7th Annual Tommy Tune Awards to Include 45 Houston High Schools

Theatre Under The Stars (TUTS) is thrilled to announce that the seventh annual Tommy Tune Awards will include 45 high schools from the Greater Houston area. Developed by TUTS in 2002, the Tommy Tune Awards honor musical theatre excellence at the high school level. During the 2008-2009 school year, a team of 29 Houston-based theatre professionals will evaluate the participating high school productions with the winners announced at a Tony Awards-style ceremony to be held April 21, 2009 at the Hobby Center for the Performing Arts. The event will feature spotlight numbers from the nominated shows, as well as award presentations for the performers, directors, choreographers, orchestras and designers, who have defined excellence throughout 2008-2009.

TUTS' Tommy Tune Awards are designed not only to acknowledge remarkable artists in musical theatre at the high school level, but also to encourage their future in the profession.. The awards, drawn from 15 categories, will honor the following participating schools and their productions:

Austin High School, Thoroughly Modern Millie (Playdates: TBD)
Ball High School, Grease (Playdates: Dec 11-13)
Bellaire High School, The Frogs (Playdates: November 20-22)
Cesar Chavez High School, Guys and Dolls (Playdates: March 4-6)
Clear Brook High School, Grease (Playdates: February 6-7 and 13-15)
Clear Creek High School, Carousel (Playdates: January 28-31)
Clear Lake High School, The Music Man (Playdates: January 28-31, & February 5-8)
Clear Springs High School, How to Succeed.. (Playdates: January 30- February 1, & February 5-8)
Clements High School, Crazy for You (Playdates: January 29-31 & February 2)
Cypress Falls High School, Once Upon A Mattress (Playdates: October 9-11, & 14)
Cypress Ridge High School, Sweeney Todd (Playdates: January 22-25)
Dobie High School, The Music Man (Playdates: February 5-9)
Duchesne Academy, Meet Me In St. Louis (Playdates: March 6-7)
Episcopal High School, Pippin (Playdates: March 6-8)
Fort Bend Baptist Academy, The King and I (Playdates: November 13-15)
Foster High School, Peter Pan (Playdates: December 4-7)
Friendswood High School, TBD (Playdates: February 20-21 & February 27-March 1)
G. W. Carver Magnet High School, Dreamgirls (Playdates: January 8-9)
George Bush High School, Cinderella (Playdates: January 29-31 & February 2)
Houston Christian High School, Kiss Me Kate (Playdates: January 22-25)
James E Taylor High School, Cinderella (Playdates: September 26-27, October 2, & 4)
John Cooper School, Seussical The Musical (Playdates: November 13-16)
Kingwood High School, Peter Pan (Playdates: November 20-22, & 24)
Kinkaid School, TBD (Playdates: March 6-8)
Klein Collins High School, Zombie Prom (Playdates: October 30-November 1 & 6-8)
Klein Forest High School, Little Shop of Horrors (Playdates: January 22-24 & 29-31)
Klein High School, TBD (Playdates: January 29-31 & February 6-9)
Magnolia High School, Cinderella (Playdates: January 29-31)
Magnolia West High School, Bye Bye Birdie (Playdates: January 30-31)
Memorial High School, Beauty and the Beast (Playdates: January 29-31 & February 5-7)
Morton Ranch High School, Wizard of Oz (Playdates: January 15-17)
North Shore Senior High, Grease (Playdates: February 19-21 & 26-28)
Northland Christian School, How to Succeed... (Playdates: October 16-19)
Pasadena Memorial High School, Guys and Dolls (Playdates: February 5-8)
Pearland High School, Damn Yankees (Playdates: January 16- 18 & 22-24)
Sam Rayburn High School, Singin' in the Rain (Playdates: January 29-31)
Seven Lakes High School, Once Upon A Mattress (Playdates: February 5-7)
Spring Woods High School, Joseph.Dreamcoat (Playdates: January 30-31, February 1 & 6-7)
St. Agnes Academy, Les Miserables (Playdates: February 27, March 1, 7, & 9)
St. John's School, Two Gentlemen of Verona - The Musical (Playdates: March 6-7)
Stafford High School, Oliver! (Playdates: January 30 - February 1)
Stratford High School, Barnum (Playdates: January 29-31 & February 5-7)
Westchester Academy, Peter Pan (Playdates: November 6-8 & 13-15)
William B Travis High School, Bye Bye Birdie (Playdates: TBD)
Woodlands High School, TBD (Playdates: January 22-24, & 29-31)

TUTS' Tommy Tune Awards are named for Houston native and Lamar High School alumnus, Tommy Tune. A performer, director, and choreographer, Tune received nine Tony Awards for the following productions: Seesaw, My One and Only, A Day in Hollywood/A Night in the Ukraine, Nine, Grand Hotel, and The Will Rogers Follies. His latest national tour was the TUTS-launched, Dr. Doolittle, and he is currently developing a new musical for the Goodman Theatre of Chicago.
The Tommy Tune Awards ceremony is open to the general public, and tickets will be available for purchase beginning on April 8, 2009. For information on the 2009 Tommy Tune Awards ceremony, call (713) 558-2600.

Founded in 1968, Theatre Under The Stars (TUTS) is Houston's acclaimed non-profit musical theatre company and is currently under the direction of President and CEO John C. Breckenridge. Dedicated to producing new works and classic masterpieces, the 2008-2009 "Wow! What a Season!" celebrates TUTS' 41st Season of bringing world-class musical theatre to Houston audiences. TUTS was the first theatrical organization in Houston to perform free to the public in 1968 at Miller Outdoor Theatre in Hermann Park, and is the only Houston arts organization that has performed there free to the public every year since the building opened. Since its founding by Frank M. Young, TUTS has produced more than 300 musicals including many local, national and world premieres such as Disney's Beauty and the Beast, as well as International tours including Debbie Reynolds in The Unsinkable Molly Brown, Juliet Prowse in Mame, Robert Goulet in Man of La Mancha, the Tony Award-winning revival of Carousel and the Deaf West Theatre production of Big River. As a way to continue the tradition of musical theatre, TUTS' Humphreys School of Musical Theatre provides instruction and stage experience for more than 1,700 students annually through both The Academy and The Studio, which allow students to flourish in a year-round schedule of classes. Housed in the Hobby Center for the Performing Arts, TUTS also annually presents the Tommy Tune Awards, honoring the best and brightest in Houston's high school musical theatre programs.

Visit TUTS.com for more information.

 

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