Four high school productions compete for Tommy Tune nominations

Four high school theater productions will compete in the 11th annual Theater Under the Stars (TUTS) Tommy Tune Awards.

Among the 45 regional high school competitors this year are Memorial High School’s “South Pacific,” Spring Woods High School’s “Children of Eden,” Stratford High School’s “Crazy For You” and Westchester Academy’s “Into the Woods”. Created by TUTS in 2002, the Tommy Tune Awards celebrates musical theater excellence at the high school level, honoring outstanding student achievement in a total of 15 categories.

Throughout the 2012-13 school year, a team of Houston-based theatre professionals will evaluate the invited high schools and announce the winners at the Tony-Awards style ceremony to be held on April 16, 2013, at the Hobby Center for the Performing Arts.

The event will showcase musical numbers from the nominated productions as well as reveal the winning performers, directors, choreographers, orchestras and designers who have shown theatrical excellence during the course of the 2012-2013 school year. TUTS Tommy Tune Awards are named after Tommy Tune, a Houston native with more than 50 years of stage presence. He has been a performer, director and choreographer.

Tune has received nine Tony Awards for his work in a variety of productions, including “Seesaw,” “My One and Only,” “Grand Hotel,” and the “Will Rogers Follies”. He also received the National Medal of Arts in 2003 from President George W. Bush.

Communications Dept. student intern Kali Venable compiled this report