I Have Opinions: NYC and the Jimmys

In June I had the great privilege of chaperoning the winners of the Utah High School Musical Theatre Awards as they went on to compete in the National High School Musical Theatre Awards, or the Jimmys in New York City. This was such an amazing experience. The winners in Utah were Peter Lambert from Alta High School and Malia Morley from Hillcrest High School. Utah couldn't have picked two better kids to represent them in New York. At the end of the week, the kids got to perform on the stage of the Minskoff Theatre, which currently houses The Lion King.

When we arrived in NYC it was super hot! 102 degrees plus 100% humidity. I am not used to weather like that. I could barely breathe when I was outside. It was like that for three days. Then it rained on the fourth day, and it seemed to break the heat up.

Christian Borle sharing his NYC experiences

We stayed in the dorm rooms at NYU, so naturally I felt like I was living in New York and going to school there! All the rehearsals took place at the Tisch School of the Arts. It was really amazing to be in the same building where so many great artists studied. Those poor kids were constantly on the go. They rehearsed from 10:00 in the morning to 10:00 at night with just an hour for lunch, and usually lunch was occupied with a guest speaker. It was a really great opportunity for a theatre geek like me. The first day we were introduced to all the coaches, 3 of the 5 I knew from stage and screen. Telly Leung, who plays one of the Dalton Academy Warblers on Glee, Leslie Odom Jr. who plays Tom's boyfriend on Smash, and Liz Callaway who is the singing voice for Anastasia. Another day at lunch we had Christian Borle, who played Emmett in Legally Blonde, Tom on Smash and had just one the Tony Award for Peter and the Starcatcher speak with us. That was pretty cool.

Kelli O'Hara, Judy Kaye and Estelle Parsons

We were all taken to dinner at Sardi's and a Broadway show. We saw Nice Work if You Can Get It, starring Kelli O'Hara and Matthew Broderick. I wasn't too over the moon about seeing this show except for the fact it had Kelli O'Hara. I adore her, and think she is one of Broadway's new rising stars. Matthew Broderick was just plain awful. He looked like he was only there for the paycheck. There was no chemistry between him and Kelli, and he had no energy. Another highlight of the show was seeing the two winners of Best Featured Actor and Actress in a musical perform. Judy Kaye and Michael McGrath. They were wonderful. And in addition to them, Jennifer Laura Thompson was in it as well as Roseanne's mom, Estelle Parsons. JLT was the original Hope in Urinetown and was also Kristin Chenoweth's replacement in Wicked. She was a hoot! All in all, I liked the show. It was a fun story, but a little long. They didn't have to use that many Gershwin songs! After the show we were able to have a talkback with the actors, sans Mr. Broderick. They talked about their experiences coming to the city and getting to work on Broadway.

I got to see a couple of other shows. I went to Ghost the Musical and the Judy Garland show, End of the Rainbow. I was so excited to see End of the Rainbow. I had been reading about it for months and never thought I'd get the opportunity to see it. Ghost was a free ticket, and so I thought, what the hell. It was so much better than I ever thought it would be. The music was great and the special effects were spectacular. It was very sad though, because the theatre was only about half full. I guess others weren't that enthusiastic about seeing it.

Me and Judy!

End of the Rainbow was simply incredible. It tells a fictional account of Judy Garland's last months of life, coming to London for a "comeback" and getting together with husband number 5, Mickey Deans. The reason to see this show is its star, Tracie Bennett. She does a really great job of capturing Judy without doing an impression. Much like Judy Davis in Me and My Shadows. The show was an emotional roller coaster, and there were moments when I thought I was actually watching Judy Garland in concert. I don't think I've ever seen a performance quite like that on the stage. The show is going on tour, and I would like to see it again.

My stalker photo

Gay Pride color guard practicing before the parade. Too funny!

While I was waiting for the show to start, I looked down the row and saw two gentlemen taking their seats at the end of the row where I was sitting. I thought, man those two guys look familiar. So, without being too creepy, I stared for a minute and realized it was Jonathan Groff and Zachary Quinto. Jesse St. James and Mr. Spock! I think they were on a date, because it was also the same day as gay pride in NYC. I hated being a stalker, but after the show was over I snapped their picture as proof that I saw them. They just happened to have been walking in the same direction as me for a few blocks, I swear!

Peter and Malia about to make their Broadway debut

Malia right after she won

We finally made it to the night of the big show! We got to the Minskoff and the kids were thrown into rehearsal right away. I took the morning to wander around Manhattan for the last time. I went to my favorite bookshop. I could spend days in the Drama Book Shop. It's so cool. Then I went back to the theatre and watched the kids rehearse. I got in trouble for taking a video of the closing number. Whoops! Constantine Maroulis and Deborah Cox were the Emcees for the evening. They were promoting their upcoming show, Jekyll and Hyde. He's kind of a dud. He tried so hard to be funny, and just wasn't. Before the show, the director and choreographer announced four awards. Luckily, our girl Malia one for the Best Ensemble Member. That was so awesome. She was picked by the director and choreographer. I felt like a proud papa!

The show was so wonderful. I started crying when they all came out for the opening number. It was so incredible to see these kids living their dreams. Peter and Malia were not finalists, but it didn't matter. They were winners in my book, and their experience was just as great as any award. Two amazing kids!

I had such a wonderful time doing this. I am so grateful to Michael and Vanessa Ballam for entrusting me to do it. It was so fun and I learned so much. Yay for theatre!