BroadwayCon Announces 2020 Star To Be Finalists

BroadwayCon and the Broadway League Foundation have announced the finalists for the fourth annual BroadwayCon Star To Be talent competition. Finalists will perform on the BroadwayCon MainStage for a panel of three celebrity judges and a room full of fellow Broadway fans on Saturday, January 25, 2020. The 2019 Jimmy Awards® winners Ekele Ukegbu and Ethan Kelso will perform during the competition while the judges deliberate. The BroadwayCon Star to Be winner will receive a pair of tickets to the 2020 Jimmy Awards ceremony.

The eleven Star To Be finalists acts feature solo, duet, and group performances with performers from across the country: Jacob Atkins (Tampa, FL), Glynnis Goff (Maplewood, NJ), Jazailis Gual (Belleville, NJ), Allie Guerrini (La Quinta, CA), Luke Islam (Garden City South, NY), Satya Kutsko (Lamy, NM), Bailey Mienik (Dunedin, FL), Rachel Sarah Mount (La Mirada, CA), Sophia O'Toole (Medfield, MA), Kayla Quashie (Baltimore, MD), and Sarah Zampella (Little Falls, NJ). Finalists' submissions can be found here.

Previous BroadwayCon Star To Be winners include Iyana Colby, Lacy Kruger, and Cayla Hall. Videos of the 2019 finalists' performances at BroadwayCon can be found here.

Ekele Ukegbu is the winner of the Best Actress Award at the 2019 Jimmy Awards, also known as the National High School Musical Theatre Awards. Ekele attended Elmont Memorial High School on Long Island, NY. She had leading roles in school theatre productions including Aida in AIDA, Elle Woods in Legally Blonde, Deena Jones in DreamGirls, Annie in Annie and Adelaide in Guys and Dolls. She participated in the Long Island Musical Theatre Festival productions of Violet and Cabaret. She is currently a freshman at the New York University Tisch School of Drama. In May 2019, Ekele won Best Actress at the Roger Rees Awards, playing the lead role in AIDA at Elmont Memorial High School on Long Island. The award recognizes top performers across the Greater New York region high schools. Her win sent her as the regional representative of the Greater New York City area and 1 of 86 national contestants in the 11th annual Jimmy Awards competition in New York City. She won Best Performance by An Actress, which came with a $25,000.00 college scholarship.

Ethan Kelso was born in Texas and raised in Utah. He became enamored with musical theatre at the early age of eight. Since fourth grade he has been cast in leading roles in over fourteen musicals throughout his early years. Ethan has received multiple awards while in High School finishing in the top 15 in the National Association of Teachers of Singing in the musical theatre and classical division. He also received the Best Actor in the Utah High School Musical Theatre Awards 2019. Ethan graduated from Salt Lake School for the Performing Arts in May 2019 and went on to win the prestigious "Jimmy Award" for Best Performance by an Actor. Ethan is currently attending the Hartt School at the University of Hartford, pursuing a BFA in Musical Theatre.

About the Jimmy Awards®

The Jimmy Awards® (also known as the National High School Musical Theatre Awards®), presented by the Broadway League Foundation, is the annual culmination of over 40 regional high school musical theatre competitions throughout the United States. Two performers from each of these programs are sent to New York for a week-long theatre intensive of coaching and rehearsals with industry professionals in preparation for a one-night-only showcase on Broadway, where a panel of judges crowns the nation's top performers. For more information, please visit JimmyAwards.com.

BroadwayCon is theatre's answer to comic-con, tailor made for fans. From January 24-26, 2020, join some of Broadway's biggest fans, performers, and creators from classic and current shows as we gather at the Hilton Midtown to perform, discuss, debate, and celebrate theatre. BroadwayCon 2020 will feature panels, performances, interviews, workshops, singalongs, and more, all packed into an epic three-day weekend. Past panels have included previews from upcoming Broadway shows, conversations with the casts and creatives of this season's hits, and discussions featuring the industry's top producers and designers, not to mention the giant Opening Celebration and nighttime fun and games. BroadwayCon is produced by Mischief Management.

For more information, please visit www.BroadwayCon.com.