Road to the Jimmys, Episode 1: Glimpsing the Future of Broadway with Disney Theatrical's Thomas Schumacher

If the Tony Awards speak to what’s happening on Broadway now, the Jimmy Awards provide a forecast of Broadway's future. Formally known as the National High School Musical Theatre Awards, the Jimmy Awards are an annual celebration of outstanding musical theater talent in high schools across America—from Dallas to Des Moines, San Antonio to San Diego, Memphis to Minneapolis. This year's Jimmy Awards will be held on June 24 at the Minskoff Theatre. Until then, The Broadway Show will be chronicling the Road to the Jimmys, spotlighting a few of the regional competitions that send their most talented teens to New York City each spring.

“The most extraordinary thing about the Jimmy Awards is that although they happen in New York City, the reality is there are all these individual awards around the country,” said Thomas Schumacher, chief creative officer of Disney Theatrical, who introduces the competition's broad landscape in the first installment of the Road to the Jimmys. In fact, the Jimmy Awards involves around 100,000 students annually in high school musical theater competitions nationwide. “These kids compete in their regions, and then, from those regions, come here. So these kids are really well seasoned. They represent the entire scope of youth theater in America.”

As Schumacher points out, Eva Noblezada (currently starring in The Great Gatsby) and Dear Evan Hansen star Andrew Barth Feldman are just two of the high-profile performers who got their start through the Jimmys. “They're a lens into the future, right? You're seeing these kids who love this stuff, but you're also seeing, in New York, kids that are going to be on stage here. As the Jimmy Awards have progressed, the community has really risen around it, and now it's a huge thing within the community.”

Watch the full video below, and follow the Road to the Jimmys as the big night approaches.