2023 Jimmy Awards field report

Hi!

For the third time, I went to the national high school musical theatre awards in New York City with my friends Emily and Raina. None of us have a professional association with the event or a personal relationship with a contestant; we all flew from out of state to attend even though there’s a free live stream of the show. Our annual pilgrimage to the Jimmys may seem deranged, but we go every year for a totally understandable reason: we are witches who need to harness the teens’ life force for our eternal youth spell (I’m 803). Also, the joy we experience inside the Minskoff Theatre justifies the schlep. Also, at this point it’s tradition. Traditiooooon, tradition! Tradition! TRADITIOOOOON, TRADITION! TRADITION!

As a writer, it behooves me to have boots on the ground so I can briefly switch my amateur culture commentator beret for my hard-hitting reporter hat. Here are

FIVE DETAILS FROM THE 2023 JIMMY AWARDS THAT YOU WOULDN’T KNOW ABOUT FROM THE LIVE STREAM (PULITZER PRIZE FOR JOURNALISM FYC CAMPAIGN STARTS NOW)

1. The theatre was packed in a way I haven’t seen before; typically there have been clusters of open seats throughout the mezzanine, but this year’s show was firmly sold out. I warned my friends to savor our experience – as the Jimmys become less niche, who knows if we’ll be able to secure tickets in the future.

2. Instead of dipping into the Minskoff’s supply of souvenir Lion King cups, the bar served drinks in surplus cups from closed Broadway productions. I came this close to ordering an overpriced frosé just for the If/Then merch, which has aged from junk to campy junk.

3. There’s ordinarily a Jimmys step and repeat that anyone can take their photo in front of, but this year it was reserved for Who-y celebs. Share the wealth, Andrew Barth Feldman!

4. Overheard: “We were talking to some Broadway actors on the way in, and they told us agents will start calling next week. One of them asked, ‘Are you ready to postpone Harvard?’”

5. Here is a photo I took of my friend Zach gushing to 2022 Jimmys finalist/current Michigan MT sophomore Anna Zavelson about her stunning performance in City Center’s The Light in the Piazza. (Pulitzer is not for photojournalism.)

Alright, amateur culture commentator beret is back on! Here are my thoughts on the 2023 Jimmy Awards in roughly chronological order – and here’s the link to the 2023 Jimmys YouTube playlist if you want to watch the content yourself.

CHARACTER MEDLEY 1 & 2

• Is it recency bias or do the kids get more talented every year? The first medley group sang their faces off and I thought, “Any of these eight could be the winner and there are 88 still to see – we are in for a rough fight to the finish.”

• When there’s a double-up of a character in a medley, it’s a shame when there’s a talent discrepancy between the two. Medley 1 featured a Dimitri from Anastasia who went on to win the Jimmy and a perfectly fine Dimitri who was automatically lackluster in comparison.

• This year’s “They Must Be An Underclassman” Award for Tiny Teen goes to Medley 1’s Roxie Hart.

• While I’m handing out awards, this year’s Queer Kid Whose Confidence, Talent, and Stage Presence I Envy goes to Medley 2’s Lola from, as Bernadette Peters would say, Kinky Boots.

• I loved this stage picture from Medley 2 – how many can you ID?

• Me re-reading the notes I hastily typed during intermission: “Who’s Danny Bryce? Ohhh, never mind.” I have to imagine anyone competing at the Jimmys hot off starring in Funny Girl must fancy herself a frontrunner, right? Also – saw Lea Michele in it while I was in New York and I do think she’s the voice of our lifetime. 😕

• I’m resigned to the fact that, without fail, there will be a Beast singing “If I Can’t Love Her” in a medley. This song does nothing for me, but I’m going to train myself A Clockwork Orange-style into finding it beautiful before next year.

GROUP NUMBER: A TRIBUTE TO TOURING BROADWAY

• When we saw the name of this group number in the Playbill, we assumed it would be a medley from shows currently on the road. Instead, it featured songs about traveling or that mentioned American states/cities – very Nicki Minaj “Beez in the Trap,” very JLo“On The Floor.” I predicted this year’s tribute would be an Andrew Lloyd Weber mash-up in honor of Phantom closing and Bad Cinderella opening (and closing), but I’m glad we got to hear “Home” from The Wiz instead – when will we hear that as a finalist solo?? Two glaring omissions from the number: “Orlando” from Book of Mormon and “Summer in Ohio” from The Last Five Years.

CHARACTER MEDLEY 3 & 4

• Funny to have an American-accent Miss Honey paired with a COCKNEY Matilda in Medley 3.

• I was thrilled to see a Roger in the medleys this year – there is never any Rent at the Jimmys, which is so Spring Awakening Track 15. Crowd-please and put “Seasons of Love” in the show, you cowards!

• High school musicals run the gamut from family-friendly to moderately edgy, and the Jimmys succeed at showcasing that range. Example: Belle, Matilda, and the rest of Medley 3 singing the Urinetown lyric, “The good lord made us so we’d piss each day until we piss away.”

• Oh look, it’s time for another award! This year’s winner for Random Ass Role is Man in the Yellow Suit from Tuck Everlasting. Like… sure!

• Is there a more triumphant Act I finale than Legally Blonde’s “So Much Better”? I don’t think so. I reeeally don’t think so.

• Maybe the medleys would turn out to be equitable if I timed them, but it seems like some kids get two bars of their song while others get a verse, a chorus, and a second verse. Maybe it’s just that some songs are boring and feel like they’re dragging on – no offense, Medley 3 Prince Eric.

