In the spotlight
20 students to compete for chance at national musical theater awards in NYC
Not many New Mexico students will get an opportunity to perform on the grand stage at Popejoy Hall during their high school careers.
For the second year, the Popejoy Awards will give 20 students the opportunity to perform on the coveted stage.
“This is truly an amazing program,” says Terry Davis, Popejoy marketing manager. “The students have talent and enthusiasm. They are ready to put on a show.”
The goal of the awards is to inspire and honor excellence in high school musical theater and to recognize the importance of musical theater and arts education in our high schools.
Winners of the Popejoy Awards will compete for scholarships at the National High School Musical Theatre Awards in New York City. The awards recognize individual artistry in vocal, dance and acting performance, and honors teachers and their schools’ commitment to performing arts education. The awards give talented young performers from across the country scholarships to advance in musical theater.
Awards will be given to best actor, best actress, best production, best direction and best ensemble.
This year’s event will feature a medley from “Pippin,” “Waitress,” “Wicked,” “Shrek” and “Catch Me If You Can.”
Davis says 11 schools are participating in this year’s award show at Popejoy.
Davis says that during the award show, the 20 nominees will each get
a solo and the five nominees in the ensemble category will get to perform a snippet of the play in which it was nominated.
“Each student will work hard,” Davis says. “We try to mimic what the experience will be like in New York, although that would be more rigorous. We’re only working with them for seven hours, versus 12 hours in New York.”
Devon McCleskey and Joliana Davidson were the winners for best actor and actress last year.
McClesky, of Los Alamos, won the Jimmy Award for Best Performance in an Ensemble at last year’s National High School Musical Theatre Awards in New York.
Davidson, now a sophomore at Cibola High School, flew to New York City and competed against about 40 other actresses.
“It was the most amazing experience I have ever had,” Davidson says. “I got to work with some of the best professionals on Broadway.”
One of those was composer Andrew Lloyd Webber, who spent some time with the group of high school students last year.
“He told us right before the performance, ‘You don’t have to prove yourself to the stage. The stage is here to love you,’” she says. “It really resonated with me, because performing is about doing what you love, and you’re not impressing people. It’s about sharing music and theater with an audience.”