An upcoming Fairhope senior just received the confirmation she was looking for regarding her dream of pursuing musical theater in college.

Sydney Gray is the winner of the 2023-2024 Musical Theater Songwriting Challenge.

The National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) and National Alliance for Musical Theatre (NAMT) announced the winners of the 2023-2024 Musical Theater Songwriting Challenge Tuesday, May 21. Among the seven winning songs created by eight students from across the county was Fairhope's Sydney Gray for her song, "Little Miss Heard but Not Seen."

Gulf Coast Media sat down with Gray in her family's Fairhope home shortly after her win was made public. She had been keeping the news close to the vest for a few weeks. but now is time to shout the accomplishment from the top of the piano bench in her family's music room.

Music and performing have been a constant in Gray's life. In her toddler years, her stage was the fireplace hearth. Now, it is the stages of the Eastern Shore Repertory Theater (ESRT) and any field the Fairhope Marching Band graces.

"I started piano when I was 5, and I started doing musical theater when I was 6. Then I picked up trombone through the school system back in the sixth grade. Then over quarantine, I taught myself to play the ukulele," Gray said. "I've been writing literature, fiction, what have you, since I could phrase sentences together."

Gray recalled the first story she wrote and illustrated in second grade about a duck. In sixth grade, she wrote her first book, and she said it was then that it occurred to her that she could do the same thing with musicals. So, in seventh grade, she wrote her first musical, and one of her songs was performed by an ESRT children's group. Let us not forget her summer bop, Pirates Cove "Old Town" Parody, that went viral in 2019. (The song and music video are great and can be viewed on YouTube).

That is a lot to accomplish before high school. Don't worry, she didn't hang it all up to pursue her high school studies. She was just named first chair trombone and will be a drum major for the Fairhope High School band in her senior year. All that while studying at a high level, writing and performing.

THEN EVERYTHING CHANGED

The Musical Theater Songwriting Challenge is a competition Gray was familiar with and even entered when she was in eighth grade. Unfortunately, the entry requirement was students in ninth grade.

Like many things, the COVID-19 pandemic put the competition on ice until this year. Gray had started a submission form for this year's competition back in September but never completed it. It wasn't until the week before the deadline that she got a nudge from David Scott, a Fairhope native who works in the musical theater industry in New York, who encouraged her to apply. Thankfully, she had a song in the can.

"I've been on and off working on a musical called "Anavaly," which is basically about teens living in a post-COVID-19 world growing up in high school with social media, and the struggle it puts on mental health. Not just for all kids but specifically for neurodivergent kids," Gray said.

Gray explained that the musical focuses on the struggles of neurodivergent kids with autism, dyslexia and ADHD who already deal with bullying. Gray said they must now interpret from behind the screen thanks to social media.

"Little Miss Heard and Not Seen," was written after inspiration struck while in New York with her family for the Broadway Artists Alliance Camp.

"I came back and for some reason inspiration struck and I wrote what is now the bridge of the song 'Little Miss Heard and Not Seen,'" Gray said. "Essentially, the song is written how my brain works. 'Little Miss Heard and Not Seen' is the mantra, the guide to how the main character, Anava Lee, kind of goes through her life in high school."

Gray describes her protagonist as the kid who always had her hand up in class and would say things without thinking first. Then a major life event causes her to pull back and be quiet but make sure her voice and concerns are heard.

"I feel like that's a sentiment that a lot of introverts and people who don't have a lot of self-confidence, like some of the smartest people that I know are introverts, and they have a hard time bringing up their concerns for situations to the people who can change those concerns," Gray said.

OFF TO NEW YORK

With the news of the win public, Gray can start prepping for everything that comes with this award. She said it will start with a Zoom news conference with the other winners. Next, she will get paired with a mentor and a music director, both professionals in New York.

In June, she will head to New York to collaborate with her mentor and music director. Her song will be professionally orchestrated and performed by a Broadway artist in front of an audience of industry professionals June 17. All the winning songs will be compiled into a songbook and print-at-home edition by Concord Theatricals and released. Gray will also receive a $2,500 scholarship.

When asked if the gravity of this win had sunk in, Gray said it is starting to. She learned of the win while still prepping for exams, but now that school is over, she can soak it all in.