Nominations Now Open For BroadwayWorld's NEXT ON STAGE Season 2 Singing Competition
Check out these incredible prizes and find out how to submit!
By: BWW Staff Sep. 16, 2020
Grand Prize Includes $1000 Donation To Charity Of Winner's Choice
Winners will record and release a single benefiting The Actors Fund on the Broadway Records label.
BroadwayWorld announced today the launch of BROADWAY'S NEXT ON STAGE SEASON 2 - an online musical theatre singing competition for student performers sponsored by Broadway Records! We're back by popular demand after an incredible first season which included 2000 contestants, 400k votes, a panel of incredible Broadway star judges, and $2000 going to the winner's charities!
Inspired by your favorite network TV singing contests, the site is inviting high school and college aged students to submit videos of themselves performing a song from the musical theatre canon to enter the competition.
Entries for high school and college students are currently open and can be submitted at broadwayworld.com/nextonstage.
Judges for season 2 include Lesli Margherita, Courtney Reed, Kate Rockwell, Brittney Johnson, Arielle Jacobs, and Kyle Taylor Parker! The competition is hosted by BroadwayWorld's own Richard Ridge!
Submissions are open through midnight on September 27th, 2020.
The schedule for season 2 is as follows:
Top 15 - October 15th (High School) and 16th (College)
Top 10 - October 22nd (High School) and 23rd (College)
Top 5 - October 29th (High School) and 30th (College)
Top 3 - November 5th (High School) and 6th (College)
Season Finale - Nov 13th
Check out highlights from Season 1 below!
Those moving on to the next round each week will have Friday through Monday to record and submit a new song for the next round of the competition!
As we move down to the top 10, we will feature weekly live shows on Facebook with Broadway judges who will provide feedback and have the opportunity to move one of the contestants on to the next round by unanimous decision.
Both the college and high school winner will receive a Broadway prizepack with merch from the BroadwayWorld Theatre Shop, CDs from Broadway Records, and $1000 to a charity of their choosing, and both first-place winners will also have the opportunity to record a single, to be released by Broadway Records, with the profits from the recording being donated to The Actors Fund.
Additional prizes include:
-A virtual voice lesson with Matt Farnsworth prior to recording your single.
-A session with Telsey + Company's Rachel Hoffman to hone in your audition skills.
-A free subscription to BroadwayWorld Edu - online classes in singing, acting, and dancing worth over $1200.
Submit Your Entries Here!
Lesli Margherita won the Olivier Award for her West End debut as Inez in Zorro The Musical. Broadway: Matilda The Musical; Dames At Sea. Off-Broadway: Emojiland: Who's Holiday (Drama Desk, Lortel, & Off-Broadway Alliance noms.). Television(recurring) "Transparent"; "Most Likely To" (ABC pilot); "Homeland"; "Instinct"; "Elementary"; "Seven Seconds". Film: The Many Saints of Newark (Upcoming); Opening Night (opp. Taye Diggs & Topher Grace). Regional (select credits): Chasing Rainbows (Papermill), The Flamingo Kid (Hartford Stage), Guys & Dolls (Bucks County), Hunchback Of Notre Dame (Sacramento Music Circus), Kiss Me Kate (Reprise), The Gronholm Method(The Falcon; Ovation nom. - Best Ensemble), Man Of La Mancha (MTW), Showboat (Goodspeed), Little Shop Of Horrors (La Mirada); Spamalot (Sacramento Music Circus). Lesli's debut album Rule Your Kingdom now available in stores/online. Instagram: @queenlesli Twitter: @QueenLesli
Kate Rockwell recently starred as the original Karen Smith in Mean Girls: The Musical at the August Wilson Theater, which garnered her a Drama Desk Nomination. A natural brunette, her previous Broadway dumb blondes include originating the role of Skylar in Bring It On: The Musical, as well as roles in Rock of Ages, Hair, and Legally Blonde. She's also been seen recently as Nina Bennett on Fox's Almost Family, and on High Maintenance, Deadbeat, and Sex and the City: the Movie. Rockwell released her debut solo album, Back To My Roots, in 2018 on Broadway Records. Instagram: @katerockwellnyc
