The Broadway Education Alliance has just announced that Tim Federle, co-book writer of TUCK EVERLASTING, will host The Roger Rees Awards for Excellence in Student Performance (formerly the Gershwin Awards), which will be held on Sunday, May 22 at The Beacon High School in Manhattan.
This annual talent showcase will feature 44 students representing 26 New York City metro area high schools competing for the coveted title of Best Actress and Best Actor in a musical.
Broadway legend Chita Rivera will announce the award winners selected by a panel of Broadway's top musical theater professionals including Tony Award-winning composer Jason Robert Brown, Tony Award-nominated actor Rob McClure and Ruthlyn Salomons, dance supervisor for THE LION KING, following a preliminary adjudication process.
The student named Best Actress and Best Actress will represent Greater New York at the 8th National High School Musical Theatre Awards on June 27 at the Minskoff Theatre.
Students have been nominated to participate in the
Roger Rees Awards by their high school administration based on his/her performance of a leading role in the school musical presented during the 2015-2016 academic year. For the complete list of nominees
CLICK HERE.
Prior to the awards presentation, students receive private coaching by music director
Stephen Purdy (author of "Musical Theatre Song: A Comprehensive Source in Selection, Preparation and Presentation for the Modern Performer.") Each performer rehearses a song which he/she performed in their school musical. These songs are videotaped for review by a panel of musical theatre veterans who have expertise in student training. The adjudication panel includes
Brad Bradley (Broadway actor/educator),
Michael Dansicker (music director/composer and coach),
Dontee Kiehn (actress/associate choreographer of An American in Paris),
Michelle Mallardi (Broadway actress and voice faculty member at Long Island University/C.W. Post), as well as Christie Miller (executive director) and
Kenneth Avery-Clark (actor/director and co-founder of the American Musical Theatre Academy and British American Stage and Screen Academy). This panel will select the group of finalists who will perform their song for the event award judges.
The
Roger Rees Awards showcase is directed by
Shannon Lewis and will include an ensemble performance, finalist solos, a student cast performance by The Beacon School's production of Lysistrata Jones, and a guest appearance by Beacon graduate,
Marla Louissaint, the 2015 New York City winner who is also the National High School Musical Theatre Awards' 2015 Best Actress.
The
Roger Rees Award for Excellence in Student Performance celebrates the exceptional life and career-long artistic excellence of Broadway's beloved actor,
Roger Rees. Roger received Olivier and Tony Awards for his performance in The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby, and Tony nominations for Indiscretions and as co-director of Peter and the Starcatcher. He passed away in July 2015 after a year-long battle with brain cancer. He was posthumously inducted into the American Theater Hall of Fame in November 2015.
This event is produced by the Broadway Education Alliance with generous support by Disney Theatrical Group, Camp Broadway, LLC,
Dodger Theatricals Productions, The Business and Labor Coalition of New York (BALCONY), and many corporate and individual donors.
To celebrate
Roger Rees and further his career-long commitment to nurturing aspiring performers through education in theater arts, please make a tax-deductible contribution to the Broadway Education Alliance.
Donate now. For more information on the awards, visit
www.rogerreesawards.com.
