NEW YORK -- "Come on along and listen to the lullabye of Broadway," sang Julian Marsh, the demanding director in the plot of "42nd Street," to an unusual assemblage including Fagin, Jean Valjean, the Tin Man and Disney's Beast.

Within that entertaining juxtaposition you could see the theme of the week for the best actor and best actress from each of 22 local competitions, drawing on some 1,000 high schools nationwide -- 44 talented performers gathered on Broadway for the second year of the National High School Musical Theater Awards. After a week of coaching, rehearsals, theatrical sightseeing and bonding, the finals were Monday night, framed by the glitter of the Marquis Theatre right on Times Square.

Nicknamed The Jimmys after James M. Nederlander, patriarch of the firm of theater landlords and producers, the awards are the joint project of the Nederlander Organization and Pittsburgh CLO, which 20 years ago inaugurated its Gene Kelly Awards that have served as the template for similar competitions all around the country.

After several sessions of strenuous debates, starting with a preview session of 44 solos Sunday night, the seven judges awarded the Jimmys for best actor and actress to Kyle Selig of Long Beach, Calif., and Alexandria Payne of Atlanta. Awards for best ensemble member and most improved went to Sarah Schultz of Fullerton, Calif., and Arsalan Akhavan of Atlanta. "The spirit of the Jimmys" award, voted by the contestants themselves, went to Claire Gerig of Wichita.

These are real awards: The Jimmys themselves include checks for $10,000 and scholarships to the Tisch School of the Arts at New York University, while the other awards are for $2,500 each. Coincidentally, Mr. Selig is starting in the drama program at Carnegie Mellon this fall, but now he has this scholarship offer from NYU to consider.

The two Kelly winners who represented Pittsburgh on the Marquis stage were Alex Field from Central Catholic in Oakland and Andrea Weinzierl from Avonworth in the North Hills. Field was one of the seven finalists chosen from the 44 by the judges to do their solo piece -- in most cases, not the number from their winning show back home. By general consent he was the best dancer in a competition that focused on acting and singing.

As you'd expect in a program based on Pittsburgh's Kellys and largely run by the CLO, the Marquis was overrun by Pittsburghers. Monday's show was produced and directed by Van Kaplan, with choreography by Keisha Lalama-White and music direction by Michael Moricz, plus lights by Andy Ostrowski, sound design by Chris Evans, technical direction by John Edkins and development by Wynne Fedele, Pittsburghers all -- with a script by honorary Pittsburgher Mary Jane Brennan. Add Jim Mercer, Cindy Opatick, Kristin Archbold and even super intern Casey McDermott, and who was left running the CLO shop back home?

Pittsburgh also showed up in the Nederlander connection, led by Pittsburgh native Susan Lee, and in the major contribution by NYU, which provided dorm and rehearsal space plus coaching, thanks to NYU drama head Liz Bradley, former head of CMU drama, and CMU grads Kent Gash and Michael McElroy.

But the Pittsburgh connection was most evident on stage in the medleys. In four groups of 11, the best actor/actress nominees performed excerpts from their winning roles, in costume, those excerpts woven into continuous wholes by the trio of Mr. Kaplan, Ms. Lalama-White and Mr. Moricz, exercising the skill they've developed at the Kellys.

These medleys are put together with heart, wit and sometimes just spirit and determination. The essence is the segues from one brief excerpt to the next, either continuing a theme or contradicting it. For example, Petruchio ("Kiss Me, Kate"), Fagin ("Oliver!") and Jean Valjean ("Les Miserables") all sang about wives. Johanna ("Sweeney Todd") mentioned crowing and up stepped Peter Pan to continue the theme. An ironic "I Don't Wanna Show Off No More" ("The Drowsy Chaperone") led right into "I'm Shy!" ("Once Upon a Mattress").

A lament about men by Auntie Mame gave way to "I Wanna Wash That Man Right Outa My Hair" ("South Pacific"). A lament by Charlie Brown ("You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown") prompted "They All Deserve to Die" ("Sweeney Todd"). And of course "Singing in the Rain" serves as an answer or antidote to just about anything.

According to the Playbill, my own position was as judicial administrator, which amounted really to judge wrangler. In the event, wrangling is what they lacked, because a lively dynamic developed in which the seven judges demanded there be four male finalists, not the three prepared for, but the CLO staff adjusted on the fly and all was well.

Those judges, all theatrical veterans, were Scott Ellis (Roundabout Theater Company), Kent Gash (NYU Tisch School of the Arts), actress Montego Glover ("Memphis"), Alecia Parker (NAMCO), Nick Scandalios (Nederlander Organization), Rachel Hoffman (Telsey + Company) and Bernie Telsey (MCC Theater and Telsey + Company).

Back as emcee was Kathi Lee Gifford and returning to pay tribute the Nederlander patriarch was Tommy Tune. Presenting awards were Hunter Ryan Herdlicka (CMU '09), now playing Henrik in "A Little Night Music," and the team of Krysta Rodriguez and Adam Riegler (Wednesday and Pugsley in "The Addams Family"). Ms. Rodriguez got to joke about the high school contestants being about to look up to the diminutive Mr. Riegler, already a veteran of two Broadway shows.

The set of the Marquis' "Come Fly Away" provided the perfect setting, all blue drops and glittering stars, with a bandstand for the fine 16-piece live orchestra.

In the audience were the chaperones from the participating cities, who had been tasked with keeping the students from having too much fun in the dorms, along with lots of parents and friends, plus plenty of New Yorkers, both in the industry and not, all surprised by how much talent was shown by these kids from the provinces.

The kids were pretty much like any group of 44 high school students, but on the average better looking and more hard-working than most. At the party afterward they talked about college plans. For some, those involve majors in journalism, pre-med, etc., since not all are aimed at careers on stage, and for others college plans are a year or two away, since not all were high school seniors.

All in all, the Jimmys are more of a showcase than a competition, a further reminder of the importance of arts programs in developing full, creative adults.

The complete list of 2010 National High School Musical Theater Award nominees and the participating regional theaters is available at www.nhsmta.com.

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