Courtney Reed originated the role of 'Princess Jasmine' in Disney's smash Broadway hit Aladdin, directed by Casey Nicholaw. She also had the honor of being a part of the closing cast of the Tony Award Winning Musical In The Heights, in which she played Carla, u/s Nina & Vanessa. She made her Broadway debut in Mamma Mia! Favorite Regional: 'Andrea' in Once on This Island at Papermill Playhouse directed by Thomas Kail. Television: "The Affair," "Law & Order: SVU," "White Collar," "NYC 22," and "CSI: NY." A proud graduate of the Theatre Conservatory of CCPA at Roosevelt University. She debuted her first solo concert Confessions of a Broadway Princess this past summer at Feinstein's/54 Below. Instagram: @rhodesreed Twitter: @RhodesReed
Brittney Johnson made history as Broadway's first person of color to take the stage as Glinda in the hit, long-running musical WICKED. Previously she appeared in Sunset Boulevard with Glenn Close at the Palace, Beautiful: The Carole King Musical, Les Miserables (making history again as the first black woman to play both Eponine and Fantine), as well as in Motown on Broadway. Brittney returns to Next on Stage for season 2 after launching the first season as our first guest judge! Instagram: @sunnybrittney Twitter: @sunnybrittney
Arielle Jacobs most recently starred as Princess Jasmine in the smash-hit Broadway musical, Disney's Aladdin, and is set to lead the new upcoming musical Between The Lines. Ms. Jacobs made her Broadway debut starring opposite Lin-Manuel Miranda in the final Broadway cast of his four-time Tony and Grammy award-winning musical In The Heights. Jacobs continued her meteoric rise wowing audiences with starring roles in Wicked on Broadway, Rent, Disney's High School Musical, and Into the Woods where she performed opposite Emmy-nominated actor Tituss Burgess. Ms. Jacobs soaring debut solo album released by Broadway Records, "A Leap In the Dark: Live at Feinstein's/54 Below," is an autobiographical journey highlighting some of her struggles and feats. Instagram: @ArielleJacobs Twitter: @ArielleJacobs
Kyle Taylor Parker has appeared on Broadway in Kinky Boots (OBC), and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory(OBC), On TV he has appeared in NBC's Jesus Christ Superstar Live in Concert. National tour credits include Kinky Boots (IRNE Award best visiting actor), and In the Heights. Off-Broadway credits include Smokey Joe's Café and Finnian's Rainbow. Regionally he has appeared in My Very Own British Invasion (World Premiere), Dreamgirls, and Hair. Kyle has performed as a concert artist on some of the worlds most celebrated stages including The Apollo and Radio City Music Hall. Kyle's debut album, Broadway Soul,vol. 1 was released by Broadway Records last August and is available on all music platforms. Instagram: @ktpway Twitter: @KTPway
Matt Farnsworth is an accomplished voice teacher and pianist living and working in NYC. He has been teaching voice since 1995 when he became the consulting coach on Broadway's production of Rent. Since then, Matt taught hundreds of Broadway actors, film stars and recording artists which include Sara Bareilles, Carly Rae Jepsen and American Idol finalists Constantine Maroulis and Pia Toscano. His students have been nominated and won Oscar, Tony and Grammy awards and can be seen performing in Film and Television, on Broadway, National Tours and in Regional houses around the country, in shows like Wicked, Phantom of the Opera, Dear Evan Hansen, Hadestown, Ain't too Proud, West Side Story revival, The Book of Mormom, Frozen, Jagged Little Pill, Mean Girls, Come from Away Oklahoma, Waitress, Ms. Doubtfire, Jersey Boys to name a few.
Matt has most recently been working on several Netflix films including the upcoming Jingle Jangle (Christmas 2020), the Prom movie (directed by Ryan Murphy), as well as the new Aretha Franklin movie Respect. Last year Matt served as the vocal coach for several actors in Amazon's Transparent Musical Finale as well as the hit TV shows Orange is the New Black and The Other Two.
