Kids With Canceled School Musicals Sing for Laura Benanti on Twitter

The Broadway veteran asked students whose musicals were canceled to share their music with her, and the response was overwhelming.

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Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.

Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.

As events around the country were shuttering and Broadway made the call to halt performances, musical theater icon Laura Benanti (My Fair Lady, She Loves Me, Gypsy) put out a call on Twitter to students whose spring musicals were canceled to post videos of songs from their shows.

"This may seem silly but I know that a lot of high schools were going to have their musicals and those musicals got canceled. And that is a bummer. I know for so many of us, I know for me my high school musical was like a lifesaver,” Benanti said in her callout on Twitter. “If you would like to sing a song that you are not going to get sing now and tag me, I want to see you. I want to hear it.”

Under the hashtag “#SunshineSongs” students from around the country began sharing videos taken either from rehearsals prior to their shows being canceled or a cappella from their self-isolation in their homes.

From Hamilton to Little Shop of Horrors, students answered the call to shine on Twitter. And Broadway luminaries, including Hamilton creator Lin-Manuel Miranda, tweeted that they were was watching the performances. Other Broadway veterans, such as Daveed Diggs, Stephanie J. Block, and Lea Salonga, have responded to the performances that have been shared. 

Here's a performance from a canceled production of Once on This Island. 

This was from an all-female production of Fiddler on a Roof. 

hi! I’m a senior and I was tevye an all-girls production of fiddler! our show got cancelled the day of our open dress rehearsal yesterday :( luckily we got to perform it for the first and last time yesterday so it was the worst best show for us haha pic.twitter.com/H9Rbk5DB8U

— issa (@isbeele) March 14, 2020

A number from Hamilton... 

This one's from Bright Star. 

These students are "Holding Out for a Hero" from Footloose. 

This senior was set to perform "Something's Coming" from West Side Story. 

My son...a senior...so close to being the Nebraska Jimmy Awards nominee last summer...and our production of West Side Story postponed...oh...and I’m the director. So heartbreaking but trying to home on to hope! pic.twitter.com/wRWKa8jOS2

— Leah Purdy (@NPHSChoir) March 13, 2020

Here's Sondheim! 

Glen Ridge Middle School in NJ was scheduled to perform Into the Woods next weekend. #sunshinesongspic.twitter.com/4dWAeqH3vr

— Linda (@Linda65864353) March 14, 2020

Check out these 6th to 8th graders performing a big tap number from Anything Goes!

A little Andrew Lloyd Webber! 

All I Ask Of You: The Phantom Of The Opera #SunshineSongspic.twitter.com/aWmRYVcp2D

— Christina Licatalosi (@christinalicata) March 14, 2020