OUR PROGRAMS

We did this show at Theatre Camp a few years ago, and it remains a favourite! It’s loaded with hilarious characters and catchy music, and we can’t wait to do it again!

Join Alex the Lion, Marty the Zebra, Melman the Giraffe, Gloria the hip hip Hippo and, of course, those hilarious, plotting penguins as they bound onto your stage in the musical adventure of a lifetime.  Based on the smash DreamWorks animated motion picture, Madagascar – A Musical Adventure JR. follows all of your favorite crack-a-lackin’ friends as they escape from their home in New York’s Central Park Zoo and find themselves on an unexpected journey to the madcap world of King Julien’s Madagascar.   

Alex the lion is the king of the urban jungle, the main attraction at New York's Central Park Zoo. He and his best friends — Marty the zebra, Melman the giraffe and Gloria the hippo — have spent their whole lives in blissful captivity before an admiring public and with regular meals provided for them. Not content to leave well enough alone, Marty lets his curiosity get the better of him and makes his escape — with the help of some prodigious penguins — to explore the world.

MADAGASCAR A MUSICAL ADVENTURE JR. is presented through special arrangement with Music Theatre International (MTI). www.MTIShows.com

In order to provide the most well-rounded experience for our students across the school year, our Winter Session is focused on building theatre and performance skills, and includes a workshop with a special guest artist! Students get to explore music from shows that we wouldn’t normally touch on when we’re busy learning a full musical. They’ll build their knowledge and repertoire exploring various scenes, monologues, music, and choreography! The final performance is a showcase of all that they have learned, with an entertaining theme and music that will have the audience singing along from their seats!

This year in “Museum Of Broadway” students will learn more about the work that goes into a creating a show from the ground up! They’ll get to work with a professional writer who will devise a script just for them! In the show they’ll journey through NYC’s Museum Of Broadway and explore a history of musical theatre along the way.

Over the years we’ve done many original children’s musicals from our favourite writers out of NYC, Beat By Beat Press, and they’re always big hits with the performers, as well as the audience! The Grunch, which we just did in June 2025, is one example.

They’re currently working on releasing several new titles, so we’re going to wait to choose our Spring musical until we can explore their new works! Stay tuned!

David Connolly is the Artistic Director at Drayton Entertainment, one of Canada's largest non-for-profit theatre companies. He is the recipient of The 2024 Canadian Actors’ Equity inaugural Change Maker Award, a proud disability and inclusion advocate and the first amputee to have performed on Broadway.

As an Educator, David leads the Drayton Entertainment Youth Academy and has been an Adjunct Professor and Advisor to the Musical Theatre Performance Programs at Sheridan College, Western University, VanderCook College and most recently, the Hopkins Centre for the Arts at Dartmouth College. After serving on the faculty at Stagedoor Manor Performing Arts Training Centre in New York, he moved to Los Angeles to enjoy collaborating with artists including Katy Perry, Sir Andrew Lloyd Webber, Elton John, Sarah Jessica Parker, kd lang, Patti LaBelle, Sarah Brightman and many others.

As a Director/Choreographer, he has helmed productions including the Canadian premieres of The Prom, Kinky Boots, Priscilla Queen of the Desert, Mamma Mia! and Newsies. For the screen, David has directed and choreographed several kids series for CBC as well as projects for CBS, NBC, ABC, PBS and two feature films by director, Deepa Mehta. 

David is a recipient of the Ontario Premier’s Award of Excellence and a speaker for the DEI Committee of the International Musical Theatre Educators’ Alliance. For five years, David has curated and moderated a disability inclusion panel at BroadwayCon in New York City to help develop actionable steps to improve disabled representation onstage. He has proudly served as a peer assessor for The Canada Council for the Arts, and as an Ambassador for the Shriner's Hospital for Children, and the War Amps Child Amputee Program. 

He was proud to serve as the Director of Pauletta Washington and Diane Louie’s United Nations Development Programme concert, "Chronicle," which toured North America, and culminated in a performance at the United Nations General Assembly Hall. Their short film collaboration, "Moonlight Sonata" was selected to premiere at the Smithsonian Film Festival presented by the National Museum of African American History and Culture in Washington, DC..

Julie Tomaino is a theatre director, a choreographer, and an educator. She has won a Dora Award, a Jessie Award, multiple Ovation Awards, and multiple Broadway World Awards for outstanding work in Musical Theatre.

Julie trained and worked as a performer in New York City for thirteen years. Notable credits include playing Louise on the US National Tour of CRAZY FOR YOU, performing in CELEBRATE BROADWAY starring John Lithgow and Linda Eder at The Kennedy Center, and dancing as a Rockette at Radio City Music Hall for six seasons. As a Rockette she appeared numerous times on The Today Show, the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade, and at the Rockefeller Center Tree Lighting Ceremony.

She is now based in Toronto and travels across Canada and the US putting up musicals at some of the top regional theatres including The Citadel, The Arts Club, Theatre Calgary, The Rev Theatre Co (formerly Finger Lakes MT), Chemainus Theatre Festival, Young People’s Theatre, Thousand Islands Playhouse, The Capitol Theatre in Port Hope, The Grand, Western Canada Theatre, Persephone, The Globe, and Magnus Theatre.

Julie also choreographs for film and TV, most recently working on a Holly Hobbie episode for Season 3, and a Lifetime Christmas movie entitled CHRISTMAS MOVIE MAGIC, which airs during the holiday season. She worked with Idina Menzel on the BEACHES remake, Jon Benjamin Hickey and Elizabeth Marvel on the pilot episode of BLINK, and with Harland Williams on an episode of PACKAGE DEAL.

She loves educating the next generation of artists and has been on faculty at AMDA NYC, Sheridan College, Randolph College for the Performing Arts, and Capilano University.

For more: www.julietomaino.com @julietomaino