U.S. students banish virus blues with #SunshineSongs

Actress Laura Benanti implored her followers to “find some bright spots” in the moment of crisis

Laura Benanti

American students are belting out show tunes on social media to make up for high school musical performances that were called off because of the COVID-19 outbreak.

Schools have closed across the U.S. while cultural institutions such as Broadway have been shuttered in a bid to slow the spread of the contagion.

Actress Laura Benanti sparked the Twitter trend after imploring her followers to “find some bright spots” in the public health crisis.

“If you were meant to perform in your High School musical and it was cancelled please post yourself singing,” the Broadway performer tweeted.

Hundreds of students responded to the #SunshineSongs call over the next hours with clips from rehearsals or home renditions of musical numbers from Phantom of the Opera , Les Miserables and other popular theatre plays.

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“Our senior class designed and built EVERYTHING and have been preparing for this for a year,” tweeted one woman, whose opening night performance of The Jungle Book was cancelled.

“Thank you for the chance to share this.”

The craze caught the eye of Broadway composer and Hamilton playwright Lin-Manuel Miranda.

“Thank you, @LauraBenanti, thank you kids, I'm watching too,” he wrote.