West Warwick HS Wins Stephen Sondheim Award

Photos by Chris Milligan Photography

New Haven, CT - Broadway Method Academy, in association with Westport Country Playhouse and the Shubert Theatre of New Haven, proudly presented the first annual Stephen Sondheim Awards on Monday evening. This is a new Connecticut regional awards program in association with the Jimmy Awards/National High School Musical Theatre Awards. The awards ceremony and culminating celebration was a black tie gala held at the Shubert Theatre. The event included a red carpet entrance, spectacular performances by nominees, and awards presented by many Broadway actors.

The mission of the Stephen Sondheim Awards is to emphasize the importance of arts education by celebrating and supporting student achievement in high school musical theater. Awards were presented in ten categories and one special category, and two scholarships were presented by the Jamie A. Hulley Arts Foundation to two students. The winners of the Best Actor and Best Actress awards will go on to participate in the Jimmy Awards in NYC.

Over the past eight months, a panel of judges attended performances by the following fourteen high schools: Cooperative Arts & Humanities High School, Suffield Academy, West Warwick High School, Notre Dame High School, North Kingstown High School, Trumbull High School, Branford High School, Newtown High School, Darien High School, Nonnewaug High School, Cheshire High School, Amity Regional High School, Shelton High School and Immaculate High School.

The panel of judges was comprised of performing arts educators, entertainment professionals and Broadway performers & designers. On May 19, these judges met for a final discussion and a review of highlights from each high school performance to subsequently create nominations. Click here to read the list of Broadway stars that attended to present awards.

After an opening medley that included a large number of students in their show t-shirts, BMA Executive Directors, Connor Deane & J. Scott Handley, welcomed the students at the beginning of the two-hour program. The two introduced an enlightening video montage about the career of the Mr. Sondheim. Hamilton’s Solea Pfeiffer (Eliza Hamilton) and Ryan Vasquez hosted the gala and were both professional and most personable.

In between the presentation of the awards, everyone was treated to a song from the six high school productions that were nominated for Best Musical of the year. Each school brings their best musical number that showcases the entire cast and every one of them was most impressive. Suffield Academy showed off their “Nicest Kids in Town” from their musical ‘Hairspray’ and I noted how fabulous the wigs were and the teens wore plenty of them. It was also easy to see why Max Weiner was nominated for Best Actor for his role as Edna Turnblad. Darien HS performed “Let’s Hear It for the Boy” and charmed us with some wonderful dancing in full costume. West Warwick HS brought the finale from their production of ‘Shrek The Musical’ and everyone seated near me agreed that their costumes were amazing.

Amity Regional HS decided to present “When You’re an Addams” from their spring musical ‘The Addams Family’ and the audience could not help but be impressed with the attire of the 30 dancing ancestors. Immaculate HS showed off their outstanding dancing in “We Go Together” from their production of ‘Grease,’ with choreography by Matthew Farina. The final number was Shelton HS performing a number from their production of ‘Legally Blonde,’ that also included some great dancing.

While I thoroughly enjoyed the six performances, I was surprised at how much I loved the medleys done by the Best Actor and Best Actress nominees. The seven performers came out in the costume for the role for which they were nominated and each had a chance to perform part of one of their big numbers while the others stepped back and supported them as background singers/dancers. Best of all, the six performances were cleverly linked, despite the fact that the characters were from diverse shows. I have seen this done at the Jimmy Awards, and these two medleys were just as good.

The winners of the 2018 Stephen Sondheim Awards include:

Best Scenic Design - Justin Mossa - Footloose - Darien High School

Best Costume Design - Sophie Howard - Footloose - Darien High School

Best Lighting Design - Oak Chaisathaporn - Hairspray - Suffield Academy

Best Supporting Actor - Callum Zak - Legally Blonde - Kyle/Chad/Dewey - Shelton High School

Best Supporting Actress - Madison LaPlante - Shrek - Dragon - West Warwick

Best Choreography - Katherine Sedlock - Legally Blonde - Shelton High School

Best Direction - Tim Sorenson - Footloose - Darien High School

Best Actor - Cooper Cardone - Beauty and the Beast - Beast - North Kingstown

Best Actress - Teah Renzi - Les Miserables - Eponine - Newtown High School

Best Musical - The Addams Family - Amity Regional High School

A Special Achievement Award was presented to Mia White of Suffield Academy, recognizing her for earning a nomination for Best Choreography in addition to her nomination as Best Actress as Velma Von Tussle in ‘Hairspray.’

BMA partnered with the Jamie Hulley Arts Foundation to present over $4,000 in cash scholarships to two deserving students who submitted auditions and written responses pertaining to how theater has influenced their lives. Kailey Anderson, a senior at Darien HS who played Urleen in their musical ‘Footloose’ and is president of the school’s theatre club, was honored with a scholarship. Another scholarship was presented to Carlos Perez, who played Oscar Shapiro in the Trumbull HS production of ‘Curtains.’

The gala was music directed by Jad Bernardo and the onstage orchestra worked together seamlessly. Mr. Bernardo played keyboard, Michael Goodman was on bass, Jake Brownstein played guitar, Elliot Wallace played the drums and Zachary Simon covered keyboard II. Choreography by Julie Kavanagh and Audra Bryant was most impressive and performed beautifully by the high school students. Weston G. Wetzel served as Director of Production and every single aspect of this production was of the highest quality. I was so glad that I was able to attend this gala and enjoy a wonderful evening celebrating the best in high school musical theatre.

Nancy Sasso Janis Photo by J. Timothy Quirk

Nancy Sasso Janis has been writing theatre reviews since 2012 as a way to support local theatre venues. She posts reviews of well over 100 productions each year. In 2016, she became a member of the Connecticut Critics Circle. She continues to contribute theatre news, previews, and audition notices to local Patch sites. Reviews of all levels of theatrical productions are posted on Naugatuck Patch and the Patch sites closest to the venue. Follow the reviewer on her Facebook pages Nancy Sasso Janis: Theatre Reviewer and on Twitter @nancysjanis417