Alumni of The Roger Rees Awards for Excellence in Student Performance, the New York City-area's regional high school musical theatre awards system that sends winners to the Jimmy Awards, will reunite Before Broadway & Beyond, a benefit performance celebrating the awards' 15th anniversary. The event will held at 7:30 PM March 15 at the Leonard Nimoy Thalia Theatre at Symphony Space, with proceeds to benefit The Broadway Education Alliance (BEA).
Steven Telsey (Harmony) will serve as host for the evening. The concert will feature an ensemble cast of performers who got their start as a high school student selected to compete in the Roger Rees Awards, including Cassidy Baltazar, Isaiah Baston, Matthew Cruz, Lila Freifeld, Ben Gluck, Saydie Grossman, Tatum Hopkins (The Queen of Versailles), Kyra Leeds (Fiddler on the Roof), Anthony Lerro, Calvin Lindo, Mateo Lizcano (Dear Evan Hansen), 2015 Jimmy Awards winner Marla Louissaint (Hadestown), Maddy Lyons, 2023 Jimmy Awards winner Lauren Marchand, Halle Mastroberardino, Helen Murphy, Sophia O'Brien, Rosabella Procario-Soler, Ryan Rodi帽o (Aladdin), Oliver Tam, and 2019 Jimmy Awards winner Ekele Ukegbu.
Before Broadway & Beyond is directed by Theo Lencicki with music direction by Nissa Kahle.
As previously reported, The 2025 Roger Rees Awards will be held May 19. Produced by BEA and Disney Theatrical Group, awards celebrate student performers from 80 different high schools throughout the Greater New York region. Each year, two students who have performed a leading role in an officially licensed high school musical production are selected by a panel of Broadway professionals to receive the Outstanding Performer Award. Those students will go on to represent their region at The National High School Musical Theatre Awards (The Jimmy Awards), set for June 23 at Broadway's Minskoff Theatre.
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