Fogarty Elementary receives grant from Macy’s to perform “Yes, Virginia The Musical”

This holiday season, Fogarty Elementary will stage a performance of “Yes, Virginia The Musical,” an original production based on a true story of 8-year-old Virginia O’Hanlon, who wrote a letter to the New York Sun newspaper in 1897, inquiring about the existence of Santa Claus. The school musical program debuted last year as part of Macy’s holiday “Believe” campaign and was performed by elementary and middle schools nationwide. Fogarty Elementary was one of 100 schools across the country to receive a local grant from Macy’s to assist with production costs, and will welcome the holiday season with a special performance of “Yes, Virginia The Musical” on Thursday, December 18 at 1:30PM and 6:30PM.

During a time of financial setbacks for many educational arts programs, Macy’s has made the script and score for “Yes, Virginia The Musical” available royalty free to all schools and has created a free, digital toolkit on yesvirginiamusical.com. Macy’s also introduced a school grant opportunity to help schools stage productions of “Yes, Virginia The Musical” and awarded a total of $100,000 for 100 schools across the country.

“‘Yes, Virginia The Musical’ had tremendous impact on local school communities when we introduced the program last year,” said Martine Reardon, chief marketing officer for Macy’s. “The positive response was incredible, and participating schools told us that the royalty free assets helped them stage productions they may not have otherwise been able to produce, giving students an opportunity to engage in the arts and experience the all the excitement and fun of being in a school play. Macy’s is proud to offer ‘Yes,

Virginia The Musical’ again, and we look forward to another season of magical performances.”

“Yes, Virginia The Musical” is part of Macy’s beloved “Believe” campaign, which supports Make-A-Wish®.

The “Believe” program encourages children of all ages to drop their stamped letter to Santa at the red Santa Mail letterbox at their local Macy’s. For every letter received, Macy’s will donate $1, up to $1 million, to Make-A-Wish, helping to grant the wishes of children with life-threatening medical conditions.

“Yes, Virginia” was created and produced by Macy’s and JWT in conjunction with The Ebeling Group and MEC Entertainment, a division of Mediaedge:cia. “Yes, Virginia The Musical” was adapted from the animated special and storybook by Chris Plehal, by Wesley Whatley (music) and William Schermerhorn (book and lyrics), the Emmy® Award-winning creative team behind the original song “Yes, Virginia (There is a Santa Claus).”