Roger Rees Awards Reveals Student Nominees for Outstanding Performer In Greater NY
The award ceremony is set for May 19th.
By: Chloe Rabinowitz May. 08, 2024
The Broadway Education Alliance is pleased to announce the 50 nominees for Outstanding Performer in a qualifying role in an officially licensed high school production presented during the 2023-2024 academic year. This year's nominees represent 74 high schools across 13 counties including the Bronx, Dutchess, Kings (Brooklyn), Nassau, New York (Manhattan), Orange, Putnam, Queens, Rockland, Suffolk, Ulster and Westchester.
Bonnie Milligan, Tony Award-winner for her role in Kimberly Akimbo, will host the 2023-24 Roger Rees Awards for Excellence in Student Performance which will be held at the Gerald W. Lynch Theater at John Jay College, 524 West 59th Street on Sunday, May 19, 2024, at 4:30 pm. Sponsored by Disney Theatrical Group and the Tony Award-nominated production, Back to the Future, the showcase will feature 50 Roger Rees Awards nominees in musical production numbers from Back to the Future and Spamalot (sponsored by Theatrical Rights Worldwide) as well as solo performances by award finalists. W.T. Clarke High School's Pit Orchestra, winner of the inaugural New York City Center High School Orchestra Award, under the direction of guest conductor Rick Hip-Flores (Bad Cinderella, Ain't Too Proud), will also be featured at the ceremony. The Roger Rees Awards is directed and choreographed by Theo Lencicki with music direction by Christine Riley.
This year's panel of judges includes Erich Bergen (actor/singer); Kiara Brown Clark (Teaching Artist, Disney Theatrical Group); Jenny Gersten (director and producer, New York City Center); Baayork Lee, (actress, director/choreographer), Merri Sugarman (casting director, Tara Rubin Casting); Tom Viertel (Tony Award-winning producer/executive producer of Back to the Future).
Two students selected by this panel of Broadway experts will represent the Greater New York region at The Broadway League Foundation's The Jimmy Awards (also known as the National High School Musical Theatre Awards) on June 24th at the Minskoff Theatre.
Hundreds of student performers went through an extensive adjudication process including an audition and masterclass at partnering educational institutions including LIU Post and Marymount Manhattan College. Nominees were selected by a panel of theater educators and will participate in a 3-day pre-award intensive in solo and ensemble performance taught by Broadway professional coaches including Jason Gotay (Teeth), Shannon Mullen (Pretty Woman), Jelani Remy (Back to the Future) and Brittney Mack (Six), as well as music directors Steven Cuevas (The Who's Tommy), Isaac Harlan (Broadway Inspirational Voices), Julianne B. Merrill (Some Like It Hot), Christine Riley (Marymount Manhattan College). This team will identify the 12 Roger Rees Awards finalists who will perform a solo from their high school musical for the judges.
The Roger Rees Awards will also recognize the New Faces | 2024 roster of talented students selected by members of the Casting Society as emerging artists to watch.
BroadwayWorld will present The Roger Rees Awards pre-show special hosted by Richard Ridge on Sunday, May 19 beginning at 3:00 pm. Visit /topic/The-Roger-Rees-Awards for more information.
The Roger Rees Awards recognize the importance of theatre arts education and celebrate the exceptional life and career-long artistic excellence of Broadway's beloved actor/director, Roger Rees. Playwright Rick Elice, Rees' partner of over 30 years, and author of “Finding Roger,” said, “Rog would have liked this chance to educate and inspire young actors, to offer a guiding hand as so many were offered to him when he too was a kid with a dream."
For more information about the program, visit www.rogerreesawards.com.
