The Young Americans

The Young Americans is a non-profit organization and performing group based in Southern California. First founded in 1962 by Milton C. Anderson, the group was credited with being the first show choir in America, mixing choreography with choral singing. While experiencing national television exposure early on, The Young Americans later taught music to students in the United States and other parts of the world as advocates of music education in their International Music Outreach Tours. The group currently has approximately 50 active members between the ages of 18 and 28 from the United States and other countries.

The Young Americans first appeared on a Bing Crosby television special in the early 1960s. For the next several years, the group would appear on numerous variety shows, singing and dancing with entertainers such as Julie Andrews, Judy Garland, and Bob Hope.

In 1967, the group was featured in a film, Young Americans, which was awarded the Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature for 1968. In May 1969, the film was disqualified because it had premiered in October 1967, and was therefore ineligible for the 1968 award (and was later awarded to the documentary Journey into Self).

Throughout the 1970s, along with television appearances with Julie Andrews, The Ed Sullivan Show, Kraft Music Hall, and their own television special with Lorne Greene, The Young Americans began concert tours in the United States and abroad at venues that included Dorothy Chandler Pavilion, Madison Square Garden, the Hollywood Bowl, and with Liberace in Las Vegas. In 1976, the group performed in an outdoor theatre at the foot of the Washington Monument for the United States Bicentennial celebration. Also, in 1976, The Young Americans performed their first national Broadway tour performing: "The Music Man" and "Oklahoma". The troop toured the US for nine months.

In the 1980s, the group continued to tour internationally. The choir's performances for Liberace in the early eighties were featured in the HBO film Behind the Candelabra, based on the book by Liberace's lover, Scott Thorson. The latter sections of the film highlight the relationship between Liberace and Young Americans alumnus Cary James, Liberace's lover who died of AIDS in 1995. The affair between Liberace and James is depicted as a major source of tension between Thorson and Liberace. During the film, The Young Americans sing "I Belong With You."

The International Music Outreach Tour was established in 1992 with the aim to show the importance of school music programs. During 10-week tours, the group will visit 2 schools per week presenting 3-day performance workshops to 4th-12th (US) grade students (internationally ages 5 – 19) . Now touring 7 times per year, the group regularly travels throughout the United States, as well as overseas in countries such as the United Kingdom, the Republic of Ireland, Germany, the Netherlands, Sweden, Poland, Russia, Switzerland, Spain, Gibraltar, Ukraine, Japan, Australia, and Latvia.

In addition to teaching on the outreach tours, the group is more recently focusing on the creation of its own college, The Young Americans College of the Performing Arts. In the summer months, a cast of Young Americans resides in Harbor Springs, Michigan to host a dinner theatre at The Highlands at Harbor Springs (a Boyne USA resort), that has been running for over 40 years.

The Young Americans continue to put on their world-class Performing Arts Workshops around the globe. In the early 2010s, The Young Americans introduced their Performing Arts Summer Camp. This 5-day camp experience allows the YAs to teach a more in-depth performing arts workshop. These camps have been a huge success across the US, as well as internationally.