Piolo Pascual's first-ever foray into a stage musical in last year's Ibarra, The Musical (produced by Tanghalang Una Obra) is well-appreciated by at least one award-giving body (other than the Aliw Awards), composed mostly of seasoned theater viewers: the Philippine Live Entertainment Arts and Festivals, better known as the LEAF Awards, which is all set to present its awards on 8 February at the Metropolitan Theater.
 The group is headed by award-winning literary and performing arts veteran Frank G. Rivera and live performances director and videographer CJ Andaluz of Pixel Media Arts. 

Pascual, who topbilled Ibarra, The Musical, a retelling of Jose Rizal's novel Noli Me Tangere, is a finalist in the Outstanding Performance by an Actor in a Musical category, along with another movie/TV actor first-timer in a theater production: Khalil Ramos, who played the lead in the musical Tick, Tick… Boom!, produced by 9 Works Theatrical.

The show's other lead actor, Jef Flores, is also a finalist in the category. Flores first gave life to the character of desperate Jonathan in the 2011 staging of the musical, also by 9 Works Theatrical.

Another prominent contender in the category is Gian Magdangal for Repertory Philippines' Carousel. Magdangal portrayed Billy Bigelow, a thief and wife-beater, in the classic Rodgers and Hammerstein musical. 

Gio Gahol, still better known as a stage actor though he was nominated for best actor in several film awards in 2020 (including the prestigious Gawad Urian) also earned the LEAF jury nod for his performance as the revolutionary Tenyong in PETA's Walang Aray, an adaptation of Severino Reyes' classic sarswela Walang Sugat.

There are other finalists in the musical category, aside from nominees in the straight play that include JC Santos and Bart Guingona for the two-character play Red. 

Cedrick Juan, the stage actor who bested Pascual and three other seasoned thespians including Christopher de Leon in the recent Metro Manila Film Festival, is not a finalist in any LEAF acting categories. Juan is not nominated anywhere because he did not take on a theater job in 2023. The last time he acted onstage was in 2022, in the musical Mula sa Buwan, an adaptation of the play Cyrano de Bergerac.