workshop and final performance, setting an incredible example for the young performers, staying behind afterwards, answering questions and signing autographs. For the participants to meet such inspiring performers up-close must have been both thrilling and inspiring, and this interaction will surely be a key part of instilling a life-long love of the arts in those children who took part. We hope that our attendees will go on to love future theatre trips (made much more affordable through schemes like Kids Week!) and to participate in the arts themselves throughout thier lives.
Talking to the Kids Week team about the launch event, Fletcher, who earlier this year made her adult West End debut as Eponine following her performance as the character’s younger self more than a decade before, said: “It was brilliant! I did Kids Week when I was 11 or 12 and I remember being so inspired by the actors and actresses from the West End shows then. So to be a West End performer now and to come back and actually be the person to encourage these kids is an absolute honour.”
The Kids Week Choir (photo by Pamela Raith)
One of the event’s young participants, Evie Hind, said: “Today was very fun and our favourite song was [Matilda The Musical’s] Revolting Children… because we are revolting children.” When asked whether performing in today’s choir made the children want to take to the West End stage, the response was a resounding “yes”.
Kids Week said ‘There are still thousands of tickets on sale for the month-long promotion, which has now been bringing the magic of live theatre to children and their families for 16 years. To book tickets, visit www.kidsweek.co.uk
