Before a performer reaches Broadway, there is often a high school stage, a dream role, and a song that started everything.
Michael Busani brings Curtain Call to the Laura Beechman Theatre as an interview and live performance series featuring singers connected by their high school experiences and the Jimmy Awards, the annual National High School Musical Theatre Awards honoring outstanding student performers. Its lineup includes artists who have already reached Broadway as well as others still working toward that goal.
The singers’ memories range widely, from Erin Rose Doyle attending a Texas school where The Great Gatsby was banned to Zach Schiffman recalling a theater class that produced Equus. Despite their different paths, each performer shares the same drive to make it to the stage. Emersyn Hunt, a finalist in the 2026 Jimmy Awards, is someone Busani suggests audiences may one day remember seeing before she became famous. Kendall Becerra captures the spirit of the evening when she says the California School of the Arts was her life. As the performers revisit the characters that first inspired them, they reveal themselves as devoted theater “nerds” still chasing the dream.
Busani notes that not every high school singer makes it to the Jimmys. Maddie Groff, Marley Hall, Savannah Hall, and Charlotte Key performed a medley so strong that one wonders why they were not among the winners.
Although they perform in the small basement venue at West End Café, each singer approaches the stage as if appearing on Broadway before critics from The New York Times and The New Yorker. Analise Levesque’s piano accompaniment skillfully supports the songs and helps carry the evening, even when a Schiffman stumbles. Busani adds background stories and memorable reflections as the performers return to the roles that started it all.
The performance runs for about an hour and twenty minutes and has a $25 cover charge. It is a thoroughly enjoyable evening, offering audiences a chance to see possible future Broadway stars and to understand the early experiences that shaped them. By the end, Curtain Call feels less like a showcase than a glimpse into the making of musical-theater artists, reminding us that every star’s story begins long before the marquee lights go up.
