The ecstatic energy produced by 116 teenagers jumping to their feet during a performance of “MJ” was enough to shake the mezzanine of the Neil Simon Theater on Tuesday night. Watching them watch the Michael Jackson musical was a spectacle in itself: Mouths were agape in wonder. Seat dancing broke out. Even new scenery — for the “Thriller” number — was met with pandemonium.
Kiara Angline, a 17-year-old from Minneapolis, had eyes like saucers at intermission — this was her first time at a Broadway show. Still, as we discussed the show during the break, she focused on the production’s more technical aspects, like the set changes and lighting design.
That sharp eye was not surprising: Angline and her companions in the mezzanine are musical-theater performers, so they knew exactly what to watch for on the stage below. The group has been in town participating in the 17th annual National High School Musical Theater Awards intensive, which culminates on Monday night in a ceremony at the Minskoff Theater. It will also be livestreamed on YouTube.
After a series of numbers featuring all 116 teens — sometimes individually and sometimes in groups — the ceremony, to be hosted by Bowen Yang, will conclude with the announcement of the 2026 Jimmy Awards, including for best performances by an actress and an actor. (The awards nod to the nickname of James M. Nederlander, a former chairman of the Nederlander Organization.)
But before Monday can happen, the students, who come from around the country and have all won regional awards based on their performances in high school productions, go through an industrious weeklong residency in New York. They stay in the Juilliard dorms on the Upper West Side and use that school’s facilities for the rehearsals and coaching and mentoring sessions that fill their schedule before the Monday event.
“MJ,” for example, came at the end of a typically busy day that had started at 8:30 a.m. with stretches and vocal warm-ups. Here’s how the day went down.
9 a.m.: Preparing for Their Biggest Stage
Time to begin the vocal rehearsal for the opening and closing numbers, led by the music supervisor Geoffrey Ko, who is currently the music director of “Titaníque” on Broadway. The opener is usually a medley of the musicals from the Broadway season that just ended, so that number will weave in snippets from “The Lost Boys,” “Cats: The Jellicle Ball” and “Schmigadoon!”
When Ko announces which students will get solo lines, the others greet the picks with cheers and whoops of encouragement. Although the Jimmys are a competition — and certainly, nobody is forgetting that, especially as the nominees dig deeper into the material they are going to present — the vibe is communal and supportive.
“Of course people want to do well, but I also know that a lot of them are here to learn and to meet new people,” said Towdah Denis Kiima, an 18-year-old from Dallas. “It’s our biggest theater experience, but for some of us it’s the only one where we’ll have these many people together who love doing this thing.”
11 a.m.: Rehearse. And Repeat.
The nominees rehearse the opening medley repeatedly. When they have nailed it, the choreographer Luis Salgado begins hashing out the corresponding movement. The focus in the room is unwavering. These overachievers want to take in as much as possible, both from an artistic perspective and from a more practical one.
“A lot of our questions for them is which direction they think the industry is going and how we can adapt to that,” said Jack Nelson, an 18-year-old from Paducah, Ky. “And of course they give us amazing singing and acting advice.”
Lunch Time
The Jimmys started in 2009 with 32 nominees and have steadily grown in size since, thanks not only to social media, but also to their track record in revealing young talent. (Casting agents pay close attention, and some serve on the panel of judges.)
Over 90 alumni have performed on Broadway and in national tours. Successful former participants like Eva Noblezada, Andrew Barth Feldman, Casey Likes and Jasmine Amy Rogers are mentioned in awed tones by new generations of nominees. For many students, though, just being in the room is a powerful statement.
Carolina Sanchez, a junior, explained that she sometimes felt a little isolated back home in Lawrence, Mass. “It’s hard because not a lot of people go into the arts because it’s a lower-income community,” she said during a break at the Juilliard cafeteria.
She also brought up a certain anti-Hispanic climate, and how it inspired her to push on. “I wanted to find an opportunity to show that my community is capable of achieving our dreams,” Sanchez said. “Being able to go to the Jimmys and get that recognition and show that we can pursue the arts just like any other person, I feel, would be inspiring to people back home.”
4:30 p.m.: A Fancy Ride to Times Square
For the duration of their stay, the students are clustered in chaperoned pods so they always have adult supervision. The smaller groups also make it a lot easier to shepherd the students through things like boarding double-decker buses for a ride to the Times Square restaurant Carmine’s.
It’s 77 degrees, the sun is out, New York City looks resplendent and the nominees are vibrating with excitement. As the bus I’m traveling on passes a giant poster for the musical “Ragtime,” the nominees spontaneously start singing from that show’s opening number. (It helps that it’s featured in the opening medley.)
Pre-theater Dinner
Some of the “MJ” cast members join the Jimmys group for dinner and are introduced to applause and hollers. The students at one table are thunderstruck to learn that Samuel Nelson III, a standby for the roles of Michael and MJ, is 19 — barely older than they are.
They are so absorbed with asking Nelson questions and sharing their stories that they almost forget to eat. Linda Raye Mathis, from Huntsville, Ala., reminisces about discovering musical theater in middle school, while Rangel S. Guzman, from Houston, got into it “as a sophomore, so a little late.”
Maggie Belle Dinstuhl, a recent graduate from the Memphis, Tenn., area, explains that she has Jimmys watch parties every year. She and Paxon Masters, from Pittsburgh, are in the same coaching group this week and praise each other. “He’s so specific,” she said of his propensity to closely analyze gestures and vocal lines.
Heading to the Show
Once dinner is over, each group walks about eight blocks north on Eighth Avenue to the Neil Simon Theater. Passing West 50th Street, a student helpfully informs the others that “Jeremy Jordan’s over there” — or the theater where he is currently starring in the musical “Just in Time” is.
The performance of “MJ” ends with a shout-out from an actor to the nominees after the curtain call. More joyous mayhem ensues. Then it’s time to return to the dorms to recuperate before another work day.
It also gets down to brass tacks when preliminary judges select 40 nominees to be in the “Character Group” and ultimately eligible for the best actor and actress awards, while the other 76 are in the “Feature Group,” which this year is performing a tribute to the 30th anniversary of “Chicago” on Broadway directed and choreographed by the triple-threat Charlotte d’Amboise.
Yet the students would not trade that pressure for anything else. “Today we were singing the opening number and everyone was clapping and smiling,” said Griffin Greear, an 18-year-old from Dayton, Ohio. “I just felt this overwhelming sense of belonging and excitement to be around these people. An overwhelming feeling of gratitude.”
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