Kamiak High School musical rose to the top
Published 6:43 pm Friday, June 11, 2010
It was fastidious attention to detail, excellent choreography and an outstanding chorus that earned Kamiak High School The 5th Avenue High School Musical Theatre Award’s top honor for Outstanding Overall Musical Production for “The Pajama Game.”
Those were the reasons director Laurie Levine gave that led her cast and production team to beat 64 other high schools during the awards ceremony held June 7 at Seattle’s 5th Avenue Theatre.
It also helped that “The Pajama Game,” a comedy and love story wrapped around an economic theme about workers seeking a pay raise, was topical, Levine said.
“It was a solid show,” Levine said.
Levine credited her talented team: co-director Nancy Jefferson; orchestra director Brian Steves; volunteer Denise Nelson; paraeducator Shirley Leonard, who helped build 16 sewing machines out of foam; Craig Wollum for set design, Eva Stone and Kathy Noonan for choreography and student Aaron Alonso of the technical crew, who is graduating this year.
“The rewarding thing for me as director is opening night and seeing the exuberance on their faces when they know they nailed it,” Levine said. “And the hard thing is having to say goodbye.”
The other big winner among the Snohomish County High Schools nominated was Lake Stevens High School, which received two awards for “The Mikado,” for outstanding costume and make up and hair design.
A full list of award recipients can be found at tinyurl.com/28et4wf. The ceremony can also be viewed by going to www.tvw.org.
Thousands of high school students, teachers and parents from across Washington state attended the Eighth Annual 5th Avenue High School Musical Theatre Awards, where awards were handed out in 22 different categories.
Since the 5th Avenue began these awards — based on the Tony Awards — the numbers have grown from 31 productions and 3,100 students in 2003 to 93 productions and 9,300 students participating this year.
Theresa Goffredo: 425-339-3424; goffredo@heraldnet.com.
