The Broadway Education Alliance Reveals ROGER REES AWARDS Student Nominees

The Broadway Education Alliance has announced the 50 Roger Rees Awards nominees for Outstanding Performer in a qualifying role in an officially licensed high school production presented during the 2024-2025 academic year.

This year's nominees represent 80 high schools across 13 counties throughout the Greater New York area including the Bronx, Dutchess, Kings (Brooklyn), Nassau, New York (Manhattan), Orange, Putnam, Queens, Rockland, Suffolk, Ulster and Westchester.

Acclaimed Broadway performer Kevin Del Aguila will host the 2024-25 Roger Rees Awards for Excellence in Student Performance which will be held on Monday, May 19, 2025 at Symphony Space, 2537 Broadway (at 95th Street, Manhattan) at 7:00 pm. Sponsored by Disney Theatrical Group and the hit new Broadway musical Smash, the showcase will feature 50 Roger Rees Awards nominees who will perform a musical medley that celebrates NYC 400 (commemorating the founding of New York), and a song from Smash.

Guest conductor Rick Hip-Flores (Bad Cinderella, Ain't Too Proud) will direct students from Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School of Music & Art and Performing Arts Orchestra, the winner of the 2025 New York City Center High School Orchestra Award, who will accompany the showcase opening and closing musical number. This year's Roger Rees Awards showcase will also feature a performance by Cantare of LaGuardia High School, the 60-member choir also from Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School, the winner of the 2025 Harmony Helper Award for Excellence in Choral Group Performance.

The Roger Rees Awards panel of judges for the 15th annual awards presentation includes Kiara Brown Clark (Teaching Artist, Disney Theatrical Group); Jenny Gersten (Artistic Director, New York City Center); Beth Leavel, (Tony Award-winning actress); Michael Moore (literary and creative agent, The Michael Moore Agency); Merri Sugarman (casting director, The TRC Company); Conrad Ricamora (2025 Tony Award nominee, Oh, Mary); and Marc Shaiman (acclaimed composer/lyricist, Smash).

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 23, 2025 at the Minskoff Theatre.  

To reach the Roger Rees Awards showcase, hundreds of student performers went through an extensive adjudication process including an audition and masterclass at partnering educational institutions, namely Long Island University Post (Long Island), Marymount Manhattan College (Manhattan) and Rockland Community College (Westchester). A panel of theater professionals led by RRA Artistic Director, Theo Lencicki selected 50 students who participate in a 3-day pre-award intensive in solo and ensemble performance taught by Broadway professional coaches including Hunter Ryan Herdlicka (A Little Night Music), Jessie Hooker Bailey (Waitress); Donna Vivino (Wicked) and Correy West (Ain't Too Proud), as well as music directors Isaac Harlan (Broadway Inspirational Voices), Sean Mayes (Hadestown), Julianne B. Merrill (Some Like It Hot), and Drew Wutke (Harlem Nocturne). This team will identify the 12 Roger Rees Awards finalists who will perform a solo from their high school musical for the award judges.

The Roger Rees Awards will also recognize New Faces | 2025, a roster of 30 talented students selected by members of the Casting Society (CSA) as emerging solo performing artists to watch.  

In addition to performance awards, the Roger Rees Awards will recognize student costume and scenic designers and include three student stage managers on the showcase Production Team. BroadwayWorld will with present The Roger Rees Awards pre-show featuring the program's winning student journalist, Chloe Pusey, who will co-host the special with Richard Ridge on Monday, May 19 from 5:30 pm – 6:30 pm. Visit https://www.youtube.com/@broadwayworldtv to watch the special.