They dreamed a dream.

Music Theater International is one of the world's leading theatrical licensing agencies. They grant theaters from around the world the rights to "perform the greatest selection of musicals from Broadway and beyond."

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MTI says on their website that they are "particularly dedicated to educational theater, and [have] created special collections to meet the needs of various types of performs and audiences."

MTI is who licenses the Broadway Junior shows that are performed by the Casper Children's Theater and, now, they're partnering with theaters across the country to produce 'All Together Now!: A Global Event Celebrating Local Theater.'

All Together Now!, as the name implies, is bringing together the Casper Children's Theater, Centennial Middle School, Dean Morgan Middle School, Kelly Walsh High School, Natrona County High School, and Opera Wyoming to perform a night of theater, featuring songs that we know and love from some of Broadway's hottest shows.

"All Together Now! features songs from MTI’s beloved catalogue of musicals including, Disney’s Beauty and the Beast, Newsies, Guys and Dolls, Hairspray, Les Misérables, Little Shop of Horrors, Mamma Mia!, Matilda, My Fair Lady, and many more" a press release noted.

MTI’s President and CEO, Drew Cohen stated, “MTI’s All Together Now! is about bringing people back to the theatre, whether as audience members or cast, crew and musicians. The revue features songs from the world’s most iconic musicals, so there is definitely something for everyone to enjoy. Our goal with this worldwide event is for organizations to provide hope, inspiration and excitement to their communities through the transformative power of musical theatre."

This local theatre extravaganza will hold performances on November 12 and 13. The combined theater group will perform at Natrona County High School on November 12 and Kelly Walsh High School on November 13. Both shows begin at 7pm.

Admission is free, but donations will be accepted, and will go towards raising funds for the Casper Children's Theater, the middle school theater programs, and Opera Wyoming who are trying to get back on their feet after shutdowns due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

For those unable to come to the performances, a livestream is available for $5. The link to the livestream can be found here. 

“We are proud to be able to unite theatre students from all over Casper to celebrate the talent in our community as well as provide needed funds for our educational theatre programs,” said Zach Schneider, director of theatre at NCHS. “We are rivals on the courts and fields, but on stage we are all in this together.”

There's something special about theater. When the lights go down and those curtains open, something happens. It happens to the audience, and it happens to the actors as well. For just a little while, we forget who we are. We forget our problems, our baggage, our bad days, and we're transported to another world. Whether it's a castle in France where Belle tries to tame a Beast, or it's 1776 in New York City as Alexander Hamilton writes his way out of poverty to become one of the nation's most vital founding fathers; there's something about theater that leaves us breathless and begging for more. There's a magic that presents itself on those stages and, for two nights, that magic can be felt in Casper.

Audiences get to be entertained, and future stars of Broadway get to perform. It's a give and take, really. The performers give us their hearts and souls and we take it all in. That's the beauty of theater. That's the power of it. Theater shows us that, in the end, we're all together now.

Casper Children's Theater Open House

 

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