The New York Musical Theatre Festival is pleased to announce that Broadway producer Kevin McCollum (The Drowsy Chaperone, Rent, Avenue Q, [title of show], and the upcoming High Fidelity) will be honored as part of their 2006 Awards Gala, recognizing this year's outstanding contributions by both individual artists and entire production teams. The event will take place at the Hudson Theater on Sunday, November 12th at 6 PM.
The Drowsy Chaperone's Bob Martin will serve as Master of Ceremonies, and the evening will feature special performances by fellow Drowsy cast members Sutton Foster and Beth Leavel, the cast of [title of show], John Tartaglia, Anthony Rapp, members from the NYMF 2006 Awards for Excellence winners, and other celebrity guests.
VIP tables for the NYMF Awards Gala start at $5000, with regular tables starting at $3000, and individual tickets at $300.
"
Kevin McCollum has been a huge champion of our festival and his award winning body of work and commitment to nurturing fresh new talent, including our very own
Jeff Bowen and
Hunter Bell, is awe-inspiring," said
Kris Stewart, NYMF Executive Director and Founder.
The NYMF 2006 Awards for Excellence will highlight achievement in nine categories including: Most Promising New Work, Excellence in Musical Theatre Writing (in three separate categories – book, music, and lyrics), Excellence in Direction and Choreography, Excellence in Design, Outstanding Ensemble Performance, and Outstanding Individual Performance.
Award candidates will be drawn from eligible productions in the festival, including the thirty-three full productions that make up the Next Link, Invited Works and Dance Series, as well as the workshop production of
Alive in the World.
The winners will be selected by a jury composed of theater artists, producers and journalists, including: Jen Costello (Live Nation),
Robert Diamond (BroadwayWorld.com),
Frank Evans (BMI),
Peter Filichia (The Star-Ledger/TheaterMania),
Tim Jerome (National Music Theater Network), Clifford Lee Johnson III (Manhattan Theatre Club),
Beverly MacKeen (New World Stages), Matt Windman (AM New York) and
Wayman Wong (Playbill.com/Daily News).
In addition to the juried awards, the festival is continuing its audience prize, which is sponsored this year by Verizon Wireless. Audience members vote for the Verizon Best of Fest award by sending a text message to with the code for their favorite show.
For more information, or to purchase tickets, please visit
www.nymf.org or phone (212) 664-0979.
