Last night’s inaugural National High School Musical Theater Awards ceremony at NYU’s Skirball Center was a celebration of high-school musicals and of the patriarch of the Nederlander group, James M. Nederlander, a lifelong theatrical impresario who is still going at it after nearly 70 years in the business.

First, the news. The winners of the first-ever Jimmy Awards were Steven Mark of Ridgefield High School in Ridgefield, Conn., and Jenny Wine of Wichita High School East in Wichita, Kansas. (Photo credit: Bruce Glikas)

They are eligible for a four-year scholarship to NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts (if they meet the school’s entrance requirements). Each also received $10,000 to further their education.

When he stepped to the podium, Mark said he was honored, adding “Everyone knows that high-school musical theater is the best time you can have, ever. I mean … seriously.”

“I’m not kidding,” he went on, to the laughter of the crowd. “High-school musical theater has given me the best memories I’ve ever had and this experience has doubled that because all these kids are so amazing.”

When she took to the podium, Wine started with “Hi, Mom!” and went on to thank her “31 awesome castmates and friends.”

Both ended their thank-yous with an inside joke of sorts, shouting “Maria!” from “West Side Story,” a show the contestants had seen on Broadway last week. The other contestants, huddled backstage, roared their approval.

At a post-ceremony reception in NYU’s Kimmel Center—with a spectacular view of the Empire State Building, Chrysler Building and Washington Square Arch — parents hugged their contestant kids and hobnobbed with theater elites.

“I was floored, absolutely floored,” said Mark, as well-wishers crowded to get his autograph. “Everyone here is so good. I told someone that when I was getting ready to come here, I really wanted to win. But once I got here, everyone is so friggin’ good, that eventually I realized that losing to any one of these people wouldn’t be losing because they’re all amazing.”

Mark played Jimmy Smith in Ridgefield’s production of “Thoroughly Modern Millie.” He starts his senior year at Ridgefield next fall.

Wine, who just graduated from Wichita High School East, played Julia in “The Wedding Singer.”

She has a full scholarship to study musical theater at Wichita State University in the fall and will have to “do some thinking and some research” now that the Tisch scholarship is on the table, she said after the ceremony, adding “tonight has been a complete whirlwind.”

The ceremony was a star-studded affair, hosted by Kathie Lee Gifford, with presenters including Tommy Tune (who can still kick those long legs high) and Norm Lewis (“The Little Mermaid,” “Les Miserables”).

After watching medleys of the 32 nominated actors and actresses—representing 16 regional theater competitions, including Helen Hayes Youth Theater’s Metropolitan Awards—judges narrowed the group to four: Wine, Mark, Ridgefield’s Grace Hardin and Kian McCollum of Pittsburgh. The four had a few minutes to prepare and then returned to the stage one at a time to perform a solo.

Hardin sang “If I Were a Bell” from “Guys and Dolls,”

Wine sang “I Dreamed a Dream” from “Les Miserables.”

Mark sang “Run Away With Me” from “The Unauthorized Biography of Samantha Brown.”

McCollum sang “Grow Old With Me” from “The Wedding Singer,” accompanying himself on the guitar.

The judges were Scott Ellis (Roundabout Theater Company, “Curtains”); Kent Gash (Tisch School of the Arts); Montego Glover (the upcoming “Memphis,” “The Color Purple”); Alecia Parker (NAMCO); Nick Scandalios (Nederlander Organization) and Bernie Telsey (MCC Theater and Telsey + Company).

The man who gave the awards their name sat in the row behind the judges. When Tommy Tune finished lauding Nederlander from the stage, he came into the audience and handed the microphone to the legendary theater owner.

“In 2011, it will be 100 years in the theater business since my father took over the Shubert’s Detroit Opera House,” he said. “I used to go to the shows every Saturday afternoon. It was a musical world in those days. Today, we still do musicals, but we cry about every dollar we spend. All I can say is I’ll keep punching and I’ll never quit.”

The announcement of the winner was made by James L. Nederlander, Jimmy’s son, and by Van Kaplan, the president and producer of the awards. The younger Nederlander wiped away tears as he listened to Mark’s acceptance speech.

The first-ever Jimmys were a collaboration of theatrical heavyweights: The Nederlanders run a long string of venues, including nine Broadway houses; NYU Tisch School is a proving ground for theatrical talent; and Pittsburgh CLO is a huge regional theater and a force for the creation of new works and the presentation of classics. Pittsburgh CLO’s Gene Kelly Awards, begun 19 years ago, were the model for high-school-musical competitions nationwide.

For five days, contestants lived in NYU dorms, met with NYU faculty, saw “West Side Story” and learned the ceremony’s opening and closing numbers and the medleys in which they took part. (You can see dispatches by Briarcliff High School’s Michelle Rubich and by Sloatsburg’s Aaron Sauer in earlier posts on this blog.)

