TUTS Announces Tenth Annual Tommy Tune Award Participants

Theatre Under The Stars (TUTS) today announced the 45 Houston area high schools competing in the tenth annual Tommy Tune Awards. Developed by TUTS in 2002, the Tommy Tune Awards honor musical theatre excellence at the high school level, celebrating outstanding student achievement in 15 categories. During the 2011-2012 school year, a team of Houston-based theatre professionals will evaluate the participating high school productions and announce the winners at a Tony Awards-style ceremony to be held April 17, 2012 at the Hobby Center for the Performing Arts. The event will spotlight musical numbers from the nominated shows as well as award presentations to the performers, directors, choreographers, orchestras and designers who have defined excellence throughout the 2011 - 2012 school year. One of the most prestigious recognitions of the Tommy Tune Awards, the Best Leading Actor and Actress will represent TUTS, all expenses paid, as they go on to compete at the national level for the Jimmy Award at the National High School Musical Theater Awards in New York City in June 2012.

TUTS' Tommy Tune Awards are named for Broadway legend, Houston native and Lamar High School alumnus, Tommy Tune. A performer, director, and choreographer with more than 50 years of stage experience, Tune received nine Tony Awards for his work in 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. He was also awarded the National Medal of Arts in 2003 by President Bush.

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 by providing an opportunity to win scholarships, compete on a national level, and receive recognition from their peers. The 45 schools competing in the tenth annual Tommy Tune Awards are:

Cesar Chavez High School, West Side Story (Feb. 29, March 1 at 4 p.m. and March 2, 3 at 7 p.m.)
Clear Falls High School, Footloose (January 27, 28, February 2, 3, 4 at 7 p.m. and January 29 at 2 p.m.)
Clear Lake High School, Sleeping Beauty: The Dream (January 26, 27, 28, February 2, 3, 4 at 7:30 p.m. and January 28, February 4 at 3:30 p.m.)
Clear Springs High School, TBA (January 26, 27, 28 February 2, 3, 4 at 7:30 p.m. and January 29 at 2:30 p.m.)
Clements High School, Urinetown (February 2, 3, 4, 6 at 7 p.m.)
Cypress Falls High School, The Fantasticks (December 15, 16, 17 at 7 p.m.)
Cypress Ranch High School, Anything Goes (October 28, 29, November 4, 5 at 7 p.m.)
Deer Park High School, The Wedding Singer (November 4, 5, 6 at 7 p.m.)
Elkins High School, TBA (February 10, 11 at 7 p.m.)
Elsik High School, Little Shop of Horrors (October 26, 27, 29 at 7:30 p.m.)
Energized for STEM Central, The Wiz (TBA)
Energized for STEM West, High School Musical Jr. (TBA)
Episcopal High School, Dirty Rotten Scoundrels (March 2, 3, 4 at 7:30 p.m. and March 4 at 3 p.m.)
Foster High School, Lil' Abner (December 2, 3 at 7:30 p.m. and December 4 at 2:30 p.m.)
Friendswood High School, TBA (February 17, 18, 24, 25 at 7 p.m. and February 26 at 2:30 p.m.)
G. W. Carver Magnet High School, Little Shop of Horrors (January 5, 6 at 7 p.m.)
George Ranch High School, Little Shop of Horrors (November 17, 18, 19 at 7:30 p.m.)
Houston Christian High School, Joseph And The Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat (March 1, 2 at 7:30 p.m. and March 3 at 2:30 p.m.)
John Cooper School, Beauty and the Beast (November 17, 18, 19 at 7 p.m. and November 19, 20 at 2 p.m.)
Katy High School, Honk! (October 13, 14, 15 at 7 p.m.)
Kempner High School, Thoroughly Modern Millie (October 5, 6, 7, 8 at 7 p.m.)
Kingwood High School, The Drowsy Chaperone (November 3, 4, 5, 7 at 7:30 p.m.)
Klein Collins High School, The Wizard of Oz (January 26, 27, 28, 30, 31 at 7 p.m. and January 28 at 2 p.m.)
Klein Forest High School, Seussical (January 26, 27, 28, 30 at 7 p.m.)
Klein High School, TBA (January 26, 27, 28, February 3, 4, 6 at 7 p.m.)
Klein Oak High School, TBA (January 27, 28, February 3, 4, 6 at 7 p.m.)
Magnolia High School, Beauty and the Beast (January 19, 20, 21, 23 at 7 p.m.)
Magnolia West High School, Little Women (February 3, 4 at 7 p.m. and February 4 at 2 p.m.)
Memorial High School, Oklahoma! (February 16, 17, 18, 23, 24, 25 at 7:30 p.m. and February 18, 25 at 2:30 p.m.)
Morton Ranch High School, Hairspray (January 19, 20, 21 and 7 p.m.)
Nimitz High School, Zombie Prom (January 12, 13, 14 at 7 p.m.)
Northland Christian School, Little Shop of Horrors (October 20, 22, 23 at 7 p.m.)
Pasadena Memorial High School, Oliver! (January 27, 28, 29, February 2, 3, 4 at 7 p.m.)
Pearland High School, Beauty and the Beast (January 19, 20, 21, 26, 27, 28 at 7:30 p.m.)
Sam Rayburn High School, Guys and Dolls (January 26, 27, 28 at 7:30 p.m.)
Santa Fe High School, The Wizard of Oz (February 16, 17, 18, 24, 25 at 8 p.m. and February 26 at 2 p.m.)
Second Baptist School, TBA (March 1, 2, 3 at 7:30 p.m. and March 4 at 2 p.m.)
Spring Woods High School, Once On This Island (January 27, 28, February 3, 4 at 7:30 p.m. and January 28, 29, February 4 at 2:30 p.m.)
St. Agnes Academy, TBA (February 24, March 2, 3 at 7:30 p.m. and February 26 at 3 p.m.)
St. John's School, Chicago (March 2, 3 at 7:30 p.m.)
Stafford High School, Grease (January 27, 28 at 7:30 p.m. and January 29 at 3 p.m.)
Stratford High School, Will Rogers Follies (January 26, 27, February 2, 3 at 7:30 p.m. and January 28, February 4 at 2:30 p.m.)
Taylor High School, Chicago (January 19, 20 and 21 at 7 p.m.)
Westchester Academy, Grease (October 27, 28, 29, November 3, 4, 5 at 7:30 p.m.)
Woodlands High School, Singing in the Rain (October 20, 21, 22 at 7 p.m. and October 22 at 2 p.m.)
The Tommy Tune Awards ceremony is open to the general public, and tickets will be available for purchase beginning on April 3, 2012. For information on the 2012 Tommy Tune Awards ceremony, call (713) 558-2600 or visit TUTS.com/TommyTune.

