Baldwin Wallace Music Theatre seniors are headed to New York City this week for their Senior Showcase, which will take place on April 17-18 as a way for them to hopefully sign with an agent and begin to book theatrical roles.

The seniors have been preparing their 50-minute collective performance since December 2022, and it is the culmination of their BWMT experience.

Senior music theatre major Ricky Moyer said: “Showcase basically acts as a marketing tool for the senior MT class. It’s a collaboration between the students and Vicky, who is our head of MT, and we basically work on two pieces of material that show each person off and their individuality.”

Each senior will perform for about three minutes, and the music is cut in a way that meshes together, so there are no pauses in between two people singing. Moyer said he will be singing “Let Me Drown” from “The Wild Party” and “If I Can’t Love Her” from “Beauty and the Beast.”

Senior music theatre major Kinza Surani said she will be performing “These Palace Walls” from “Aladdin” because Jasmine has always been a dream role of hers, and she thinks that this character fits her type in the industry right now. Surani will also be singing “I Never Knew His Name” from “Brooklyn.”

“What I really love about it is it allows me to sing a full song in the time that you would normally have for a cut because it’s so short, and there’s a full story throughout the song,” Surani said.

Senior arts management and stage management student Michaela Henry student produces the Senior Showcase, and she works behind the scenes to make sure that the event is organized and runs smoothly.

“It’s definitely just always a challenge to keep everyone on the same page and to be communicating with students and faculty and people in New York,” Henry said. “But it’s been a really exciting challenge to keep on top of that along with school and other responsibilities.”

Henry said that student producing the showcase is a “fun culmination of everything that the Arts Management Program has taught [her]” and is a wonderful experience to have had right before graduation.

The BWMT seniors will perform their showcase a total of four times over two days for different agents and industry professionals. Each person in attendance will receive a folder with all the seniors’ headshots, resumes and websites. As each student performs, the agents will check the names of those they are interested in working with.

“The goal is that everybody comes home with an agent and maybe even has gone in for some Broadway shows. Maybe some people have booked something, which has happened in the past,” Surani said.

In addition to the Showcase, BWMT seniors will also perform a concert at 54 Below, a famed cabaret-style restaurant and performance space, with notable BW alumni Matthew Frederick Harris, Marcus M. Martin and Veronica Otim on April 16 at 7 p.m.

“I think that my class has just worked so hard over the past few years. And it’s just been really exciting to see all of the work paying off with all of us because at this point, it’s a lot more of a collaboration with [music theatre program director Victoria Bussert] and a lot less of … an expectation,” Moyer said.

After months of preparation, BWMT performed their showcase for family and friends on April 2 in Kleist Center for Art & Drama, and they are now ready to take their showcase to New York City and get one step closer to their dreams.

“I mean, because I’ve dreamt of being on Broadway since I was 12, and the fact that this is now becoming a tangible thing that feels within reach and is something that I can see steps towards getting is unbelievable to me. It makes me feel so lucky,” Surani said.