Winners Announced for the 2026 Roger Rees Awards

Earlier tonight, talented students from across New York City gathered at Symphony Space for the Roger Rees Awards, hosted by Andrew Keenan-Bolger. The winners of Outstanding Performance in a Musical were Jacob Solomon and Emerson Hunt. Hunt also won the fifth season of BroadwayWorld’s Next on Stage in 2025.

Other finalists included: Gloria Manning (Emerging Artist winner), William Herbert (Emerging Artist winner), Leonidas Tirella, Molly Lyons, Maxwell Vegliando, Tosia Sliwski, Donovan Russell, Tatianna Krummenacker, Jack Chambers, and Lily Giese.

This year’s nominees represented 104 high schools located across 13 counties throughout the Greater New York area including the Bronx, Dutchess, Kings (Brooklyn), Nassau, New York (Manhattan), Orange, Putnam, Queens, Rockland, Suffolk, Ulster and Westchester.

Judges included Disney Theatricals Kiara Brown-Clark, New York City Center VP and Artistic Director of Musical Theater Jenny Gersten, Tony Award-winning performer J. Harrison Ghee, acclaimed composer/lyricist Andrew Lippa, Tony Award-winning producer Michael Shulman, renown casting director/author Merri Sugarman, and & Juliet star Rachel Webb. 

The Roger Rees Awards recognize the importance of theatre arts education and celebrate the exceptional life and career-long artistic excellence of Broadway’s beloved actor/director, Roger Rees.

The two students selected by this panel of Broadway experts will represent the Greater New York region at The Broadway League Foundation’s The Jimmy Awards (also known as the National High School Musical Theatre Awards) on Monday, June 22 at the Minskoff Theatre.