For a few moments, in the crowded William Floyd High School auditorium on June 9, everything was “on mute” in his brain. Then, Jadiel Rodriguez realized the M.C. had called his name, and his friends and loved ones were all cheering for him.
The East Hampton High School junior had just won a Teeny Award — the eastern Suffolk high school version of Broadway’s Tony Awards, sponsored by East End Arts — in the lead role in a musical comedy category for his role in “Anything Goes” earlier this year. Jadiel, 17, who has been acting in community theater and school musicals since the age of 9, played Moonface Martin, a gangster otherwise known as Public Enemy Number 13.
He said it was his favorite onstage role so far, and the first comedy role that really resonated with him since his fourth-grade performance as Donkey in “Shrek Junior.”
“Doing Moonface Martin in ‘Anything Goes’ was taking back my inner Donkey out of the crevice of my mind,” Jadiel said this week. Katie Schreck, his director at East Hampton, “told me to go over the top. If I was too much, she would tell me. It was a really fun experience.”
“I also got to show off my years of learning tap in that show, so, all of the good things that I do — I just got to be me.”
It was his third time nominated for a Teeny Award, but his first win. Past nominations were for his performances as Gomez Addams in “The Addams Family” in 2023 and Chuck Cranston in “Footloose” in 2022. Jadiel shares this year’s lead musical-comedy performance award with Jaysen Pommells from William Floyd, which is in Mastic Beach. He starred in “Pippin.”
Jadiel said he is grateful to the teachers and mentors around him, including Ms. Schreck, Stephanie Quigley, his orchestra teacher, and Melanie Freyre, his choir teacher, all at East Hampton; those from whom he learned to tap-dance and act, including Amanda Jones, Tamara Salkin, Anita Boyer, Kasia Klimiuk, Bethany Dellapolla, and Laura Sisco, and his parents, of course.
“Everyone has been such a big help in what I do,” Jadiel said. “I could never have done what I do now without them.”
Ms. Schreck said by text yesterday that he “is an absolute pleasure to know, teach, and direct” and has “tremendous instincts and stage presence.”
“He 100 percent ‘gets’ comedy and comedic timing. He is also a skilled musician and fantastic dancer,” she said. “Jadiel works at his craft and is extremely open to feedback and taking risks on stage. As far as his well-deserved win, I could not be more thrilled! I could not have picked a better Moonface Martin. His leadership on and off stage are admirable.”
Jadiel wasn’t the only East Hampton student recognized by East End Arts judges this year. Dakota Quackenbush, who won a Teeny Award for best supporting female in a musical in 2022, was also nominated this year in the lead role in a musical comedy category for playing Reno Sweeney in “Anything Goes.” Patrick Conlon, an East Hampton freshman who takes tap classes alongside his friend Jadiel, earned his first nomination, for supporting actor in a musical comedy, for playing Lord Evelyn Oakleigh in the same show.
Having also trained in improv comedy, Jadiel often feels fearless onstage. “I always get the jitters, but it’s the good kind of jitters, where I’m just really excited to show an audience what I’ve worked for and what I can do,” he said. “I think that’s what every performer should be feeling. They’ve worked so long and so hard, and if you have done that for something you really love, there’s no need to be afraid.”
Don't let his outrageous onstage high jinks fool you, though, music is at his core — playing the cello in the school orchestra and chamber group, singing in the choir and camerata ensemble, and listening to music with his family.
"Reggaeton, salsa music, anything and everything that Puerto Ricans listen to — just having a good time at family functions with music blasting so hard that your ears pop and you get a rhythmic sensation in your chest, in your heart," Jadiel said, as his mother, Jahaira Tirado, nodded her head and smiled in agreement. "It moves you and you have a lot of fun."
His next hope is to make the cut in cello for the Metropolitan Youth Orchestra, for which he's just auditioned. And there are more festivals, musicals, and cello solos in his future, as he plans to continue practicing, playing, and performing.
"We're beyond proud. It's my joy, our joy. . . . Who he is at home is what we get onstage," Ms. Tirado said. "It brings him happiness and joy -- what more can we ask for?"