New Friends Competition
Manhattan Theatre Club’s New Friends Competition, inspired by the production of Stephen Sondheim’s Old Friends, is a musical theatre competition for high school students in the five boroughs of New York City. Seven students will be selected from video submissions to perform their selected Sondheim song live at the Steinway Hall, NYC in front of a panel of esteemed judges on March 29th, 2025, for the chance to win various MTC provided prizes.
For up-and-coming theatre artists, Sondheim’s lush lyrics, splendid melodies, and complex themes allow for an experience like no other. MTC is proud to offer the opportunity for New York City high school students to engage with Sondheim’s work, as well as with MTC for what may be the first time. Further details and guidelines for the competition can be found below.
New Friends Competition
All currently enrolled high school students in the five boroughs of New York City (Brooklyn, The Bronx, Manhattan, Staten Island, and Queens) are eligible to participate in the New Friends Competition. Students must submit their student ID with their registration for verification.
Registration period: February 26th, 2025 – March 7th, 2025
Video Submission period: March 7th, 2025 – March 17th, 2025
Rehearsals: March 22nd, 2025 and March 23rd, 2025
Finals: March 29th, 2025
- Students will select and perform up to 1.5 minutes or 16 bars of one of the following approved Stephen Sondheim songs
- Approved songs for New Friends are linked here
Competitors will be adjudicated by using a rubric which includes ratings for:
- Energy and physical presentation
- The performer’s engagement within their performance. Are they engaged and performing with passion and energy? Do they present as prepared and ready as possible?
- Characterization
- The performer’s ability to embody the character in which they are performing, and/or their ability to live within the circumstances of the song they are performing.
- Intonation and Musicality
- Accuracy of pitch, quality of tone and overall musical ability.
- Connection/Understanding of Text
- Does the performer seem to capture the essence of the song they are performing? Does the performer put the song in a context or perform it as solely a musical number?
- Personalization
- Does the performer make creative, personal, specific choices whilst singing and thus make the song and performance their own in some way, shape, or form?
The winner will receive….
- Audition coaching from MTC’s casting team
- Invitation to MTC 2025 Spring Gala
- Complimentary tickets to Stephen Sondheim’s Old Friends
And more!
How to Participate
To register fill out the form below to the best of your ability with accurate information. The form will be available to access and fill out from February 24th until March 6th, 2025, 11:59 PM EST.
Stephen Sondheim’s New Friends Competition Registration Form
Registration for the New Friends Competition is now open, and closes on March 6th, 2025, 11:59 PM EST. Only after filling out this registration form, on March 7th you will receive self-tape instructions and a link to a form where you will submit your video submission. You will have from March 7th to March 17th 9:59 AM EST to submit your self-tape. Applicants will be notified of their competition status by March 21st.
Once registered, you will receive an email with a link to a submission form. In the submission form, you must upload a link to an unlisted YouTube video of yourself singing one of the approved New Friends Competition songs, following all submission and self-tape guidelines.
Please email any questions or inquiries to Miciah Wallace at [email protected].
Old Friends is a great big Broadway show born out of Cameron Mackintosh and Stephen Sondheim’s lifetime of friendship and collaboration. The two of them came up with the idea during the pandemic, drawing on the many shows that they had done together in collaboration with their good friend Julia McKenzie. Once theatres reopened in London and New York in the fall of 2021, Mackintosh was able to visit Sondheim again and this new show remained something they continued to discuss; but, sadly, shortly after, Sondheim passed away in November 2021. It fell to Mackintosh to pick up where he and Sondheim left off, collating their notes, and structuring the show that would initially become a spectacular star-studded gala at the Sondheim Theatre in London’s West End in May 2022 to celebrate Sondheim’s life and work, and also raise funds for the newly formed Stephen Sondheim Foundation. The gala won Best Theatre Event at the 2023 WhatsOnStage Awards and was subsequently broadcast on TV by the BBC.
Mackintosh, who both produced and devised the evening, directed by his long-time collaborator Matthew Bourne, was encouraged by how brilliantly the material held together. They decided to rework the show for a run at the Gielgud Theatre from September 2023 with an all-star ensemble cast headed by legendary Broadway stars Bernadette Peters and Lea Salonga, alongside a dazzling array of West End co-stars drawn from many of Mackintosh’s old friends who had been featured in his productions. The Old Friends company performed some of the greatest songs ever written for musical theatre by one of theatre’s greatest geniuses. Old Friends at the Gielgud became an instant legend and an unforgettable evening that earned a bevy of five-star raves and was hailed by The Times as “unmissable musical theatre.”
The cast of Stephen Sondheim’s Old Friends also stars Jacob Dickey, Kevin Earley, Jasmine Forsberg, Kate Jennings Grant, Bonnie Langford, Tony Award winner Beth Leavel, two-time Tony Award nominee Gavin Lee, multiple Olivier Award nominee Jason Pennycooke, two-time Olivier Award winner Joanna Riding, Jeremy Secomb, Kyle Selig, Maria Wirries, and Daniel Yearwood. The company will also include Paige Faure, Alexa Lopez, Greg Mills and Peter Neureuther.