Student Blogger: Bayley Tanenbaum

I still like to go out to Buttercup Bakeshop, or get a daydream latte at Blank Street with my friends, but putting it all in moderation helps me perform better and stay focused. Read BroadwayWorld's student blog here.

It could be easy to get caught in the immediateness and forget to call home. However, remembering to talk to my community back in California is very important to me and connects me there. Read BroadwayWorld's student blog here!

'Finding a place in New York City where I could pursue Musical Theatre, Directing, and Human Rights was really important to me.' Read a BroadwayWorld student Blog from Bayley Tanenbaum about returning to the school year!

As the last couple weeks of high school finish up, I have found myself doing all of the rites of passage that I have seen my friends before me do: commitment day, prom, grad night, awards ceremonies, senior beach day and more. But for the theatre kids, more important than prom and grad night, the main event is the Drama Club’s end of the year banquet.

There is no doubt that we live in an AI world. Especially at the end of the year, when senioritis hits, it would be so much easier to just use ChatGPT to finish your homework. I get it - it would save you a lot of time and stress. But let’s think about it for a second: the consequences of relying too much on AI definitely outweigh the little bit of time you save.

My younger brother Josh and I have always had a strong bond over our mutual passion: we are both theatre kids. While I am preparing to graduate high school, Josh is an incoming freshman, and him and his friends are about to join the crazy and loving Agoura High School theatre community that I am leaving. We both wanted to think of some way to bridge the gap between my high school theatre family and Josh’s 8th-grade theatre friends, all who would be together next year. After much brainstorming, the Broadway Bound Party was born.

Although I am going to be a BFA musical theatre major next year, I have never been the lead in any of my high school musicals. I’ve been lucky enough to be cast as the comic relief, the antagonist, and the pivotal role of ensemble #7 in “Cinderella.” Throughout high school, I have had many disappointments, and a lot of times it felt like it stemmed from the fact that I’m 4 foot 10, spritely, and cute - not the typical ingenue. I felt like I wasn’t being taken seriously and it started to take its toll on my confidence. And while this is of course disappointing, I needed to learn to make the best of it. I may not get every opportunity possible, but I found a way to prioritize what I really want and make my own.

It’s tough for a musical theatre-loving teenager who lives 2460 miles from the Great White Way. You try to connect to anything you can that reminds you of Broadway and the people who work there. That’s why I have been obsessed LaDuca dance shoes. Similar to a basketball player wearing their favorite professional shoes, whenever I put on a pair of my precious LaDucas, the same shoes that Broadway professionals wear, I feel, even in my high school outside of Los Angeles, like I am one of them.

Being a theatre kid in high school who is going to college for Musical Theatre, having good grades and taking AP classes isn’t thought to be a requirement. But for me, balancing my grades with my passion is a priority for me. I often get asked how I juggle everything - school musicals, college auditions, volunteering, plus an AP and IB course load. To be honest, I’m still figuring it out. I don’t have the juggling down to a complete science and hope to get better at that in college, but here are some tips that have worked for me throughout high school.

As a senior in high school who is anxiously awaiting the beginning of her BFA musical theater journey, I'm trying to savor every last moment of high school.