Review: 2016 Triangle Rising Star Awards

The Triangle Rising Star Awards is a regional competition that brings together high school musical theater students from Central and Eastern North Carolina to perform and compete for the chance to represent the Triangle in The National High School Musical Theater Awards in New York City every summer. The national competition celebrates outstanding student performances in high school musical productions from all over the United States.

The evening began with an energetic opening number featuring the twenty finalists performing 'Seize the Day' from Newsies. We were then treated to medleys featuring each of the finalists individually. So many talented young adults graced the stage at the Durham Performing Arts Center. Some of my favorite highlights included Holly Springs High School's Cameryn Bost as Ella in Rodgers & Hammerstein's Cinderella; Millbrook High School's Gabrielle Goodman as Annie Oakley in Annie Get Your Gun; Enloe High School's Ricky Hall as Jack in Into the Woods; St. Thomas More Academy's Aldani Herrera as Usnavi in In the Heights; Northwood High School's Connor Lewis as Robbie in The Wedding Singer; Cresset Christian High School's Daniel Madden as Javert in Les Miserables; Holly Springs High School's Andrew Peters as Prince Topher in Rodgers & Hammerstein's Cinderella; Durham Academy's Lily Tender as Hodel in Fiddler on the Roof; and Panther Creek High School's Kaylee Terrell as Mary Poppins.

The audience was also treated to a special video message from 2014 Rising Star Award Winner English Bernhardt (who I've recently interviewed). She talked about how she competed at the Jimmy Awards in New York. It was at the Jimmy Awards when a casting took notice of her, which got her involved with a workshop of the new musical Dear Evan Hansen (which is set to hit Broadway this fall). It was from working with director Michael Greif on that show, that when he invited her to audition for the national tour of If/Then, and the rest is history.

After the medleys, ABC 11's Heather Waliga presented the awards for Best Ensemble and Best Musical. It seems that no one can get enough of Grease as Cary High School's production won the award for Best Ensemble. For Best Musical, the award went to Enloe High School's production of Into the Woods.

Last year's winners Alex Fernandez and Faith Jones were introduced and sang 'A Whole New World' from the Disney animated classic (and hit Broadway show) Aladdin. Then, they both presented the twenty finalists one more time. The winner for Best Actor was Green Hope High School's Jacob Bush as Amos Hart in Chicago. In a hilarious rendition of 'Mr. Cellophane', he sings about how he's mostly ignored in life. Yet, the judges did not ignore Bush at all. The winner for Best Actress was Apex High School's Ainsley Seiger as Wednesday Addams in The Addams Family. As she sang in her number, she's being pulled in a new direction.

I'd like to wish this year's Rising Star Award Winners to break a leg at the Jimmy Awards in New York later this month! No matter what happens there, I'm sure the two of them are going to be going into that competition, giving it their all, and making their hometowns proud!

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