Blumenthal Performing Arts Announces The Inaugural Blumey Awards Winners

The first annual Blumenthal Performing Arts High School Musical Theater Awards culminated Sunday, May 20, at a gala award celebration where winners in 13 categories were announced and nominees for Best Actor, Best Actress and Best Musical performed live on stage at the Belk Theater. The Blumey Awards were presented by Wells Fargo.
 
South Point High School from Gaston County won the Wells Fargo Best Musical Award for their production of Jekyll & Hyde.  Kyle Conroy of Jay M. Robinson High School in Cabarrus County won Best Actor for his portrayal of “Seymour” in Little Shop of Horrors.  Taylor Neal of Cuthbertson High School in Union County won Best Actress for her portrayal of “Belle” inBeauty and the Beast.  Maureen O’Boyle, anchor for WBTV, emceed the black-tie celebration.
 
Sixteen different high schools from the Charlotte region were nominated for Blumey Awards in one of the 13 categories, and included participating schools from Cabarrus, Gaston, Mecklenburg and Union Counties.
 
“Congratulations to all the winners and the nominees at last night’s Blumey Awards Ceremony,” said Tom Gabbard, Blumenthal President. “I’m so proud of the remarkable creative talent in our community.  The ceremony itself was a joy to watch and I’m glad the students had the opportunity to perform on the Belk Theater stage like our Broadway shows do and perform for a packed house.  These kids will have memories to last forever.”
 
Award presenters included NBA player for the Golden State Warriors, Stephen Curry; Charlotte actor Grasan Kingsberry who starred on Broadway in The Color Purple, Catch Me if You Can and Leap of Faith; Van Kaplan, Executive Producer of The Jimmy Awards and CEO of the Pittsburgh CLO; Richard “Stick” Williams, Senior Vice President of Environmental, Health & Safety and President of The Duke Energy Foundation; Mike Collins, host of WFAE’s “Charlotte Talks with Mike Collins” and star of Charlotte Squawks: 8 Misbehavin; Don and Mary Doctor of The Doctor Family Foundation, and many more. 
 
This year's winners for The Blumey Awards included:
 
Wells Fargo Best Musical 
South Point High School – Jekyll & Hyde
 
Best Actor 
Jay M. Robinson High School – Kyle Conroy as Seymour (Little Shop of Horrors) 

Best Actress 
Cuthbertson High School – Taylor Neal as Belle (Beauty and the Beast) 

Best Supporting Actor 
Jay M. Robinson High School – Matt Verner as Voice of Audrey II (Little Shop of Horrors) 

Best Supporting Actress 
Charlotte Christian School – Emma VanDeVelde as Anita (West Side Story) 

Best Featured Performer 
Northwest School of the Arts – Robert Briner as A-rab (West Side Story)
 
Best Overall Direction 
South Mecklenburg High School – Bye Bye Birdie 

Best Ensemble/Chorus 
Charlotte Latin School – Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat 

Best Choreography Execution 
Northwest School of the Arts – West Side Story 

Best Student Orchestra 
Hickory Ridge High School – Urinetown 

Best Costume Creation 
Cuthbertson High School – Beauty and the Beast 

Best Lighting Execution 
South Point High School – Jekyll & Hyde
 
Best Set Construction 
South Point High School – Jekyll & Hyde

Along with The Blumey Awards themselves, The Doctor Family Foundation awarded a $10,000 annually renewable scholarship to Charlotte Christian School’s Bethany Kinect and Northwest School of the Arts’ Lexie Wolfe during The Blumey Awards Ceremony.  A special scholarship committee chose these winners. 
 
The Blumey Awards was created by Blumenthal Performing Arts and modeled after similar programs already underway in more than 30 other cities.  The Blumey Awards program is designed to recognize and celebrate the best in high school musical theater and foster even greater achievements in the future.
 
The gala celebration was the highlight of the competition, which began in February when local schools began presenting their annual musical Theater Productions. Each school’s musical was viewed and evaluated by a panel of three judges, who awarded points according to detailed guidelines.  The six highest scoring nominees in each of 13 categories were the finalists.  
 
The Blumenthal Performing Arts’ Education Department managed The Blumey Awards.  Wells Fargo was the Presenting Sponsor.  The Doctor Family Foundation provided additional support, as did WBTV. Charlotte joined more than 30 other cities, including Pittsburgh, Houston and Atlanta, which hosted annual high school musical theater awards programs.
 
Like the Tony Awards, The Blumey Awards Ceremony featured live performances by the six finalists for Wells Fargo Best Musical: Charlotte Christian School’s West Side Story, Charlotte Latin School’s Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, Jay M. Robinson High School’s Little Shop of Horrors, Northwest School of the Arts’ West Side Story, South Mecklenburg High School’s Bye Bye Birdie and the winning South Point High School’s Jekyll & Hyde.  
 
David Dabbon, a New York-based music director, conductor, orchestrator and composer arranged all of the music, lead an orchestra of local professional musicians that accompanied the competing schools, and wrote the closing number.  He has conducted shows and concerts throughout the country. Most recently, he provided additional orchestrations for the Tony® and Grammy®-nominated Broadway musical, Sondheim on Sondheim.  
 
Additionally, The Blumey Awards Ceremony featured a medley of performances by the six finalists for Best Actor and for Best Actress; and two students from each production were featured in opening and closing production numbers. Sarah Zielinski, a professional choreographer choreographed these musical numbers. She has been assistant choreographer to Kiesha Lalama in the Gene Kelly Awards along with CLO Academy’s Mini Stars and How to Succeed in Business without Really Trying. 
 
Blumenthal Performing Arts has also been accepted as a participating professional theater by the National High School Musical Theater Awards organization. The national show and ceremony takes place in New York in June 2012. Kyle Conroy (Best Actor) and Taylor Neal (Best Actress) will receive an all-expenses-paid trip and weeklong stay in New York City where they will train and compete with other regional winners in a national competition known as The Jimmy Awards (named after famed Broadway producer, James M. Nederlander). This will be the first time theater and music students in our region will have a chance to compete in “The Jimmys.”
 
The schools that competed were:  A.L. Brown High School, Ardrey Kell High School, Central Academy of Technology and Arts, Central Cabarrus High School, Charlotte Christian High School, Charlotte Latin School, Cuthbertson High School, East Gaston High School, Fort Mill High School, Gaston Day School, Hickory Ridge High School, Independence High School, Jay M. Robinson High School, Marvin Ridge High School, Nation Ford High School, North Lincoln High School, Northwest Cabarrus High School, Northwest School of the Arts, South Mecklenburg High School and South Point High School.
 
For more information including photos: BlumenthalArts.org/BlumeyAwards.