(New York, NY – Wednesday, May 8, 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.
For a complete list of Roger Rees Awards Nominees, click here.
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 (VP & Producer, Musical Theater at 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 https://www.broadwayworld.com/topic/The-Roger-Rees-Awards for more information.
The Broadway Education Alliance is the presenting producer for The Roger Rees Awards which is sponsored by Disney Theatrical Group. This year’s program is made possible through the generous support from Rick Elice, Nancy Nagel Gibbs, Theatrical Rights Worldwide, The Goren Family Foundation, Douglas Denoff, Anant Das, The Broadway Association, Broadway Plus, Broadway Inbound, Broadway HD, Broadway.com, Music Theater International, Six, Withum, and many other industry leaders working in/around Broadway.
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.”