TV: Watch Performances from the 2014 Gershwin Award Winners!

The 4th annual Gershwin Awards, a celebration of outstanding achievement in musical theater performance by high school students,was held yesterday at the Davenport Studios to select the Best Leading Actress and Best Leading Actor in the New York City metropolitan area. Forty students representing high schools in the five boroughs, Long Island, and Westchester were nominated by their teachers to compete for the Gershwin Award based on the quality of his/her performance of a leading character role in their school musical presented during the2013-­2014 academic year. The one day event featured an ensemble performance of a Gershwin medley and a showcase of student solos performing a song from his/her school production performed for a panel of Broadway professionals.

The 2014 Gershwin Award winners are Sarah Liddy, Pelham, NY (Best Leading Actress), Steven Telsey, New Hyde Park, NY (Best Leading Actor), and Alessandra Gluf, Queens, NY (Best Up & Coming).

The Gershwin Awards is presented by a coalition of businesses working on/around Broadway including Camp Broadway LLC, Davenport Studios, Disney TheatricalProductions, Grosh Scenic Rentals, Inside Broadway and Balcony New York. For more information on the Gershwin Award, please visit www.GershwinAwards.com.

The National High School Musical Theater Awards is presented by the Broadway Education Alliance on behalf of a 30-­?member coalition of performing arts centersoperating across America. The program was established in 2009 to promote theater arts education in high schools. Since then over $1,000,000 in university and conservatory scholarships has been awarded to talented students at the national and local levels-several of whom have already been cast in Broadway, touring and West End productions.

For more information on the National High School Musical Theater Awards, please visit www.NHSMTA.com.