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Belfast School of Performing Arts is absolutely thrilled to have been granted the rights to the newly released musical “Moana JR” and will be our Junior Summer Youth Programme 2020.

Disney’s Moana JR. is a musical adaptation of the 2016 Disney animated film, bringing the adventures of Moana and her village of Motunui to life onstage. Moana JR. features all the beloved songs from the film, written by Tony®, GRAMMY, Emmy, and Pulitzer Prize-winning composer Lin-Manuel Miranda, Opetaia Foa’i, and Mark Mancina, including “How Far I’ll Go,”“Shiny,” and “You’re Welcome.”
This thrilling and heartwarming coming-of-age story follows the strong-willed Moana as she sets sail across the Pacific to save her village and discover the truth about her heritage. Moana and the legendary demigod Maui embark on an epic journey of self-discovery and camaraderie as both learn to harness the power that lies within.

We do hope you will join us for this exciting project.  For more details please click  on http://bit.ly/bspa_moana

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The pupils of Belfast School of Performing Arts (BSPA) raised a fantastic £1500 for local charity Autism NI over the course of 2019.

The young students of Northern Ireland’s top theatre school put on a series of seven amazing musicals in Spring 2019 at which they ran charity raffles, along with other fundraising efforts throughout the year.

BSPA Ballymena followed the yellow brick road with ‘The Wizard of Oz’,  BSPA Bangor performed ‘Legally Blonde’, BSPA Belfast South went quackers with ‘Honk Jr’, BSPA Belfast AM ventured ‘Into The Woods Jr’, BSPA Belfast PM wowed the audience with the N Ireland Premiere of  ‘Shrek Jr’, and BSPA Holywood Road fell down the rabbit hole and performed ‘Alice in Wonderland Jr’ and finally BSPA Lisburn went back in time with ‘Guys and Dolls Jr’.

BSPA Director, Tina McVeigh, said: “At the BSPA a high level of theatre tuition and guidance from our teachers helps our pupils to build their confidence and social skills, helping them grow into confident young performers.  We have several children and families throughout our schools who are affected by autism and we have seen the benefits of how the performing arts helps autistic children and their siblings.  Because of this we felt that Autism NI would be the perfect charity for BSPA to support in 2019, and I’m thrilled that we raised £1500 through fundraising initiatives involving all the pupils.”

Autism NI Corporate Fundraising Manager Lauren Cunningham said, “Autism NI are delighted to receive a wonderful donation from the Belfast School of Performing Arts. We are grateful for the support and I would like to extend our thanks to the pupils and teachers who took part in the performances throughout the year to raise vital funds for the charity and everyone who attended these performances. The donation will be used towards funding our Helpline service which receives up to 5,000 calls a year from parents, carers, professionals and autistic individuals.”

These talented young people worked incredibly hard to put on fantastic musical theatre performances for parents, friends and the public and It is great that they were also able to help support an important local charity.

Along with the addition this year of an eight school in Lisburn there are more exciting productions to come for the busy theatre school in Spring 2020 followed by two exciting Summer Youth Productions, ‘Our House’ and ‘The Little Mermaid Jr’ directed by BSPA Artistic Director Peter Corry.

Over the last few nights BSPA Voices, a choir of young people aged 8-17 years had the absolute privilege of performing in ‘Christmas at the Cathedral’ alongside Peter Corry, the amazing Barbara Dickson, Patrick Smyth and Lauren Smyth in the stunning setting of St Anne’s Cathedral, Belfast to full houses.

Thank you, Peter, Fleur, and Peter Corry Productions for giving them this amazing opportunity and of course to Ashley for providing BSPA with a choir we so proud of. We are sure every one of our parents went home tonight bursting with pride and feeling Christmas has begun. Wishing our children all a fabulous Christmas!

What an immense thrill for members of the BSPA Senior School to take to the stage with the fantastic Jack Whitehall in The SSE Arena, Belfast last night in front of a packed house as part of his Stood Up 2019 Tour.

NI’s top theatre school works to bring pupils the best opportunities to work with top industry professionals and will continue to do so in 2020.

The BSPA is looking forward to a little ‘Madness’ next Summer for the 2020 Summer Youth Project, ‘Our House’, the Olivier Award-winning musical by Tim Firth, writer of Calendar Girls.

Featuring the unforgettable songs of Madness, ‘Our House’ is based in 1980s Camden Town, telling the story of London lad Joe Casey, who, on the night of his sixteenth birthday, takes Sarah, the girl of his dreams, out on their first date. In an effort to impress her with bravado, he breaks into a building site overlooking his home on Casey Street, which is owned by Mister Pressman, a high-end property developer. The police turn up, at which point Joe’s life splits into two: the Good Joe, who stays to help, and Bad Joe, who flees.

Featuring a collection of Madness hits including “House of Fun”, “Baggy Trousers”, “Driving in my Car”, “It Must Be Love” and of course “Our House”.

The project runs from the 3-22 August 2020 concluding with five performances at The Theatre in the Mill.

Open to all between ages of 16-24, register your interest now at http://bit.ly/bspa_auditions

Congratulations to a group of pupils from BSPA Belfast AM and BSPA Lisburn who took part in Belfast Operatic Company’s fabulous sold out “A Night of Christmas Music and Songs”,   in the Ulster Hall on Sat 7 December.

Everyone at BSPA is so proud of you and it looked like you all had a fabulous time.   Thank you so much to their teachers Keith Pyper and Alice Johnston for inviting them to take part.  We are also very proud that so many of our teachers and former pupils took part in this festive annual event.   A great start to our BSPA Christmas performances.