he 14th annual National High School Musical Theatre Awards, better known as the Jimmy Awards, streamed live Monday night from Broadway’s Minskoff Theatre, home of The Lion King.
(A stream of the full show is available here through the 29th. The shows starts approximately 13 minutes in.)
Crowned the winners this year, and recipients of $25,000 scholarships, were Langston Lee of the Austin, Texas, Heller Awards for Young Artists, and Lauren A. Marchand from New York’s Roger Rees Awards for Excellence in Student Performance.
It was the third time at the Jimmys for rising senior Tyler Guinto-Brody of Elizabeth Forward High School and first for Kaitlyn Majewski of McKeesport High, representing participating Allegheny County schools and Pittsburgh CLO’s Gene Kelly Awards.
Tyler Guinto-Brody of Elizabeth Forward High School performers a solo from The Hunchback of Notre Dame at the 2023 Jimmy Awards on Broadway.
The Henry Mancini Award winners joining them in NYC, where they enjoyed a week of mentorship, rehearsals and Broadway shows, were Paulina Bradley of North Catholic High School and Jacob Storey of Riverside High. The Mancini Awards are produced by the CLO and Lincoln Park Performing Arts Center in Midland and represent Beaver, Butler, Lawrence and Mercer counties.
Among the finalists this year, Corbin Drew Ross of Dallas, Texas, will attend Carnegie Mellon University.
In 2023, 48 Regional Awards Programs each sent their top two student representatives to participate in the Jimmys. As Playbill.com put it, the Jimmys are considered Broadway’s NFL Draft. The event, seen by top talent agents and theater-makers, has been the launching pad for nominees such as Eva Noblezada (Miss Saigon, Hadestown) and Justin Cooley (Kimberly Akimbo).
Joshua Grosso and Mason Alexander Park were among the participants who came from the Jimmys to Pittsburgh, attending Carnegie Mellon and Point Park University, respectively. Grosso has appeared in touring companies including Les Miserables and The Band’s Visit; Park, a star of The Sandman on Netflix and Quantum Leap on NBC, is currently starring as the Emcee in Cabaret in London’s West End. Other Jimmy and CMU alumni now on Broadway include John Clay III and Nathan Salstone.
The Jimmys, named for impresario James Nederlander, were co-founded by Pittsburgh CLO and Nederlander Alliances LLC. Van Kaplan, former CLO executive producer, serves on the advisory board and as director of the event. Kiesha Lalama, an award-winning choreographer and educator at Point Park University’s Conservatory of Performing Arts and the CLO Academy, choreographs the Jimmys.
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