Theatre news website, BroadwayWorld, officially announced the top 30 contestants in their national student competition, Next On Stage, on Friday, Nov. 14. One Southwest student made it through preliminary voting, which started Wednesday, Oct. 22 and closed on Wednesday, Nov. 12, with freshman Edie Ulrich coming out on top.
“It’s really exciting that enough people voted for me to get to this point,” Ulrich said. “It’s really crazy to get into the top 30 in a competition with 250 people.”
The Hawk previously reported that five Southwest students submitted self-tapes to be a part of this national competition, including Ulrich, sophomore Garytt Brown, junior Estes Stratman and seniors Kyrus Jensen and Josiah Kirchner.
One other Lincoln student was voted into the top 30–senior Myles Hardt from Lincoln East High School. Hardt is an alumnus of the National High School Musical Theatre Awards, commonly known as the Jimmy Awards, competing for scholarships and recognition in New York City.
Next On Stage is a national competition started by BroadwayWorld during the COVID-19 shutdown that impacted theatres and student productions globally. To compete, contestants in either the high school or college track submit a preliminary self-tape containing an audition cut of a song of their choice. Then, anyone can navigate to the BroadwayWorld website and vote on any contestants, but are limited to one vote per contestant, resetting each day.
Starting this year, preliminary voting reveals the top 30 with no feedback and no requirement to submit a new video, with voting then occurring for three days to determine the top 15, for which they receive feedback from six celebrity judges – J. Harrison Ghee, Derek Klena, J. Elaine Marcos, Kyle Taylor Parker, Courtney Reed and Kate Rockwell.
“I really hope I make the top 15,” Ulrich said. “It’d be super cool to hear thoughts and opinions from actual judges with Broadway experience.”
Once the top 15 are revealed, contestants will receive feedback and submit a new video with a new song. Then, the community votes on the top 10, top five, and finally, the top three, who will fly out to New York City to perform in the season finale at 54 Below, a cabaret diner near Times Square. The winner from each track will then receive a scholarship to AMDA (American Musical and Dramatic Academy) College of Performing Arts, with the high school winner also winning a scholarship to the Atlantic Acting School’s Summer Teen Conservatory.
Other prizes include a voice lesson with Matt Farnsworth, a rental certificate up to $1000 for any MTI (Music Theatre International) production for their school, MTI and BroadwayWorld merchandise, a work session with casting organization The Tesley Office’s Jimmy Larkin and $1000 donated to a charity of their choice.
Voting for the top 15 opened on Monday, Nov. 18, and closed at 11:59 p.m. EST (10:59 p.m. CST) on Wednesday, Nov. 19, and the winners of this round will be revealed on Friday, Nov. 21 via live stream at 7 p.m. and 9 p.m. EST (6 p.m. and 8 p.m. CST). Voting is available on BroadwayWorld.com when navigating to “NEXT ON STAGE VOTING” at the top of the page. When submitting a vote, an email confirmation will be sent to the address submitted, and must be opened for the vote to count.
“I would definitely recommend it (Next On Stage),” Ulrich said. “It’s a free competition, a lot of competitions you have to pay to even submit to, but this one is free and it’s super rewarding, so you have nothing to lose.”