‘Nice Work’ gets young thespians recognition
The show didn’t go on, but Kingwood High School senior Emily Lawrence won a $3,000 scholarship when results of the 14th annual Tommy Tune Awards competition were announced last week.
The sold-out Tony Awardsstyle ceremony that was planned for April 19 at the Hobby Center for the Performing Arts was canceled because of flooding, but Hot 95.7 radio personality Sarah Pepper revealed the winners that evening on the Tommy Tunes Facebook page.
Lawrence was one of eight scholarship recipients from a field of 42 applicants who participated in 45 Houston-area high school musicals that were considered for honors in this year’s Theater Under the Stars program.
The 18-year-old senior will attend Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania to seek a bachelor of fine arts in design and production with emphasis on lighting design.
She is the daughter of Dwight and Mary Lawrence of Kingwood.
She designed the lighting for Kingwood High’s entry, “Nice Work if You Can Get It,” a dance-heavy production that
required her to experiment with a number of colors and angles.
The frothy pastiche of a 1920s “Jazz Age” musical featured songs by George and Ira Gershwin.
“I have always been fascinated by the music of the Gershwins and how it’s so cheerful and upbeat,” said Lawrence.
Kingwood High junior Chase Callahan, whose parents are Mike and Bobbie Callahan of Kingwood, scored a Tommy Tune nomination for best supporting actor as Cookie McGee in “Nice Work if You Can Get It.” Had the show gone on, he would have joined other supporting-acting nominees and Houston native Tommy Tune in the opening number.
Callahan, 17, spent most of the musical clad in a tuxedo, since he was a shady bootlegger disguised as a gentleman’s gentleman at a ritzy wedding.
“Dress to impress, always,” said Callahan.
His life in theater began about nine years ago when a friend who was enjoying a summer musical theater camp at Kingwood High told him, “Hey! There are a few spots open in our show,’ ” said Callahan.
“I got a bit part as Thomas Jefferson in a number about the Declaration of Independence,” said Callahan. “The next year, I played a snake in ‘The Jungle Book.’”
Callahan’s director, Frank Chuter, said, “He has continued to improve in quality, most recently giving fantastic performances in the city of Houston in ‘Bring It On,’ ‘Rent’ as Joanne’s father and ‘Hairspray’ at Miller Outdoor Theater as a featured dancer on ‘The Corny Collins Show.’”
Callahan plans to attend this summer’s International Thespian Festival at the University of Nebraska in Lincoln and audition for theater departments at universities across the country. Porter High School
In the category of best featured performer, the Porter High School duo of Alex Semler and Kaesye Wyatt was nominated as Mayor and Mrs. Shinn in “The Music Man,” said PHS choir director Cara Cavenaugh-Woodard.
Their competition included a student who played Ethyl in “The Music Man” at The Woodlands High School, but the winner was a featured dancer from Stratford High School in Houston, which also claimed the best musical prize for “Anything Goes.”
Porter High was also nominated for best orchestra, conducted by Stuart Woodard.