New Kids on the Broadway Block! Meet 12 Young Stars From Finding Neverland, Fun Home & More

Watch out, New York City—kids are taking over the Great White Way! These 12 stars ages 8 to 18 are appearing in some of the most highly anticipated musicals of the season with big Broadway names like Matthew Morrison, Kelli O’Hara and Michael Cerveris, just to name a few. Broadway.com took the dozen stars to Chelsea Piers for a fun day of jumping on trampolines, climbing on bars and diving into a giant ball pit. Are these kids future matinee idols? Tony winners? Show People guests? Meet the new kids on the Broadway block...and remember their names!


FINDING NEVERLAND
HAYDEN SIGNORETTI, 12
ALEX DREIER, 11
JACKSON DEMOTT HILL, 13
SAWYER NUNES, 13

WHICH ACTOR HAVE YOU ALWAYS WANTED TO WORK WITH?

HAYDEN: Neil Patrick Harris. He’s hilarious! And he’s really nice.

SAWYER: Jeremy Jordan. He’s a great role model and he has such a presence onstage.

JACKSON: My idol is definitely Hugh Jackman. I wanna be on film and stage, just like him.

ALEX: Daniel Radcliffe. I’m a huge Harry Potter fan. I met him once and I was so starstruck I couldn’t say anything.

HAYDEN: You wanna be in Harry Potter the Musical with him.

ALEX: Yeah, I’d play Little Harry!

SAWYER: No, you’d play the owl [laughs].


FUN HOME
ZELL STEELE MORROW, 8
SYDNEY LUCAS, 11
OSCAR WILLIAMS, 11

WHAT DO YOU LIKE TO DO BACKSTAGE, BESIDES HOMEWORK?

SYDNEY: Who ever said we like to do homework? [Laughs.]

OSCAR: Yeah, we don’t like homework! I'll probably play on my iPad or watch a movie or something.

ZELL: Yeah, either read or play.

OSCAR: We're gonna have so much fun backstage.

ZELL: Yes, yes! We have to play Heads Up!

SYDNEY: Heads Up! is our number-one game. We have all these random jokes now, about Santa Claus and CPR...

ZELL: [Giggles.]

OSCAR: One time while we were playing Sydney said, "Put on your sunburn so you don't get a sunscreen." Our complete lack of common sense is hilarious.


THE KING AND I
JON VIKTOR CORPUZ, 18
JAKE LUCAS, 12

WHAT'S THE BIGGEST PERK OF BEING A BROADWAY STAR?

JON: Getting a car to pick you up from your apartment! [Laughs.] And missing school. We both go to the same school! Jake's in the middle school and I'm in the high school.

JAKE: Yeah, we go to a performing arts school that supports auditioning and doing acting projects.

DESCRIBE YOUR CO-STAR KELLI O'HARA IN ONE WORD.

JON: Radiant.

JAKE: Magnificent! This is the third time Kelli O’Hara has played my mom. I’m her honorary son now.


DOCTOR ZHIVAGO
AVA RILEY MILES, 10
JONAH HALPERIN, 10
SOPHIA GENNUSA, 11

WHAT SONG IS YOUR SECRET WEAPON FOR AUDITIONS?

SOPHIA: “Somewhere Over the Rainbow.” And “Counting Stars” by OneRepublic for rock auditions.

AVA: “Live Out Loud” from A Little Princess. It has a nice belt to it.

JONAH: “When Your Feet Don’t Touch the Ground” from Finding Neverland. I’m a high belter, I would say, in general.

SOPHIA: We like songs that start low and build up, and that’s what the songs in Doctor Zhivago do. They’re beautiful, but a lot of the songs are really sad.

AVA: Some of the songs make us cry—it takes place during the Civil War.

JONAH: No, it’s the Russian Revolution!

AVA: It’s the Russian Civil War, but OK.

SOPHIA: We’re trying to get our history right!