As many a theatre kid can attest, the high school stage is a popular place for Broadway dreams to begin. Playbill is currently celebrating Back to School season, so we've compiled a gallery of your favorite actors' photos from their teenage archives.
Did you know 17-year-old Ariana DeBose played Cassie in A Chorus Line, or that Lin-Manuel Miranda was cast as Conrad Birdie at age 12? And before Kara Lindsay shared the stage with the nuns of Newsies, she played Sister Mary Amnesia in her high school's production of Nunsense.
See Patti LuPone, Michael James Scott, Jonalyn Saxer, and more in high school musicals from Hello, Dolly! to Heathers in the gallery below.
Ariana DeBose as Cassie in A Chorus Line
Kara Lindsay as Sister Mary Amnesia in Nunsense
James Monroe Iglehart in You're A Good Man Charlie Brown
JJ Niemann as Rooster in Annie
Liana Hunt as Belle in Beauty and the Beast
Hillary Fisher as Mimi in Rent
Jessie Davidson as Reno Sweeney in Anything Goes
Carson Stewart as Don Lockwood in Singin' In The Rain
Lin-Manuel Miranda as Conrad Birdie in Bye Bye Birdie
Dennis Stowe as Jesus in Jesus Christ Superstar
Chase Del Rey as Curly in Oklahoma!
Katie LaDuca as Sally in Cabaret
Khaila Wilcoxon as Kala in Tarzan
Dorcas Leung as Gloria Thorpe in Damn Yankees
Adrian Blake Enscoe as Scarecrow in The Wizard of Oz
Michael James Scott as Dickon in The Secret Garden
Raymond J. Lee in Crazy For You
Patti LuPone on stage at Northport High School where she played Nellie in South Pacific and Kate in All My Sons
Jonalyn Saxer as Maria in The Sound of Music
Christopher Sieber in Hello, Dolly
Jenny Mollet as Daniela in In The Heights
Vincent Jamal Hooper as Sky Masterson in Guys and Dolls
Didi Romero as Veronica Sawyer in Heathers: The Musical
