Get Ready for the 2024 Blumey Awards!

For local musical theater fans, nothing beats the thrill of the annual Blumey Awards ceremony. The excitement, the energy, and the talent are second to none. Truly.

Year after year, Blumenthal Arts’ regional high school musical theater awards ceremony draws a sell out crowd. And this year’s event on May 26, presented by Bank of America, at Belk Theater is no different.

(Students performing in the 2023 Blumey Awards)

The celebration, modeled after the glamor and glitter of the Tony Awards, features outstanding student performances, accompanied by a 20-piece professional orchestra. Students work with a team of arts professionals to prepare, including Broadway composer/arranger David Dabbon (“Beetlejuice,” “Funny Girl, “Peter Pan”), who has music directed the program since its inception, a decade ago.

(David Dabbon)

There are musical numbers from the six Best Musical nominees, medleys from the six Best Actor and six Best Actress finalists, and opening and closing numbers featuring Best Actor and Best Actress nominees from all the participating schools. In between the entertainment, local celebrities present awards in 15 categories, plus several unique scholarships.

Many Blumey Awards alumni who have participated in the program have gone on to achieve phenomenal success. They have starred on Broadway, in U.S. national tours and on London’s West End. They’ve headlined films and TV series, topped Billboard charts and sold out concerts. They also work in every imaginable field behind-the-scenes as stage managers, company managers, producers, set designers, composers and more.

Several of these Blumey standouts will be back to join the celebration as presenters at this year’s 11th annual event! They include:

Last year’s Best Actress and Best Actor winners, Katie Ruttenberg and Lance Toppin.

 

2016 & 2018 Blumey Awards Best Actor Nominee turned Broadway star Liam Pearce, fresh off a Drama Desk nomination for his performance in “How to Dance in Ohio.”

 

Amina Faye, recent star of the national tour of “SIX,” and the 2016 Best Actress winner of both the Blumey Awards and the National High School Musical Theater Awards, known as The Jimmys.

 

2022 Best Student Set Designer and Gordon Hay Scholarship Winner Eli Dills, now a sophomore at UNC School of the Arts, pursuing a BFA in Scene Design.

 

At the heart of the Blumey Awards are the hard working students and teachers who put on musicals at high schools across the region. This year marks the largest competition to date, with fifty area high schools participating and successfully mounting their own spring musical productions.

This year, more than 2,500 total students — including performers, tech crews and student orchestras — participated in those adjudicated productions. 

The awards ceremony is a moment to celebrate all of their achievements (and the support they receive from educators, families and friends) and to recognize excellence in every area of  musical theater.

For a list of this year's nominees, CLICK HERE!