Fri 2/13 @ 7:30PM

Kyle-Jean Baptiste was a member of the class of 2015 at Baldwin Wallace University’s nationally celebrated music theatre program. Like so many of its students, he went directly from Berea to Broadway, becoming the youngest actor to play to Jean Valjean in Les Misérables on Broadway that summer. He was set to move onto the Broadway production of The Color Purple in September 2015 when he accidentally fell from a New York fire escape and died at the age of 21, ending what was likely to have been a brilliant theater career.

In 2017, the BW Music Theatre Department held the first of its annual Kyle Jean-Baptiste benefit concerts. That tradition has continued, even as newer, younger classes get further away from Baptiste, who would now be in his early 30s and likely a well-known star. About a dozen current students will pay tribute to him, performing songs meaningful to them, undoubtedly reflecting on making the most of their time and the opportunities that will likely be open to them when they graduate.

Get tickets here. All proceeds go to the Kyle-Jean Baptiste Scholarship Fund.