Another Davenport student gets Broadway thrill

Will Croix Baker become the next Ben Platt?

The 2023 Davenport Central grad has a dream to make it on Broadway, like Platt, the famous lead of “Dear Evan Hansen” and the current revival of “Parade.” In a way, Baker already has.

He won a prestigious Triple Threat Award on June 1 at the Iowa High School Music Theater Awards (IHSMTA) in Des Moines. Baker was chosen to represent Iowa as one of 96 high school students nationwide to take part later in June at the National High School Musical Theatre Awards (known as the Jimmy Awards) in New York City.

He and Grace Casciato of Fort Dodge High School earned Triple Threat Awards and participated in nine days of training, coaching and rehearsals at New York’s Juilliard School for a sold-out showcase June 26, at Broadway’s Minskoff Theatre, where “The Lion King” performs. It was a thrill of a lifetime for Baker.

“Even like, stepping on that stage for the first time, it was like ‘Holy cow, I’m about to a perform on this tonight?’” Baker recalled in a Tuesday interview with Local 4. “That was a really, really cool feeling.”

“I was nervous and I wasn’t, because I felt so confident in everyone,” he said of doing the Broadway showcase, where he was featured in excerpts from shows inspired by Shakespeare. We rehearsed enough to the point where we’re ready and we’re excited to do it, you know?”

“Clearly there’s nerves when you’re about to perform on Broadway, but I felt good. I felt ready,” Baker said.

The theater was packed and the Jimmys audience includes some agents and talent scouts, looking for new, fresh performers.

“The Jimmys is kinda known as the NFL Draft of Broadway, so there’s a bunch of agents and directors that either judge or scout out,” Baker said.

Playbill reported the day after the Jimmys: “The energy in the room was electric as 96 high school students from around the country put everything they had into the one-night-only show, and the audience erupted with cheers at every opportunity.

“The Jimmys are absolutely one of the most incomparable nights in the theatre community—after all, where else can you find a spectacle like The Phantom of the Opera serenading Fanny Brice on a Broadway stage, both played by astoundingly talented teenagers?”

The awards are presented in two acts. The first act is a series of performances with all 96 nominees, which includes large group numbers and four-character medleys—where small groups of students each sing a segment as the character they were nominated for. For act two, a panel of judges select eight semifinalists and eight finalists, all of whom receive scholarships.

The finalists then advance to perform a solo song that they spent the week perfecting with coaches and mentors, Playbill wrote. Finally, the judges choose the two Jimmy Award winners for Best Performance by an Actor and Actress. 

Baker made it to become semi-finalist in the awards show.

Since its 2009 inception, the NHSMTA has been the catalyst for more than $4 million in educational scholarships awarded to deserving young performers, according to its website. The Jimmy Awards are named for Broadway impresario James M. Nederlander, and this year-round program is administered by The Broadway League Foundation Inc.

You can see 2023 Jimmy Awards show highlights on the Broadway World website HERE.

Theater since middle school

Baker started doing musical theater in middle school through the Creative Arts Academy in Davenport. His music teacher, Ron May, encouraged hm to audition for “The Music Man” at Circa ’21, which Baker performed in during 6^th grade. He went on to be in Circa’s first production of “Elf,” as Michael.

At Central, Baker was in shows his freshman, junior and senior years (the last two years, both the straight plays and musicals).

The Iowa High School Musical Theater Awards send judges throughout the state to see shows, and from there, students are invited to perform for the Triple Threat Awards. Baker was one of three from “The Little Mermaid” last year to get picked for Triple Threat.

Central’s Emily Winn (who was Ariel last year) got to be in the Jimmys in 2022 and Baker was close, a winner of a Des Moines theater scholarship.

In 2022, he earned a Des Moines Performing Arts Center theater scholarship from Triple Threat, and this year was chosen for the Jimmys. The Broadway camp last summer was for a week at the Des Moines Civic Center (where the musical theater awards are held).

Baker was picked June 1 for the Jimmys after doing a separate audition, singing from the show he was in (“Rock of Ages”) and a song of his choice. During the show, they announced the two winners (one male and one female is picked from each region).

He auditioned with “Oh Sherrie” (from “Rock of Ages”) and his choice, which he sang as an encore was “It’s Hard to Speak My Heart” from “Parade.” (Hear him sing that HERE).

