Bronx Students Treated to First Bway Experience at MARY POPPINS

A group of students from Middle School 301 and nearby Trinity Episcopal Church in the Bronx were thrilled to experience their very first Broadway show yesterday when they visited the long-running Disney musical Mary Poppins at the New Amsterdam Theatre, the New York Daily News reports.

The student's first-time Broadway experience came courtusy of a Theatre Development Fund initiative now in its second year. "The aim of the program is to bring underrepresented New Yorkers to theater and to make it more racially diverse," TDF executive director Victoria Bailey told the NY Daily News. "The idea is that once you have seen a show, you're more likely to go again, on Broadway and off - or to concerts, dance and art exhibits".

TDF earmarked 20 community groups to participate in the new audiences program this year - most of them in the outer boroughs. This month, members of Hindu Community Outreach Inc., in Flushing, are going to "The Phantom of the Opera." Creative Outlet, a dance school for kids and teens in Brooklyn, saw "Memphis" a few weeks ago.

MS 301 and Trinity Church kids paid $20 per ticket; TDF subsidized the remaining cost. Beyond making the theater affordable, the program helps put the experience in a context. A teaching artist meets with groups before and after a show.

After seeing the Disney hit about the mysterious English nanny, the students couldn't contain their excitement and curiousity. Sabrina Gonzales, who hopes to go to a performing arts high school in the fall, was amazed by a scene in which statues came to life and danced. "I loved that part," the thirteen year old told the Daily News. "It was magical."