Kids enrolled in the Gimli Junior Musical Theatre Summer Camp are about to treat audiences to a free, magical performance of Disney’s Moana Jr. at the Gimli Park Pavilion stage this Friday.
Camp directors Stephanie Marks and Romanna Klymkiw started a musical theatre camp for local and area kids to showcase the area’s talented youth. This is their third summer running the program.
In the space of a magical two weeks, the kids — who live in Gimli and Winnipeg Beach, as well as some seasonal kids — are eager to hit the stage and show audiences what they’ve achieved.
“We do a two-week long summer camp and learn the show entirely in two weeks,” said Klymkiw, who runs a music school. “We have full costumes for this show.”
Moana Jr. is a musical adaptation of the 2016 Disney animated film that features Moana and her village of Motunui, a tropical island in the film and also a real-world island near Easter Island off the west coast of Chile. Moana sets sail across the Pacific Ocean to save her village and discover her heritage. Her journey is one of self-discovery and learning how to harness the power within. The film celebrates the history of Oceania (a geographical area encompassing Pacific islands) and the cultures of Pacific islanders.
Twenty-nine summer camp kids aged 6 to 14 will be performing a stage version of the 2016 film, with choreography by Aj Platt.
Admission is free but people are welcome to make a donation that the summer camp kids will be distributing to a charitable cause of their own choosing.
The free performance of Disney’s Moana Jr. is scheduled for Friday, July 18 at 4 p.m. at the Gimli Park Pavilion stage. People are encouraged to bring their own lawn chair to the performance.
