The Freddy Awards
| The Freddy Awards | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Awarded for | Excellence in high school theatre in the Lehigh Valley |
| Country |  United States |
| Presented by | State Theatre in Easton, Pennsylvania |
| First awarded | May 22, 2003 |
| Official website | http://www.freddyawards.com/index.php |
The Freddy Awards, also known as the Freddys, are an annual recognition of outstanding high school musical theatre in the Lehigh Valley area, including the Northampton County and Lehigh County in Pennsylvania, and Warren County in New Jersey. The awards were created in 2003 and are awarded each year during a ceremony at the State Theatre in Easton, Pennsylvania, and are broadcast live on WFMZ Channel 69.
The 2004 broadcast of the Freddy Awards won an Emmy Award, and other broadcasts have won awards from the Pennsylvania Association of Broadcasters and the Associated Press Awards. The 2008 ceremony is the subject of a documentary, Most Valuable Players, by the Los Angeles-based Canyonback Films, which was released in 2010.
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[edit] History
The Freddy Awards were named after J. "Fred" Osterstock, who managed the State Theatre in Easton, Pennsylvania from 1936 until his death in 1957.[1] Osterstock lived in the theater temporarily after a flood damaged his house and, according to local lore, his ghost still haunts the theater. State Theatre announced the creation of the Freddy Awards on April 2, 2002 to recognize outstanding high school theatre in the Lehigh Valley area, with the awards themselves distributed at a ceremony at the State Theatre. Shelley Brown, the theater's president and executive director of the Freddy Awards, said she hoped the awards would highlight and reward the local performing arts, which she said are often overlooked in favor of athletic and academic achievements; Brown said, "We want this to be in the trophy case with the basketball championship trophy. ... Hopefully, this will raise the bar for schools and we'll get increasingly better performances." A total of 22 categories were established in the first year, including best musical, best actor and actress, best supporting actor and actress, best performance by an orchestra, best duet performance, best choreography, best lighting and best costume design.[2]
All high schools in Northampton County and Lehigh County in Pennsylvania, as well as Warren County in New Jersey, are eligible for the Freddy Awards. In the first year, letters were mailed to each of the eligible high schools, and the first 35 to return the applications were able to participate. Each year, a committee of judges are established from members of the theater's board of directors, volunteers and theater professionals from throughout the three participating. A minimum of six evaluators see each show, and the judges meet to review videotapes of the plays and select the award recipients.[2]
[edit] Ceremony
The first ceremony was held at the State Theatre on May 22, 2003.[2] The event was modeled after the Tony Awards, the ceremony which honors Broadway productions and performances. The first ceremony was hosted by Ken Matthews, a broadcaster with B104, an Allentown-based station serving the Lehigh Valley region.[3] From 2004 to date, the shows have been hosted by Shelley Brown and Ed Hanna, of WFMZ.[4] The three-hour ceremony was televised live on WFMZ Channel 69, a local television station which served as a sponsor and partner with the Freddy Awards.[1] The second ceremony was broadcast on May 27, 2004, and was once again broadcast live by WFMZ.[5] The 2004 broadcast won a regional Mid-Atlantic Emmy Award in the performing arts category in 2005, marking the first ever Emmy win for WFMZ.[5] The ceremony has since received two additional Emmy nominations, and won five Pennsylvania Association of Broadcasters awards and an Associated Press Award for Public Affairs.[1] The fifth annual ceremony aired on May 23, 2007, was streamed live on the WFMZ website for the first time, and the nominations announcements were also streamed on the site the following year.[6]
[edit] Documentary
All of a sudden, we hear what sounds like a rock concert, but with Broadway tunes. We see this sweeping crane shot of all these kids on stage, much like the Tony Awards, and oh, my God - these are high school students.
The day before the May 2007 broadcast of the Freddy Awards, producer Christopher Lockhart stumbled upon a clip of the 2006 ceremony on YouTube while searching for something unrelated. Lockhart said in the State Theatre's press release, "I couldn’t even decipher what the clip was. It looked like a rock concert, but there was a showtune coming from the stage. Then as the close up moved in, I saw it was a high school kid and I was completely baffled.” The following day, he watched the entire live Internet webcast from his office in Beverly Hills. After putting together a pitch for a potential documentary, he took the idea to Matthew D. Kallis of the Los Angeles-based company Canyonback Films and the men partnered on the project. Seven months later, a film crew from Canyonback Films led by Emmy award winning cinematographer Curt Apduhan, visited the Lehigh Valley and began filming behind-the-scenes footage of production meetings and rehearsals at participating high schools, the Freddy nominations and the event itself. Kallis also distributed high-definition handheld cameras to students to film additional footage. Kallis said, "Hopefully we'll be able to tell some stories that really reflect universality, and kids all around the country will be able to see themselves in these stories."[6] Shelley Brown said she had "complete faith" that the documentary would be "a fair representation" of the Freddy process.[6] The film, titled Most Valuable Players, was first shown on April 16, 2010 at the State Theatre, and will have its official premiere at the film festival circuit some time later. Kallis is producing/directing, and Lockhart is producing/writing.[7][8] The film made its television premiere in September 2011 on the Oprah Winfrey Network. [9]
[edit] Recipients
[edit] 2012 Recipients
Outstanding Overall Production of a Musical
Freedom HS
Thoroughly Modern Millie
Outstanding Overall Production By a Smaller School
Allentown Central Catholic HS
Seussical
Outstanding Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role
Allentown Central Catholic HS
Seussical
Matthew Gurniak as the Cat in the Hat
Outstanding Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role
Freedom HS
Thoroughly Modern Millie
Hannah Arnold as Millie Dillmount
Outstanding Performance by an Orchestra
Parkland HS
Hello, Dolly!
