Roger Rees Awards Reveals Student Nominees for Outstanding Performer In Greater NY

The award ceremony is set for May 19th.

By: May. 08, 2024
Roger Rees Awards Reveals Student Nominees for Outstanding Performer In Greater NY
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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

Andrew Adams    

Fordham Preparatory School
Something Rotten! in the role of Nick Bottom

Layla Capers    

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

Jack Chambers    

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

William Herbert    

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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