Disney Musicals in Schools: Stage Connect has picked 200 public elementary schools for the 2026-27 school year, and applications for 2027-28 are open now through Monday, March 1, 2027. The free Disney Theatrical Group program gives each school online teacher training, the rights to a Disney KIDS show, and a ShowKit of scripts and rehearsal tracks at no cost.
When we first covered Stage Connect applications, Disney said it would take up to 200 schools. It filled every spot. More than 800 schools applied, which means about one in four got in. Disney Theatrical Group says this class will reach over 10,000 students and is nearly three times the size of the first group of about 70 schools that started in fall 2025.
The 200 schools are spread over 43 states and U.S. territories. Disney named a few of the places on the list, and they could not be more different. There is a school in rural Emerson, Arkansas, schools in Milwaukee, schools in American Samoa, Hawaii, and Puerto Rico, and one on a U.S. military base in Sicily, Italy. The announcement does not list every school, so we do not know yet if any Central Florida schools made the cut.
Each school picks one show from a list of nine. The choices are 101 Dalmatians, Aladdin, The Aristocats, Finding Nemo, Frozen, The Jungle Book, The Lion King, The Little Mermaid, and Winnie the Pooh. Teachers finish the online courses before rehearsals start, and they do not need any theatre background to take part. Every school is also matched with a Disney Production Mentor who coaches the teachers by video through rehearsals and the show itself. Lisa Mitchell, Director of Education and Audience Engagement at Disney Theatrical Group, said what the schools share is “a school community ready to make theatre.”
The timing stood out to us. On the same day Disney named these schools, it shared the plans for the Disney on Broadway Concert Series at EPCOT, which turns 10 at the 2027 EPCOT International Festival of the Arts from January 15 through March 1. CommuniCore Hall is getting a new exhibit called Once Upon A Stage: The Music of Disney on Broadway and its first Disney on Broadway merchandise. The Broadway stars who sing at America Gardens Theatre get the applause. Stage Connect is the other end of that same line, where a kid in a town with no theatre program gets a first script and a first part. Both stories came out of Disney’s Broadway side on one day, and we think the school one matters more.
Any public or charter elementary school in the United States and its territories can apply for 2027-28. The deadline is Monday, March 1, 2027, which happens to be the last day of the EPCOT festival. Applications and program details are at DisneyMusicalsInSchools.com. Disney says the two versions of Disney Musicals in Schools, in person and online, have now started theatre programs in over 1,000 schools with more than 150,000 students taking part since 2009.
If you know a teacher or a principal, send this to them before the holidays bury it.
