Seventeen-year-old Ryan Sawyer Robbins has performed in a slew of musical theater shows around Montgomery County. But his latest endeavor is aiming a little higher: Broadway.

Robbins, a Walt Whitman High School senior, is one of five finalists in Broadway World’s Next on Stage, a national musical competition for high school and college performers across the U.S., run by one of the country’s leading theater publications.

Robbins is vying to become one of three high school students voted to win this year’s contest, which would send him on an all-expenses-paid trip to New York City that includes tickets to see a Broadway show.

Most importantly, though, is that winners land an opportunity to perform live at 54 Below — a New York cabaret club affectionately known as “Broadway’s Living Room” — where they’ll receive feedback from a panel of acclaimed Broadway performers. This year, those stars include Tony- and Grammy-winner J. Harrison Ghee (“Some Like It Hot,” “Kinky Boots” on Broadway); Tony nominee Derek Klena (“Wicked,” “Anastasia,” “Jagged Little Pill”); Grammy nominee Courtney Reed (“Aladdin,” “Moulin Rouge!”); and Kate Rockwell (“Mean Girls: The Musical,” “Bring It On: The Musical”). Several past winners have since landed in Broadway shows and national tours.

“This competition is exciting because I hope to perform on stage and screen in college and for a living,” Robbins told The Banner over email. “Getting a jumpstart and platform from Next on Stage would be incredible.”

Montgomery County theater-goers may have previously caught Robbins in Whitman productions including “Cabaret” as the Emcee, “Legally Blonde” as Professor Callahan and “Pippin” as the Leading Player.

Outside of school, he also performs in three shows a year with Young Artists of America, a D.C.-area organization that provides elementary through high school students with orchestral and musical theater training programs.

Robbins most recently starred as Prince Charming in YAA’s production of Britney Spears’ jukebox musical “Once Upon a One More Time” at Capital One Hall in Tysons Corner and Dom Claude Frollo in Disney’s “The Hunchback of Notre Dame” at Strathmore in North Bethesda.

Voting runs through Wednesday on the Broadway World website, and users can submit votes once a day. Results from the final round of voting, which determines the top three, will be announced Friday night.