The High School Musical Theatre Awards are one of the most ambitious — and popular — events that Dallas Summer Musicals has to offer. But the coronavirus posed a rare challenge to the 2020 edition.
So, for the first time , the ninth annual High School Musical Theatre Awards will be a “virtual” show that’s released on YouTube at 7 p.m. May 14. The live web link will be: youtube.com/dsmusicals. In normal years, the show takes place before a capacity crowd of 3,420 at the Music Hall at Fair Park.
But then, 2020 is no normal year.
Video for the 2020 presentation has been compiled and promises to feature “kids getting awards and scholarships, remotely recorded performance videos, even Broadway celeb guest appearances," vows Dallas Summer Musicals executive Mike Richman. "It’s going to be amazing.”
The three-judge panel in this year’s contest considered 72 performances from 68 participating high schools in North Texas. Dallas Summer Musicals describes the panel assessing the performers as "a diverse group of highly qualified judges from the North Texas theater community.”
Awards are presented in 15 categories, with scholarships awarded to “outstanding graduating seniors who are nominated by their teachers and selected by the DSM scholarship panel.”
In past years, the winning actor and actress were flown to New York to take part in the National High School Musical Theatre Awards, also known as the “Jimmy” Awards. Sadly but Inevitably, the Jimmy Awards for 2020 is a cancellation.
“We are heartbroken that so many of the 143,000 students who participate in high school musicals across the country will not have an opportunity to show off their hard work, and that 92 nominees won’t be able to realize their Broadway dreams this year by performing live on a Broadway stage at the Jimmy Awards in New York City,” Charlotte St. Martin, president of the Broadway League, said in a statement. “Our priority is the health and safety of all. We look forward to next year when we can welcome nominees and fans back to the Big Apple and continue to celebrate the future of Broadway together at the 2021 Jimmy Awards.”
Even so, despite the necessity to go virtual, Dallas Summer Musicals is awarding $55,000 in scholarships in 2020, with money raised by private donations. Over the years, the Dallas version of the High School Musical Theatre Awards has awarded $300,000 in cash scholarships.
All 2020 nominees, participating high schools and their shows are listed on the event’s website, DSMHSMTA.org.
