Disney Cruise Line helps a Florida elementary school pull off its first-ever theater performance

Endeavor Elementary had never put on a musical before. The school on the Space Coast didn’t even have a drama teacher on staff.

With some Disney magic, the spotlight shone on Endeavor students for its first-ever musical last month.

Principal Christine Murphy was the unexpected director. 

Her day job was leading the Cocoa school of 725 students who sometimes faced tough challenges related to coming from low income backgrounds. Endeavor relied on community partnerships so students could access a dentist or visit the school’s health clinic to make sure all their needs were being met.

Murphy knew nothing about theater.

“My performance experiences stopped in fifth grade with chorus,” Murphy said. “I’m a principal. I have no skillset.”

But Endeavor was given an extraordinary opportunity. 

It won a Disney Musicals in Schools grant to get free performance licensing rights for “101 Dalmatians.”

Going even further, Disney Cruise Line employees helped students sew costumes and paint the sets. Murphy was coached along the way, getting online resources on Theater 101. Endeavor Elementary was only about 12 miles from Disney Cruise Line’s Cape Canaveral Port so about 50 Disney employees adopted the school to guide Endeavor through the creative process.

“Our goal there was to inspire our next generation of creatives and performing artists,” said Q Jones, senior manager of corporate social responsibility for Disney Cruise Line, as the entertainment company invests in initiatives to support the arts in schools.

The work began. Parents signed permission slips. Auditions took place in late 2025 and the 45 students in grades 3-6 were picked for the cast. Several times a week, they rehearsed for nearly two hours at a time.

Just like Murphy, the students needed to be convinced they could star in the school’s first-ever show. 

“None of our students when we started this knew what the experience was going to entail. They didn’t know much about musicals. They didn’t know what it was going to look like, sound like,” Murphy said.

Other children were eager for stardom. 

It was clear who was going to play Cruella de Vil, the eccentric villain with the black-and-white hair and a fierce hatred of puppies. One fifth-grader had the swagger to pull it off.

“She is Cruella 24/7,” Murphy said. “She has pizzazz and sass all day long.”

Geneva Gandy, an active parent at the school, had longed for the school to finally offer theater. 

“To see this was like a dream come true honestly,” Gandy said.

Gandy’s two daughters Cheyenne, 10, and Giavonni, 9, practiced their lines at home while their young brother danced the choreography with them.

“It’s an all-dog alert!” the silly Giavonni repeated over and over.

Cheyenne, the more serious one, directed Giavonni to get the delivery right and start over. 

“It was an all-dog alert every day at our house,” their mother said. 

Cheyenne worried about making mistakes. She took failure hard.

She had been cast as one of the dogs helping the Dalmatian on their journey.

Could she remember her part?

Her mother assured Cheyenne, “You can do hard things.”

Meanwhile, their school principal remained on the front lines and was sometimes whisked away in the middle of musical rehearsals to deal with problems. Other school staff stepped up to take over during Murphy’s absence.

“There were moments of fear and moments of ‘Oh my gosh are we actually going to be able to pull this off,’” Murphy said as she worried the costumes looked too messy or the students missed their cues or the set wasn’t quite right.  

Opening night loomed closer.

The student actors were invited to go on board the Disney Wish and met with the Disney performers and behind the scenes crew that brought the ship’s shows to life. The kids peppered them with questions. What do you do if you forget the words of the song? What’s it like to perform on stage for the first time? How do you handle stage fright?

The reassurances were what the students needed to hear. Disney quieted the fears in Murphy’s head too.

After months of rehearsals, the final pieces of the show were coming together. 

One boy, who played Pongo, had started out shy, his voice a whisper. Now, he spoke confidently and loudly.

Murphy broke down and cried during the dress rehearsal when she saw the show, both imperfect and perfect.

“It was beautiful,” Murphy said.

The Disney Cruise Line employees who helped the students get ready sat in the audience cheering and passed out flowers after the practice run. 

The show’s grand public debut took place in the nearby high school on a real stage complete with lights, a curtain and a green room for the students backstage.

The children performed, dancing and singing the songs they learned.

Cruella blew kisses to the crowd during the show’s standing ovation. 

Murphy watched her students growing up, like Cheyenne, who had been so nervous she would make a misstep. Afterward Cheyenne grinned ear to ear, almost speechless that she had done it. 

“They have more confidence in themselves, in their abilities,” Murphy said. “They’re willing to try new things.”