Bronx
Fordham Preparatory School
Something Rotten! in the role of Nick Bottom
Cardinal Spellman High School
In the Heights in the role of Abuela Claudia
Massimo D’Onofrio
Fordham Preparatory School
Something Rotten! in the role of William Shakespeare
Celia Stafford
Horace Mann High School
The Prom in the role of Dee Dee Allen
Dutchess
Ava Dvorak
John Jay Proscenium
My Fair Lady in the role of Eliza Doolittle
Jonah Espinosa
Beacon High School
Phantom of the Opera in the role of the Phantom
Molly Lyons
Beacon High School
Phantom of the Opera in the role of Christine Daae
Nassau
Jack Ceglie
Lynbrook High School
Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat in the role Joseph
Manhasset High School
Anastasia: The Musical in the role of Dmitri
Matthew Cruz
Sewanhaka High School
Kiss Me Kate in the role of Fred Graham / Petruchio
Olivia DeMarco
General Douglas MacArthur High School
Anything Goes in the role of Reno Sweeney
Sienna Feldman
Chaminade High School
Guys and Dolls in the role of Adelaide
Lila Freifeld
Roslyn High School
Anything Goes in the role of Reno Sweeney
Ashlee Fucarino
Wantagh High School
Jekyll and Hyde in the role of Lucy
Chris Fukuda
William A. Shine Great Neck South High School
The Addams Family in the role of Gomez Addams
Theodore Gaeta
Syosset High School
Chicago: Teen Edition in the role of Amos Hart
Farmingdale High School
Footloose in the role of Ren McCormack
Anthony Lerro
Wantagh High School
Jekyll & Hyde in the role of Jekyll & Hyde
Helen Murphy
Manhasset High School
Anastasia: The Musical in the role of Anya
Alyssa Wong
William A. Shine Great Neck South High School
The Addams Family in the role of Wednesday Addams
New York Manhattan
Chelsea Dennis
Talent Unlimited High School
Into the Woods in the role of Cinderella
Hannah Evans
Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School for Music and Art & Performing Arts
The Addams Family in the role of Alice Beineke
Caelyn Osbern
Léman Manhattan Preparatory School
Shrek in the role of Princess Fiona
Elinor Ott
Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School for Music and Art & Performing Arts
The Addams Family in the role of Alice Beineke
Rosabella Procario-Soler
Professional Performing Arts School
TItanic in the role of Alice Beane
Chance Smith
Professional Performing Arts School
Titanic in the role of Murdoch
Orange
Liz Prado
Newburgh Free Academy
Hairspray in the role of Tracy
Queens
Ben Gluck
Frank Sinatra School of the Arts
Titanic in the role of Thomas Andrews
Emmy Liu-Wang
Bayside High School
Rent in the role of Mimi
Lily Resto-Solano
Frank Sinatra School of the Arts
Titanic in the role of Alice Beane
Mikolas Taveras
Townsend Harris High School
The Addams Family in the role of Gomez Addams
Rockland
Benjamin Mejia
Ramapo High School
Urinetown in the role of Officer Lockstock
Eliana Panoff
Suffern High School
Into the Woods in the role of The Baker’s Wife
Suffolk
Isaiah Baston
Bay Shore Senior High School
Children of Eden in the role of Father
Krista Flynn
Bay Shore Senior High School
Children of Eden in the role of Eve
Skylar Greene
Islip High School
You’re a Good Man Charlie Brown in the role of Sally Brown
Kirra Murphy
West Babylon Senior High School
Mamma Mia! in the role of Donna Sheridan
Jordan Reilly
Hauppauge High School
Peter Pan in the role of Peter Pan
Daniel Rubinson
Islip High School
You’re a Good Man Charlie Brown in the role of Charlie Brown
Emma Suhr
Southampton High School
Matilda in the role of Matilda
Westchester
Arianna Arocho
Archbishop Stepinac High School
Catch Me If You Can in the role of Brenda
Sydnee Brown
Iona Preparatory
Footloose in the role of Vi Moore
Keira Burgos
The Masters School
Into the Wood in the role of Little Red Riding Hood
Jonathan DiMarco
Iona Preparatory
Footloose in the role of Ren McCormack
Liam Ginsburg
Pelham Memorial High School
Into the Woods in the role of Jack
Sebastian Goldstein
Lakeland High School
Chicago: Teen Edition in the role of Billy Flynn
Jian Kawai
Rye Neck High School
Beauty and the Beast in the role of Lumiere
Alex Kerr
Rye Neck High School
Beauty and the Beast in the role of Beast
Calvin Lindo
Archbishop Stepinac High School
Catch Me If You Can in the role of Frank Abagnale Jr.
Maddy Lyons
Pelham Memorial High School
Into the Woods in the role of The Witch
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