In her basement, with her hair done and makeup on, sophomore Ayla Gerstenblith uses a white backdrop and the window’s natural light to record her entry to BroadwayWorld’s Next on Stage theater competition. On her fourth and final take of “My House” from the Matilda musical, Gerstenblith felt nervous, but proud of herself.
Next on Stage is a competition that was created in April 2020, as BroadwayWorld, a theater news website and organization, wanted to create a space for young performers to be showcased, amid theater closures due to COVID. This year is “Season 6” of the competition, and the prizes include: the American Musical and Dramatic Academy Emerging Artists Scholarship, the Atlantic Summer Teen Conservatory Scholarship, a vocal lesson with Matt Farnsworth, an MTI rental certificate, a meeting with casting director Jimmy Larkin and more.
The goal of Next on Stage is to create a platform for high school and college young performers across the country that hope to one day be on Broadway. This competition requires video submissions from high school students across the country. Submissions include singing a portion of a musical theater song of their choice, which are then voted on by the public and a panel of judges. The competition includes multiple rounds of elimination, and the competitors who make it to the final round get the opportunity to perform a solo at the popular off-Broadway stage, Studio 54 in New York City.
Gerstenblith learned about the competition from her friend and fellow contestant, sophomore Ari Rein, who had discovered it through a brochure he read on BroadwayWorld. Gerstenblith chose to enter because she was eager to gain competition experience and feedback from the judges. Similarly to Gerstenblith, when Rein recorded his competition entry to the song “She Used to Be Mine” from the musical Waitress, he said he felt nervous but proud of himself for taking advantage of the opportunity.
Neither Rein nor Gerstenblith made it past the first round of voting, but they both believe that the point of the competition goes beyond winning.
“To be completely honest, I didn’t enter with the intent of winning,” Rein said. “I entered with the intent of putting myself out there, getting experience and maybe winning, but likely not. But I’m still hopeful, so I’m going to try my best and we’ll see where it goes.”
A highlight of the experience for both Gerstenblith and Rein was going through the process together, as they were able to collaborate to ensure that they were each submitting their best work.
“It’s really nice doing it together,” Gerstenblith said. “We watched each other’s videos, gave each other feedback and it really feels like we are going through it together.”
For Gerstenblith, who’s been in JDS musicals throughout middle and high school at JDS as well as a member of Shir Madness, JDS has helped teach her different styles of singing and performing. She says that she took the things she learned from JDS into account while recording her entry.
Both Gerstenblith and Rein are committed to musical theater, and they both have leading roles in the upcoming musical The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee. According to Director of Arts Education David Solomon, both are “passionate” about theater and truly enjoy it. Rein said that the JDS community has been very supportive of his journey with theater and performing.
“JDS just provides such an amazing opportunity to be part of theater in such an open and supportive environment where everyone lifts each other up,” Rein said. “You don’t necessarily have to be the best of the best to land a role, but even if you’re not very good, by the end, you’re really good. And I think that really creates such a supportive and incredible environment to study the arts and to learn the arts.”
According to Solomon, both Rein and Gerstenblith have grown as performers over the past years, and in their different roles in the musicals. Solomon said that an actor grows from show to show, so each year he has been able to see different sides of their talents as they discover the characters that they are playing, which he really likes.
“I love hearing when students go for competitions, because we have such talented students here at JDS, and they should be out there and showing people beyond our community how amazing they are,” Solomon said. “So I’m really proud of both Ayla and Ari that they’re doing this.”
