Bobby G awards honor the best of high school theater

Thursday night was essentially the Colorado state championship for highschool theater at the Ellie Caulkins Opera House. Only here, schools from all over the state exited the stage as champions.

The Bobby G Awards honor the best in high-school musical theater, with Thursday’s winners spread out from Denver to Grand Junction to Pueblo to Palisade to Glenwood Springs. In fact, 10 of the 19 awards went to schools from outside the Denver metro area.

Aurora’s Overland High School took the top prize, with its production of “Sister Act” named Outstanding Musical. Overland became the eighth different school to win Outstanding Musical in the eight times the awards have been administered through the Denver Center for the Performing Arts’ education department.

“This is a celebration of an entire community that means a lot to every single one of these kids who give their hearts and show up every day to put on something wonderful,” said Overland Theatre Director Andy Ray.

Added Overland said senior Ibrahim Souare: “We at the O at extremely proud to represent our community and our school at this great event just to show who we are and that we’ve got what it takes.”

It was also a huge night for Pueblo County High School, whose production of “Zombie Prom” matched Overland with three awards in its first year participating in the program.

The Bobby G Awards emphasizes camaraderie and shared experiences over the competitive aspects of the year-long program, with all five schools nominated for Outstanding Musical invited to perform songs from their shows to the raucous and supportive cheers of a young crowd estimated at about 2,000. The other schools nominated this year were Chaparral (“9 to 5, the Musical”); Lakewood (“Anastasia”); Littleton (“Into the Woods”); and Palmer Ridge High School (“Once Upon a Mattress”).

Each year, the 10 nominated Outstanding Actors and Actresses are invited to the Denver Center two weeks before the awards ceremony to prepare an original medley together in community and friendship, which they then perform at the ceremony.

But there is also much at stake. The students named Outstanding Actor and Actress will go on to represent Colorado at The National High School Musical Theatre Awards (also known as “The Jimmys”) on June 27 at the Minskoff Theatre in New York City.

This year’s honorees are Thomas Beeker, who played Harold Hill in Frederick High School’s production of “The Music Man,” and Madison Manning, who played Delores Van Cartier in Overland’s “Sister Act.” In New York, those two will participate in a 10-day series of intensive classes and workshops with Broadway actors, directors and designers leading up to the national awards ceremony. By performing at the Jimmy Awards, both will officially be recognized as having made their Broadway debuts.

Manning took a moment to acknowledge the context of the evening, just two days after the mass shooting at a school in Texas.

“It is definitely a privilege to be able gather together and celebrate theater with all of the devastation happening in Texas,” she said. “It’s brutal to know that they don’t feel like they have a safe community right now, when we are so blessed to have one here, and the fact that we are able to enjoy this night together is truly amazing.”

This year, local adjudicators considered musical productions from 41 Colorado high schools in 18 counties, most of which took part in workshops conducted by DCPA Teaching Artists. In all, about 3,500 students participated in some aspect of the program this past year, and officials say that number is closer to 32,000 since the first awards in 2013.