An Ethnographic and Critical Approach to Disney Musicals in US K– 12 Schools

This chapter explores productions of Disney musicals in a number of K–12 schools in the US. It describes Disney’s history of school productions and the licensing company, Music Theatre International, which manages the distribution of Disney’s full-length, sixty-minute JR. and thirty-minute KIDS properties. It then enumerates the advantages, such as a well-tested product, and challenges, including replication anxiety, for teachers and students. It summarizes some key findings of studies of the benefits of participation in school musicals, including identity formation, confidence building, and working collaboratively, and discusses why teachers choose Disney shows: support from the company’s education team, family-friendly content, and general familiarity with the musicals. Examining several of Disney’s most popular titles in schools—Beauty and the Beast, Newsies, Moana JR., and Frozen—the chapter focuses on representations of gender. Methodologically, this chapter combines a critical analytical approach with interviews with teachers and kids.