Theatre Under The Stars thanks The Brown Foundation, Inc., and ConocoPhillips for their generous support of the Tommy Tune Awards.

Theatre Under The Stars 2011-12 Seeing Is Believing season is generously sponsored by St. Luke's Episcopal Health System. For all of Theatre Under The Stars' 2011-2012 shows, air transportation is provided by United Airlines, the official airline of Theatre Under The Stars. Media sponsors include ABC-13 and the Houston Chronicle. Season support is funded in part by grants from the City of Houston through the Theater District Association and the Texas Commission on the Arts.

Founded in 1968, Theatre Under The Stars is Houston's acclaimed non-profit musical theatre company under the direction of President and CEO John C. Breckenridge. 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 Kopit and Yeston's Phantom, Disney's Beauty and the Beast, Jekyll & Hyde, and Irving Berlin's White Christmas as well as critically acclaimed re-inventions of classics Cabaret and Les Miserables. Through its membership in the Independent Presenters Network, TUTS has helped bring Bombay Dreams, 9 to 5, Thoroughly Modern Millie, Spamalot, Legally Blonde, Ragtime, Curtains and The Color Purple to Broadway.

As a way to continue the tradition of musical theatre, TUTS Education provides instruction and stage experience for more than 21,000 students annually, allowing students to flourish in a year-round schedule of classes. The Humphreys School of Musical Theatre (HSMT) offers both audition-based and open enrollment classes for all ability levels and ages, ranging from four-years-old to adulthood. With a common goal - to expand arts access to children of all abilities - The River Performing and Visual Arts Center (The River) merged with Theatre Under The Stars in 2010, creating a unique, barrier free, arts education model for non-profit musical theatre performing arts organizations. TUTS Education provides extended on-site programming as well as off-site programming for children in schools, hospitals and other community-based sites. 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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