Outstanding Performance by a Featured Dancer
Dieruff HS
Hairspray
Carlos Rosario as Seaweed
Outstanding Use of Costuming
Freedom HS
Thoroughly Modern Millie
Outstanding Performance by a Featured Male Ensemble Member
Notre Dame HS
Little Women
Tyler Fernandez as Professor Bhaer
Outstanding Performance by a Featured Female Ensemble Member
Dieruff HS
Hairspray
Juanita Shockley as Little Inez
Outstanding Achievement in Lighting
Freedom HS
Thoroughly Modern Millie
Outstanding Chorus
Freedom HS
Thoroughly Modern Millie
Outstanding Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role
Easton Area HS
Damn Yankees
Nina Attinello as Lola
Outstanding Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role
Emmaus HS
Guys and Dolls
Zach Petrovich as Nathan Detroit
Outstanding Use of Scenery
Parkland HS
Hello, Dolly!
Outstanding Choreography
Dieruff HS
Hairspray
Vic Kumma Award For Outstanding Solo Vocal Performance
Notre Dame HS
Samantha Prentice - “Astonishing”
Little Women
Outstanding Stage Crew
In honor of Capt. Christopher Seifert
Hackettstown HS
big, The Musical
Outstanding Production Number
Freedom HS
Thoroughly Modern Millie– “The Speed Test”
Outstanding Featured Performance by an Actor
Bethlehem Catholic HS
The Wizard of Oz
Nicholas Acampora as the Scarecrow
Outstanding Featured Performance by an Actress
Nazareth Area HS
Singin' in the Rain
Tess Hamsher as Lina Lamont
Outstanding Small Ensemble Performance
Notre Dame HS
Little Women
Samantha Prentice, Thomas Kennebeck, Nicole Dischinat, Shannyn Rinker, and Madelin Prentice- "Five Forever"
Emmaus HS
Guys and Dolls
Zach Petrovich and Mattea Pechter- "Sue Me"
[edit] Outstanding Overall Production winners
| Year[10] | School[10] | Production[10] |
|---|---|---|
| 2003 | Phillipsburg High School | Once Upon A Mattress |
| 2004 | William Allen High School | Jekyll & Hyde |
| 2005 | Freedom High School | Crazy For You |
| 2006 | Parkland High School | Beauty and the Beast |
| 2007 | Whitehall High School | The Scarlet Pimpernel |
| 2008 | Emmaus High School | Les Misérables |
| 2009 | Southern Lehigh High School | West Side Story |
| 2010 | Easton Area High School | Ragtime |
| 2011 | Whitehall High School | Li'l Abner |
| 2012 | Freedom High School | Thoroughly Modern Millie |
[edit] Outstanding Overall Production by a Smaller School winners
| Year[10] | School[10] | Production[10] |
|---|---|---|
| 2005 | Belvidere High School | South Pacific |
| 2006 | Belvidere High School | Godspell |
| 2007 | Blair Academy | Urinetown The Musical |
| 2008 | Hackettstown High School | Cats |
| 2009 | Warren County Technical School | Blood Brothers |
| 2010 | North Warren Regional High School | Jekyll & Hyde |
| 2011 | Hackettstown High School and Wilson Area High School (tie) | Footloose/The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee |
| 2012 | Allentown Central Catholic High School | Seussical |
[edit] References
- ^ a b c "About the FREDDY's". The Freddy Awards. Retrieved 2009-06-10.
- ^ a b c DeCastro, Lavinia (2002-04-03). "Kids to get taste of Broadway -- State Theatre to give out Freddy awards". The Express-Times. p. B1.
- ^ Kalan, Susan (2005-08-12). "Freddy show may get its own award". The Express-Times. p. A1.
- ^ "29 high schools doing Freddys". The Express-Times. 2009-01-22. p. B8.
- ^ a b "Freddy show wins Emmy, Allentown station takes home honor". The Express-Times. 2005-09-18. p. B3.
- ^ a b c d Kalan, Susan (2008-05-18). "From stage to screen". The Express-Times. p. M1.
- ^ McEvoy, Colin (January 25, 2010). "Freddy stars to shine again soon, filmmakers say". The Express-Times. Retrieved March 28, 2010.
- ^ "Freddy Awards documentary to be screened in April". The Express-Times. February 5, 2010. p. B6.
- ^ Lauer-Williams, Kathy (September 7, 2009). "Premiere on documentary on Freddys getting buzz". The Morning Call. Retrieved September 17th, 2011.
- ^ a b c d e f "The Recipients". The Freddy Awards. Retrieved 2009-06-30.
