If the Tony Awards speak to what’s happening on Broadway now, the Jimmy Awards forecast 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 23 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.
This week, we're stopping in Dallas, Texas to check out the Broadway Dallas High School Musical Theatre Awards. "This is my favorite thing in the world," says Joel Farrell, the program's director and choreographer. "It takes me back to everything I fell in love with about musical theater...So we try our best to make this that incredible, joyful experience." In addition to cultivating a joyful community of young artists, the program develops talent that makes a splash at the June Jimmy Awards. "Theater is very important," says Damson Chola Jr., an alum of the Dallas High School Musical Theatre Awards and one of the Jimmy Awards' 2024 winners. "It can change people's hearts, it can change people's minds and it can give people ideas. That's the power that our craft has."
Watch the full video below.