The Jimmys also honored theater educators.

Paula Ohaus from Hoboken High School in Hoboken, N.J., received $5,000 to advance her work exposing kids to live theater from all sides, including theater criticism.

Lynda Hodges, a teacher at Dr. Sun Yat Sen Middle School 131 in Manhattan, recieved $500, lesson plans, an in-school residency program, the rights to a musical from Theatrical Rights Worldwide, and an invitation for her 6th-, 7th- and 8th-graders to see a Broadway show.

Earlier in the day, after a morning rehearsal, the Nederlander’s Scandalios and Pittsburgh CLO’s Kaplan talked about the importance of awards like The Jimmys.

“It’s not about competition as much as it’s about aspiration and ambition,” Scandalios said. “If there is no consequence for them, how do they achieve their dream? Life is full of consequences. When do you start learning about consequences? You start competing. In any field, you compete. If you want to be a professional performer, you’re going to walk into an audition and all you’re going to do for the rest of your life is compete. And sometimes you’ll be dismissed without warning, without any knowledge.”

“I think the way Van and his team have handled it is in a very positive light,” he added. “We’re not about diminishing any performer. It’s about helping them live their aspirations and that requires competition.”

Kaplan added: “We focus on the educational value of what we’re doing.”

When Pittsburgh CLO approached Gene Kelly 20 years ago and asked him to lend his name to their fledgling awards program, the Oscar winner was hesitant.

“But he did end up lending us his name because he believed in competition,” Kaplan added. “Competition pushes you to excel even beyond your wildest dreams. His whole life was all about competition. He wanted to be a shortstop for the Pittsburgh Pirates. He was the best roller-skater. He was a standout basketball player, oddly enough. But he pushed himself and demanded that of everyone around him.”

The quality of the contestants wasn’t limited to one region or another, Kaplan said.

Scandalios said he was struck by the vocal talent.

“They are vocally stronger than I would have expected at this age,” he said. “These kids seem to have the ability to control their instrument more than I would have expected.”

Scandalios says he hopes the awards will prompt regional theaters and school districts to embrace musical theater as a way to help students blossom.

“If you give them some tools and train them a little bit, it’s remarkable what they achieve,” he said.

Scandalios said organizers, who have been working on the awards for two years, are already looking forward to next year when they hope to hold the ceremony at a Nederlander Theater.

“We want contestants to be able to say ‘I played The Palace,’” he said with a smile.

The 2009 National High School Musical Theater Award contestants were: Elizabeth Bailey (Pittsburgh CAPA, Pittsburgh, PA);  Erin Borain (Alpharetta High School, Atlanta, GA); Alec Brashear (Lower Dauphin High School, Hershey, PA);  Rebecca Brinkley (Cedar Ridge High School, NC); David Broyles (Newton South High School, Beverly, MA); Anthony Bruno (Bergen County Academies, Millburn, NJ); Stephanie Cooksey (Stratford High School, Houston, TX); Alejandro Fallick (Stratford High School, Houston, TX); Sarah Franklin (Lutheran High School of OC, Yorba Linda, CA); Grace Hardin (Ridgefield High School, Ridgefield, CT); Emily Higgins (Danvers High School, Beverly, MA); Seth Johnson (Cary Academy, Raleigh, NC); Julia Knitel (Fair Lawn High School, Fair Lawn, NJ); Krystal Lawton (The School of the Arts, Rochester, NY); Sam Leake (Sterling High School, Wichita, KS); Stephen Mark (Ridgefield High School, Ridgefield, CT); Chauncey Matthews (San Diego School of Creative and Performing Arts, San Diego, CA); Kian McCollum (Chartiers Valley High School, Pittsburgh, PA); Ryan Morton (Orange County School of the Arts, Yorba Linda, CA); Mallory Moser (Trinity Valley School, Fort Worth, TX); Adrien Pellerin (Atlanta International School, Atlanta, GA); Joe Pudetti (Penfield High School, Rochester, NY); Keegan Rice (Shawnee Mission West, Kansas City, MO); Michelle Rubich (Briarcliff High School, Briarcliff Manor); Aaron Sauer (Don Bosco Prep, Ramsey, NJ); Taryn Sprenkle (East Pennsboro High School, Hershey, PA); Samantha Steinmetz (Blue Valley High School, Kansas City, MO); Emma Stratton (Canyon Crest Academy, San Diego, CA); Alex Syiek (Huntington Beach High School, Fullerton, CA); Patrick Thomas (Colleyville Heritage High School, Forth Worth, TX); Gina Velez (La Habra High School, Fullerton, CA) and Jenny Wine (Wichita East High School, Wichita, KS).