The annual Long Island Musical Theatre Festival, which gives aspiring performers the opportunity to work under the guidance of guest artists from the world of Broadway, will focus on the works of composer Jeanine Tesori this year.

The two-week program, scheduled for late July, takes the participants through the production of a full-scale stage musical under the auspices of artistic director Steven Altinel.

This year’s guest artist Rema Webb (The Book of Mormon, The Color Purple, The Lion King), is working with a crop of youngsters to bring Tesori’s and Brian Crawley’s musical Violet to life.

Webb, who played Lula Buffington in the 2014 Broadway production of Violet, will stage the students in a revue Let It Sing: The Music of Jeanine Tesori, which will be performed 8:30 July 24 on the Rainbow Chapin Stage at Heckscher Park in Huntington, New York. Tesori won the 2015 Tony Award for Best Musical Score for her work on Fun Home. Her other shows include Shrek, Thoroughly Modern Millie, and Caroline, or Change.

The student production of Violet will follow at the Walt Whitman High School auditorium, 301 West Hills Road, in South Huntington on July 28 at 8 PM and July 29 at 2 PM. Click here to order tickets.

Past guest artists have included actors Liz Callaway, Heidi Blickenstaff, and Beth Leavel, costume designer Greg Barnes, and director Susan H. Schulman.

The not-for-profit festival hopes to soon expand beyond an annual undertaking in order to bring the power of musical theatre to a greater number of young performers.

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