Bayou City Concert Musicals Honors Sylvia Froman Tonight

Bayou City Concert Musicals will present the 2014 Kim Hupp Award to Houston Legend Sylvia Froman as part of its fundraising event, A Little Sondheim Music, at 7:30 p.m., tonight, March 29, 2014, at the Cullen Performance Hall of The University of St. Thomas, 4001 Mt. Vernon.

The Kim Hupp Award was established by BCCM in 2004 to commemorate the life of Kim Hupp, BCCM's first musical director, who died in 2002. The Hupp Award is presented annually to individuals who have made significant contributions to musical theatre in Houston.

This year's honoree, Sylvia Froman, has graced Houston stages since the 1950s, when she first became a star at Theatre Inc., where she played lead roles in The Music Man, Showboat, and Milk and Honey. Sylvia's talents have taken her from opera to musical comedy to serious drama. From Mama Rose in Gypsy to the Mother Superior in Nunsense to Aunt Kate in James Joyce's The Dead, Sylvia Froman has mastered every role with grace and panache. She has appeared in five BCCM concert musicals, as Ida in 70 Girls 70; as Madame Armfeldt in A Little Night Music; as Solange in Follies; as Lady Beekman in Gentlemen Prefer Blondes; and in a scene-stealing cameo as the landlady in One Touch of Venus. Movie lovers have come to know her from her featured role in the award-winning 2013 film Bernie.

"No one deserves this award more than Sylvia," says BCCM President Sharon Williams. "Sylvia Froman is, without doubt, the first lady of Houston theatre, both on stage and as one of this city's premiere publicists." BCCM Artistic Director Paul Hope says "Sylvia was one of the founders of BCCM and is still a board member. That made us a bit hesitant to present her with the Hupp Award, but the truth is she exemplifies everything we want the award to represent. So the first time she missed a board meeting, we voted to honor her."

The Kim Hupp Award will be presented as part of A Little Sondheim Music, a concert benefiting Bayou City Concert Musicals, 7:30 p.m., Saturday, March 29, 2014, at the Cullen Performance Hall of The University of St. Thomas, 4001 Mt. Vernon. The musical evening will feature performances of Stephen Sondheim songs by Zachary Bryant, Susan Draper, Jennifer Gilbert, Dylan Godwin, Joe Kirkendall, Beth Lazarou, David Matranga and Susan Shofner.

Tickets to A Little Sondheim Music are $50 (performance only) and $100 (includes a post-performance reception honoring Sylvia Froman and the show's performers). Tickets are available by phone at 713-465-6484 or on-line at www.bayoucityconcertmusicals.org. Tickets are available for advance sale only. No tickets will be sold at the door.

For more information, contact Sharon Williams at 713-791-9447 or by email at info@bayoucityconcertmusicals.org.