Twenty high school students competed in the 5th annual Broadway San Diego Awards: Celebrating Excellence in High School Theatre On Sunday night, May 27. The two winners each receive a check for $1,000 toward a scholarship and a chance to go on to the national Jimmy Awards on Broadway. In a first for this year, Cox will air a one-hour TV special on YurView California (local Channel 4) giving the kids some valuable exposure.
Our hosts for the evening were CBS News 8 anchor Marcella Lee and JCompany’s Artistic Director, the ever ebulient hoofer and crooner, Joey Landwehr. The ensemble got the ball rolling with a Broadway inspired Celebrating Women Medley. They sang and danced with the bright-eyed exuberance of youth, then basked in the applause of an equally exuberant house.
Three schools were up for Best Musical. Clad in lederhosen, nuns’ habits, sailor suits and even a couple of hair goats, Steele Canyon presented a medley from the Sound of Music. Mission Hills High School rocked out to Green Day’s American Idiot in a number just made to blow off the steam of teenage angst. Cathedral Catholic HS hoofed up a storm from their production of that old classic, 42nd St.
In between ensemble pieces, twenty solo artists presented songs from various musicals. With coaching from MFA in Musical Theatre students from SDSU, these kids were presenting with a poise and professionalism beyond their years. Suavecito Sky Frank sang and danced I Can Do That from Chorus Line with grace and swag. While most of the solos were high- energy crowd pleasers, Rocco Polanco’s Bring Him Home from Les Miserables gave me goosebumps and mesmerized the house. Mikayla Kehler-Elliott exuded a dark, pained edginess that gave her performance real depth. What impressed me most was the heart and passion with which these kids took on some pretty sophisticated and challenging material.
During intermission, the judges deliberated the top six finalists, three boys and three girls, who then presented a second solo. The judges really had their work cut out for them. It would break my heart to let any of them down. But such decisions must be made.
Jackie Foster, a previous winner from the first Broadway Awards in San Diego and who has since appeared on The Voice, dropped in to grace us with a song. Then Jimmy Award winner Joshua Grosso, who is now touring Les Mis at the Civic gave us a preview in his role as Marius.
Mazel Tov to Steele Canyon High School winning Best Musical for their production of Sound of Music and to Teacher of the Year, Brad Golden of La Costa Canyon. And raise a glass to Joe Kobryner, Producer of the Broadway/San Diego Awards who made this possible and is retiring this year.
Mazel Tov to Felicity Bryant, a petite powerhouse whose facial expressions held nothing back in a range of emotions, and Jonas Cohen McMullen, a lanky youth with a sly, impish sense of humor. They are going on to the Jimmy Awards on Broadway and -from there- the sky’s the limit.
I happened to be sitting right in front of the Cohen-McMullen clan. So let a Jewish mother kvell: “What just happened?! I’m overwhelmed. I just wanted to crawl under my seat and cry.”
Republished from San Diego Jewish World