by Tina James, Education Programs Coordinator for the Patel Conservatory
Road to the Jimmy Awards – Day 2
I think the proper place to begin today is where we left off yesterday. When we gathered for the Welcome Reception & Dinner at Tisch School of the Arts at NYU, I can tell that both Sam and Joshua were excited but nervous. They have no idea what is in store for them over the next couple of days. It’s one thing to see the schedule on paper, but to actually live it is something different.
During the reception we meet over 58 other students representing 29 programs across the U.S. Each program, similar to ours, has one female actress and one male actor representing their programs. To get a full list of all the nominees you can visit http://nhsmta.com/pages/2012-jimmy-awards-nominees.
At this point you’re probably wondering, What are the National High School Musical Awards and how do these students get here?
Throughout the year, thousands of high school students across the country participate in a regional awards program or competition that highlights the excellence of students in musical theater. For us, this program is the Florida State Thespian Festival. Although this festival and other regional awards programs have been presented by theaters in select cities, there has never been a program that connected these local programs to each other or to the professional theater industry.
In June 2009, the National High School Musical Theater Awards became the first program to present a national award, the Jimmy™ Award, for the "Best Performance by an Actor" and "Best Performance by an Actress." Winners are selected from a group of student performers representing participating theaters that are members of the National Alliance for Musical Theatre, Consortium of Eastern Regional Theaters, Theatre Communications Group or the Broadway League.
The Jimmy™ Award is named after James M. Nederlander. “Jimmy” is the Chairman of the Nederlander Producing Company. Some would consider Jimmy the patriarch of theater. He has produced innumerable Broadway plays and musicals, winning 11 Tony® Awards, and has presented operas, ballets, concerts and artists ranging from Nureyev to Sinatra to Billy Joel to U2. Nine of his theatres are on Broadway and the balance in Detroit, Los Angeles, San Diego, Tucson, Durham, Chicago and London. For more information on James “Jimmy” Nederlander and his many projects and theaters you can visit http://www.nederlander.com.
Now that we’ve got some of the history out of the way…let’s get on with today. Today’s schedule will be just as packed a yesterday. One of the highlights will be attending the Tony Award Winning Broadway performance of Nice Work If You Can Get It. The cast includes Matthew Broderick and Kelli O’Hara (http://niceworkonbroadway.com).
We’ll check in with you later!
Today’s schedule:
- 8:00am-8:30am – Breakfast
- 8:30am-8:45am – Warm-up/Review Opening and Finale Vocals
- 8:45am-10:15am – Stage Opening Number
- 10:15am-12:15pm – Rehearsal/Solo Coaching
- 12:15pm-1:00pm – Lunch
- 1:00pm-4:15pm – Medleys/Solo Coaching/Review
- 5:30-6:30pm – Pre-Show Dinner at Sardi’s
- 7:00pm-10:35pm – Broadway Show – Nice Work If You Can Get It (Imperial Theatre); Talkback immediately following the show
- 10:45pm – Group Photo in Times Square
(As the Education Programs Coordinator for the Patel Conservatory, Tina oversees the Conservatory’s Community Partnership program as well as all community-based programs involving Broadway Family Nights, Family First Night, National High School Musical Theater Awards as well as National Broadway League initiatives.)
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