By Sandi Masori
SAN DIEGO – Right now, 20 San Diego high school theater students are not only worrying about finals and college applications, they’re also excitedly waiting for the 2024 Broadway San Diego Awards to find out if they’re one of the two students to b selected for an all-expense-paid trip to New York to compete in the Jimmy awards (think the Tony’s but for high school musicals). While only two Jimmy Award winners will ultimately be chosen, the trip to New York itself can be lifechanging.
I spoke with Joey Landwehr (artistic director) and Nicole Ries (production stage manager), the creative forces behind the Broadway San Diego Awards. In addition to being the artistic director of the Broadway San Diego Awards for the past 11 years, Landwehr was formerly the artistic director for J Company and now is the artistic director for the San Diego Center for Jewish Culture. They told me a bit about the awards and how it works.
All of the high schools in San Diego that have theater departments are invited to be part of the awards. A team of adjudicators are sent out to the schools to see each performance and evaluate the actors. Evaluations are made for the male and female lead roles, and for the best musical in general. This year, the field was narrowed down from 30 schools down to 10 male leads, 10 female leads, and 5 musicals.
The schools selected were Classical Academy High School – The Addams Family; Mt. Carmel High School – Into The Woods; Rancho Bernardo High School – Shrek The Musical; San Diego School of Creative & Performing Arts – Guys and Dolls; and Santa Fe Christian School – May We All.
The semi-finalists are then invited to participate in the awards show, where not only do they perform a number from their musical, they also participate in an ensemble number for the opening and the close of the awards show. There are professional judges who come from the theater industry who then evaluate those performances to choose the finalists who will go on to New York.
In the audience at the Jimmys in New York will be casting directors, producers, agents, and other recruiters, so just getting to New York can do a lot of an actors career, even if they don’t win. One of the big perks of winning the Broadway San Diego Award, is that the two winners are offered automatic acceptance into the San Diego State Theater department without having to audition for their spots. So, for students who want to get into that competitive department, it’s a major win.
Ries shared with me that post-pandemic the semi-finalist cohort seems to bond and form deep connections with each other through the process of working on the awards show. They also get one-on-one time with Landwehr and with one of the music directors. Even though it’s a competition, it also becomes a tight-knit family who support and cheer for each other.
Landwehr explained that they’re not trying to just create triple threats (an actor who can also sing and dance) but that they’re trying to create quadruple threats- actors who can sing and dance and are also compassionate, empathetic humans. Basically building up not only their talent, but also their character.
When I asked what San Diegans can do to support the students and the show, besides buying tickets to see the show itself, Landwehr said that the biggest thing is to expose kids to theater from a really young age, if not on the stage itself, then from the audience. He said that incorporating theater into a children’s lives makes them better thinkers, humanitarians, and will give them a better understanding of philanthropy. As for the Broadway San Diego awards themselves, consider being an underwriter, as ticket sales themselves barely scratch the surface of covering all the expenses, and underwriters are the main revenue source for theaters and shows.
The San Diego awards show is always the last Sunday in May (May 26) and tickets are available to the public. It takes place at the Balboa theater downtown. To get tickets, or learn more, visit the website, www.awards.broadwaysd.com
The video above shows the opening number for last year’s Broadway San Diego Awards.
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Sandi Masori is a theater and restaurant reviewer for San Diego Jewish World