Documentary series follows Detroit Youth Choir on their journey to the Big Apple

BySandy Kenyon WABC logo
Friday, February 2, 2024
Series follows Detroit Youth Choir on their journey to the Big Apple
Sandy Kenyon has the latest.

MANHATTAN -- One youth choir from Detroit is on its way to perform at Carnegie Hall, a journey cataloged in a new documentary series on Disney+.

"Choir" tells the story of the Detroit Youth Choir, which has flourished under the direction of one of its former members. Their appearances in Detroit were so well received, the group started to get invitations to appear on television, which led to their Disney+ series.

The documentary series follows the choir along a long and windy road from Motor City to the Big Apple.

Like so many before them, the Detroit Youth Choir found the best way to get to Carnegie Hall was to practice, practice, practice.

"I just believe that if you give something your all, the end result will be Carnegie Hall," said Anthony White, the choir director.

White has revived a group that once nurtured him as a young person. He sats is his goal for the group is for them to become as well known as the Boys Choir of Harlem.

"You can be anybody and be a part of Detroit Youth Choir. We're the underdog out to prove what we can do," said White. "We don't really take the 'cream of the crop' type person. We want the kid, we want the young person that's struggling so we take them in. We put them through a process which is the nurturing, the vocal instruction, the theatrical instruction that we give them and the choreography."

All are welcome to join the choir, as it is a youth developmental program, but only the most talented and most committed among them get to perform at the high-profile gigs.

"The other ones that stay back. They're in support of the ones that went so that's how we do it. If you don't go this time, you go next time," said White.

Above all, White says he values dedication. He asks excellence from the Detroit Youth Choir, and its members deliver.

"To be successful, choose that one thing in your life that you want to really concentrate on," White said.

"Choir" is streaming now on Disney+, owned by the same parent company as this ABC station.