“It was really crazy,” Baker said. “I remember last year, when Emily’s name was picked, we knew she was insanely talented, but we thought, ‘This was crazy that a freshman was going to the Jimmys right now’ and I know her and work with her.’”

He said he must have been close last year to get one of the scholarship awards.

“That felt really cool and made me want to get it more, to see if I could make it,” Baker said. “Then when I did, I just put my hands in front of my face. I was speechless, I really didn’t know what to say. I was really shocked and just so excited.”

He had to miss his graduation rehearsal, since he had to stay the next day in Des Moines after winning the Triple Threat (to record some videos and work on stuff for the Jimmys). Central’s commencement ceremony was June 4.

He and a couple friends had watched the 2022 Jimmys showcase together and admired Winn (who also was in “Rock of Ages”).

“I was so happy for her and so proud of her,” Baker recalled. “Especially getting to see her perform a solo from ‘Little Mermaid,’ that was just really cool to see. I had seen her do it like 100 times, so to get to do it on a Broadway stage, I was really happy for her.”

He played Prince Eric in 2022’s “Little Mermaid,” with Winn.

This year was the third time since 2019 that a Davenport Central student won a statewide “Triple Threat” award. Peyton Reese (a 2019 Central grad) was an Iowa representative at the Jimmys in June 2019 — winning for Central’s production of “Heathers.”

This year, Mia Roldan and Baker performed their duet, “High Enough” from the spring musical, “Rock of Ages,” at the IHSMTA at the Des Moines Civic Center. He also sang “Heart of Stone” from the musical “Six” in a medley.

Roldan and Baker won Awards for Outstanding Achievement in a Principal Role and “Rock of Ages” won an Award for a Distinguished Scene for “Harden My Heart.”

First time in Big Apple

Baker and his family had never been to New York City before this trip.

He got to see the Broadway musical “MJ,” the Michael Jackson musical, during the trip. “It was incredible,” he said, noting it was his first plane ride as well.

Baker’s father, Richard, has worked at Circa for several years and is building sets for the next show.

Croix stayed and rehearsed at the famed Juilliard School in Manhattan. “That was pretty awesome,” he said.

There were 96 students altogether, from 48 regions across the country. They had seven days to get the showcase together, usually rehearsing 12-hour days.

Baker worked separately with a coach, Desi Oakley – a professional actor who has performed in many shows on and off-Broadway, including “Wicked,” “Waitress,” “Chicago,” “Evita” and “Les Miserables.”

He worked with her to improve his audition song (the one from “Parade”). “She is great; she’s just a ball of energy and so positive,” Baker said of Oakley.

“We kind of created a community and a family in our little coaching sessions, when we only had maybe like five hours together total,” Baker said.

“I was a little nervous coming into it, like how are these people gonna be?” he said. “It was nothing but supportive. We created a family within the first few days.”

“I made a ton of friends, that I think I’m gonna have for the rest of my life,” Baker said. “These are probably the people I’m gonna be working with in the future, so building that sense of community and friendship, that was probably my favorite part of the whole experience. Just getting to meet all these people I never would have met and then just getting along with them so well.”

Baker’s family actually spent a few extra days in New York because their flight home was cancelled, and they didn’t leave until June 30.

They ended up seeing another Broadway show, fittingly “Parade,” starring Ben Platt.

“It ended up being pretty cool,” Baker said. “He’s definitely one of my biggest idols in the musical theater world. I knew when our plane got cancelled, well we kinda have to go see this now.”

He plans to major in musical theater at Millikin University in Decatur, Ill., so the Jimmys experience is a major boost to his potential career. “This is a pretty big step,” Baker said.

“Clearly, I want to keep doing this. New York is like the inevitable goal for me, so this was definitely something that helps me a lot to get there.”

He chose Millikin partly to be closer to home, and said the program is very good and the facilities are beautiful. “I just know when I went on the tour there, the people are so inviting and friendly,” Baker said. “It really seemed like the place for me.”

He and Emily Winn are back performing together in Countryside’s summer production of “Into the Woods,” to go up July 28 to Aug. 6 at North Scott High School in Eldridge. Baker is playing Rapunzel’s Prince and Winn is Cinderella.

Talk about a fairy-tale ending to a fairy-tale year.