Matt's success as a teacher is not only attributed to his studies, but also from his experience as an actor and accomplished pianist. Before Matt decided to pursue teaching full time, he performed on Broadway and regionally in The Who's Tommy, Cats, Thoroughly Modern Millie, Sunset Boulevard and Curtains. He has performed in top regional productions opposite Idina Menzel, Alice Ripley and many other amazing talents. Matt recently has also been contracted by major Fitness companies such as Peloton and Hydrow to work with their most prized instructors maintaining the vocal health and quality of their voices.
Matt believes that every great teacher should continue their own studies and he does so by studying regularly himself with incredible mentor Bill Schuman as well as others including Donata D'Annunzio LombardiBis, Craig Carnelia, Joan Rosenfels and Bob Krackower. Matt is also immersing himself in the language of the body currently as he is preparing to get his Baptiste Yoga certification.
Matt's knowledge and experience of "the business", relationships with casting directors and directors, unparalleled piano skills, understanding of the human voice and body, along with his own experience of being a Broadway actor in NYC for 25 years, make him one of New York's most sought after voice teachers today."
Learn more at www.mattfarnsworthvoice.com
Rachel Hoffman CSA, has worked in casting since 1999 and is currently a Casting Director at Telsey + Company. Current and upcoming Broadway and Touring Productions include Beetlejuice, Diana, Frozen, Come From Away (for which she won an Artios Award), and MJ.
Past Broadway/Touring productions: Escape to Margaritaville, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, An American In Paris, The Sound of Music, Memphis, Bring It On, Hands On A Hardbody (Artios Award), First Date, Rock of Ages, Spider-Man, How The Grinch Stole Christmas. Regional/Off-Broadway productions include: The Bedwetter (Atlantic Theater Company), Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice (The New Group), Becoming Nancy (Alliance Theatre), Love In Hate Nation (Two River Theatre), Found (Atlantic Theater Company), Brigadoon, The Music Man, and The Jungle Book (Goodman Theatre), Guys & Dolls and Candide (Carnegie Hall), and The Great American Mousical (directed by Julie Andrews at the Goodspeed Opera House), Bat Boy: the Musical (Off-Broadway production), Altar Boyz, and Godspell (2000 Off-Broadway Revival).
Regionally, she casts projects for Williamstown Theatre Festival, New York Stage & Film, La Jolla Playhouse, The Goodman Theatre, St. Louis Muny, and the Paper Mill Playhouse.
She previously served on the board of the Casting Society of America, and is currently a faculty member at Ball State University, at the University of Michigan's summer musical theatre program MPulse, and the Broadway Dreams Foundation. She received her BFA in Musical Theatre from the University of Michigan.
About BroadwayWorld
BroadwayWorld is the largest platform covering Broadway, the West End and beyond to 100 US cities, and 45 countries worldwide on digital screens of all types and sizes. BroadwayWorld delivers complete up-to-the-minute Broadway, Off-Broadway, and regional theatre news, in-depth interviews, extraordinary photo coverage, entertaining video features, lively message boards, ticket discounts, reviews, merch and more.
About Broadway Records
Broadway Records (Van Dean, President) is the Grammy® winning record label dedicated to preserving musical theatre and theatre vocalists. Recent releases include the Grammy® and Tony Award-winning The Color Purple (2015 revival), the Tony Award® winning and Grammy® nominated revival of Once On This Island, the Grammy® nominated Matilda The Musical, Fiddler on the Roof (2015 revival) and My Fair Lady (2018 revival), Anastasia, Bandstand, Groundhog Day, The Lightning Thief and NBC's television events, "The Wiz Live!" and "Peter Pan Live!". The label's critically-acclaimed "Live at Feinstein's/54 Below" series features top Broadway stars including Patti LuPone, Aaron Tveit, Annaleigh Ashford, Norbert Leo Butz, Sierra Boggess, Laura Benanti, Emily Skinner & Alice Ripley, Adam Pascal & Anthony Rapp, Micky Dolenz and many others. Broadway Records launched the Broadway for Orlando initiative (in partnership with creators Seth Rudetsky and James Wesley) culminating in the all-star benefit single, "What the World Needs Now is Love," which leaped to #1 on iTunes with no radio airplay. Broadway Records philanthropic endeavors also include the From Broadway With Love benefit concerts for Sandy Hook, Orlando (Emmy Award for Sound) and Parkland. To learn more, visit BroadwayRecords.com.
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