• You know how in The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee Rona keeps declaring different things her favorite moment of the bee? I have that problem with the Jimmys. My favorite moment is when there’s a gendered sing-off in the opening number, but also when they announce how many kids got on their first plane to come to New York, but also when the finalists rise up from beneath the stage… This year, though, I can name a definitive favorite moment: the first ever Elsa at the Jimmys.

  

  Elsa’s Jimmys debut was a historic moment in the musical theatre canon, akin to when someone’s face gets put on currency. Frozen has made it to high school stages, and it turns out some high schoolers can hit the notes better than Idina Menzel! I am so not a Disney gay, but this performance gave me (sorry) chills.

• Best medley character interactions: Damian from Mean Girls following the Beast and singing about his theatre camp crush on him; Into the Woods Witch pointing to Quasimodo on the word “hunch”; Elsa sauntering up to the Witch after the anguish of “Last Midnight” and telling her to let it go.

  • Makenzie Woolridge should’ve been a finalist for her Witch, and you can’t deny it because you know it’s true!

• My one note for the Jimmys is that putting performers’ names on the screen behind them mid-song leads to distracting mid-performance applause. Go back to the strike-a-pose announcement up top, plz.

• While playing the classic game Guess The Character From The Costume, I correctly clocked the Deloris Van Cartier by her cheetah print blouse but mistook the reporter lady from Newsies for a Jo March or Mary Poppins, and I embarrassingly couldn’t figure out who this was until he started singing “Under the Sea.”

GROUP NUMBER: MUSICALS INSPIRED BY SHAKESPEARE

• Raina predicted that one of the tributes would be a salute to jukebox musicals, and we more or less got that with this excuse to sing the pop songs from & Juliet. Sondheim got less stage time than Britney Spears, but “Maria” and “Overprotected” were equally gay, so no real complaints from me.

• My high school did Something Rotten this year, which was a large part of this number and seems to be a popular pick for school musical directors these days. I saw it on Broadway in 2015 and didn’t find it memorable, but I’m curious to see it again to determine what makes it so suitable for teen casts.

• Do you think they got handed their Shakespeare accessory, or did they get to pick for themselves?

THE FINALISTS

The eight finalists are always emotional when their names are announced, but more of them sobbed than I remember seeing before. Recent Jimmys finalists are on Broadway or starring in movies with Jennifer Lawrence, and this year’s batch must be hyperaware of the insane opportunities suddenly within reach. I’d throw up if I had to immediately sing a solo, but if any of them puked, they managed to do it off-stage.

• Maya Sharma – “In My Dreams” from Anastasia. Maya cried the most when her name was called but pulled it together to sing first – bar set high.

• Corbin Drew Ross – “Stranger” from Big Fish. Big Fish is in the Holy Trinity of “B” shows that are random to me but are huge at the Jimmys: Big Fish, Bright Star, and The Bridges of Madison County. Corbin acted the hell out of this and served honorably as a representative of floppy-haired boys everywhere.

• Lauren A. Marchand – “With You” from Ghost (I do wish it were “With You” by Jessica Simpson). Elsa!!! I had my money on Lauren to win, and she did with the fool-proof strategy of choosing a song about gut-wrenching grief.

• Langston Lee – “Wondering” from Bridges of Madison County. Langston was the first front-runner of the show and clinched the Jimmy with this Holy Trinity “B” staple.

• Samia Posadas – “Stupid with Love” from Mean Girls. This girl was a freshman Elle Woods. Imagine the fury of the senior girls who lost half their shows to the pandemic and then lost their last chance to play the lead to a newbie. Well, Samia proved herself in her character medley and again with her solo, and I can’t wait to see her at the Jimmys up to three more times!

• Christian Strong – “When Words Fail” from Shrek. I saw Christian on the street a few days after the Jimmys – I was rushing Kimberly Akimbo and he walked by the theatre in his official Jimmys t-shirt, which on that block must get you the same perks as uniformed military officers at the airport. I should’ve said hi and given him the validation of a total stranger recognizing him, but I was honestly too starstruck.

• Anna Wright – “I Cain’t Say No” from Oklahoma! She had us eating out of the palm of her hand. Fun fun fun.

• Omar Andre Real – “I’m Alive” from Next to Normal. You shoot yourself in the foot a bit when everyone else is Acting their lyrics and yours are

I’m such an N2N-head that I still got goosebumps.

STRAY OBSERVATIONS

• One of the boys was named Qai Gerber, pronounced the same as Kaia Gerber.

• Chicest regional award: the Sutton Foster Awards.

• The show runs long because there are like 4 or 5 speeches about the importance of arts education, and every sentence gets an applause break.

• I can’t stop thinking about show host Corbin Bleu reading this intro from the teleprompter: “A witch, an ice queen, a woman whose husband owns a food business – is it our final character medley or the next season of Vanderpump Rules?” I can’t say with full confidence that I wouldn’t cram a VPR reference into the show if I were writing it, but who’s who in this scenario?? The witch is… Raquel? The ice queen is… Lala? The woman whose husband owns a food business better not be Lisa Vanderpump – last time I checked, it’s not Ken Todd Rules.

• I love reliably seeing certain faces in the crowd each year – shout out to Reid, Zach, Kayla, Michael, Sam, and of course Raina and Emily. See you all again on June 24, 2024!