Award nominations County high school musicals well represented
Five area high schools have been nominated for Henry Mancini Musical Theatre awards. And to add drama to proceedings in two categories, performers from the same school will be vying for the same award.
For 25 years, the Mancini awards, named after Henry Mancini, composer, conductor and arranger for film and television and an Aliquippa native, have recognized outstanding student achievement in high school musical theater in Butler, Beaver and Lawrence counties.
This year, Knoch, Mars, North Catholic, and Slippery Rock have been nominated for best musical although in different categories.
Knoch's production of “Oklahoma” was nominated for best musical in the budget 3 category; Mars' “Disney's Beauty and the Beast”was nominated in the budget 2 category; while Slippery Rock's “Mary Poppins” and North Catholic's “Anything Goes” were nominated in the budget 1 category.
Leanne Nagle, Mancini Awards coordinator, said the musicals are split into different categories based on the amount of money spent on a production with budget 3 being the highest.
Nagle said, “All the schools in the three counties were invited to participate with 17 schools competing this year.”“Judges from the ranks of performing arts professionals — actors, directors, choreographers — volunteer to attend the productions of the participating schools,” said Nagle.She said the judges then gather to discuss and finalize nominations.This year's nominations included Freeport junior Halle Surgil for best actress for her portrayal of Elle Woods in “Legally Blonde.”It's a hat trick for Surgil who won the best actress award last year for her role of Wednesday Addams in “The Addams Family,” said her director Tom Koharchik. Surgil also won a best supporting actress award as a freshman for her role as stepsister Charlotte in “Cinderella.”Surgil said playing Elle was her toughest role yet.“She's on stage almost the entire time,” she said. “It was one of the most rewarding challenges for me in my musical career.”“I had to make sure I was well rested, watched my diet and trained to be physically in shape for the part,” she said.Her schoolmate, Rachael Waldron was nominated as best supporting actress for her role as Paulette Bonafonte.Surgil said, “It was so much fun with her because she's a really good friend in real life. Having to play off her was so much fun.”Waldron, said Koharchik, “was wonderful to work with this year.”“Her role was difficult. She really had to have a belting voice to sing the piece, and she did great doing it,” he said.“She's a junior so we will have her for another show next year,” said Koharchik of Surgil.“She can dance, she can sing, she can act,” he went on. “She works tirelessly to get better all the time.“She wants to be on Broadway. That's her goal. She's passionate for musical theater,” said Koharchik.Other nominations pitted North Catholic's juniors Tim Roos and D.J. Ubinger against each other in the best supporting actor category.Ubinger, who has been a classmate and a castmate of Roos since grade school, said the two support each other.“If I win, he will support me, and if he wins, I will support him. We are in it together,” said Ubinger, who played Sir Evelyn Oakleigh in “Anything Goes,” while Roos took the role of Moonface Martin.
North Catholic has won best musical twice before said Beth Young, the school's English, theater, acting and argumentation teacher and director of “Anything Goes.”And Slippery Rock's Kendra Shidemantle and Shayna Lindey will also both vie for best supporting actress.Slippery Rock's director, Allison Dalcamo, said, “We at Slippery Rock are thrilled with our nominations. We worked so hard on this show, and I am so proud of these students. Our students can't wait to perform a part of our show again at Lincoln Park.”Mars' Mia Manuppelli is up for best actress for her work as Belle in “Beauty and the Beast.”Her director, Jennifer Young, said, “This is her first nomination. She's a theater kid. Her goal and plan is to go to college for musical theater and English.”Young said this production was “a drama without drama.”Young said, “This was by far the best group of students overall. Anything you asked them to do they did. They came back from Christmas break with their lines from Act 1 memorized. They had a passion and a desire to do well.”Young added Mars sophomore Luke Whittaker, who was a dancer and a croney in “Beast,” won the Pittsburgh CLO Scholarship which means he will be attending theater classes at the Pittsburgh CLO this summer.
Slippery Rock's “Mary Poppins” was nominated for best musical, and Jace Franco was nominated for best actor.In addition to best musical budget 3 for “Oklahoma, ” Knoch High School also had Brecken Farrell nominated for best actor, Torrance Bajuszik for best actress, and Dori Shearer for best supporting actress.“Oklahoma” director Jen Bronder said Dori Shearer was nominated for her role as Aunt Eller. It is her first nomination.Shearer said, “I sing a pretty big portion of the song, 'The Farmer and the Cowman' that starts the second act.”Asked how she stood out to the judges who nominated here, Shearer said, “I think it's because I stayed in character the entire time. I reacted to whatever was going on on stage.”“Torrance Bajuszik was nominated for Ado Annie,” Bronder said. “Torrance won the Mancini Award for Best Supporting Actress last year for her portrayal of Jolene in 'Dirty Rotten Scoundrels.'”Bajuszik said, when asked which of the two roles was the more difficult, said, “I would say Ado Annie. It's a golden age musical and I'm a modern singer. I had to channel the voice and mannerisms of the 1950s.“But it was a good acting challenge and a good singing challenge,” she said.
Bajuszik spends half of each school day at the Pittsburgh Musical Theater practicing dancing, singing and vocals and has attended classes at the CLO Academy.She said “I plan to go to college, get my BFA in musical theater, move to New York and audition all the time.”The junior said she would be trying out for the musical again in her senior year.Farrell was Curly in “Oklahoma.”“This is Brecken's second nomination for best actor. He was nominated for playing Freddy Benson in last year's 'Dirty Rotten Scoundrels,'” said Bronder.“Bronder said, “We've been nominated for best show since 'Anything Goes,' and we won for '42nd Street' two years ago in 2017,” said Bronder. “We've been nominated for five years in a row.”Bronder said the productions' continued excellence is a group effort.“Do you know how many people it takes to get a show up and running?” she asked. “There is a lighting director, a sound director. There are five directors. There are the parents who show up to build sets.“There are the hundreds of kids who show up for rehearsal. And it's hard work,” she said.“It's hard in that between rehearsals they have to work to not forget their dance steps and memorize their lines between rehearsals,” said Bronder.“And the kids we have are so talented. They are in marching band and sing in the chorus and they are in the musical,” she said.“We have a standard we want them to meet,” Bronder said. “Every show they should try to make the best show possible.”Young echoed Bronder's sentiments.Young said, “I would like to think it's because the joint effort is so impressive.“The students take charge, do some of the choreography. They keep encouraging each other.“Mothers make the costumes; fathers build the sets. It was just one large joint effort and that is what it takes to make a great show,” said Young.Bronder noted, “Theater is something you share with the community, your family and friends in the audience. It's a community experience.”Awards are nice but not what's important, according to Bronder.She said, “The process is what's important and what they've learned and how they've grown.”The Mancini Awards ceremony will be at 7 p.m. May 19 at Lincoln Park Performing Arts Center in Midland, and will feature performances by the schools nominated for best musical, students nominated for individual awards, and two representatives from each participating school in the show stopping finale.The Mancini winners for best actor and actress will join the winners from the CLO's Gene Kelly Awards, as well as winners from across the nation in New York City for a nine-day experience including private coaching, master classes and rehearsals with theater professionals.
